christina and mike are baltimore ravens fans. big ravens fans. oh, and they are also in love. every year mike goes to at least one away game with his buddies. and christina, she loves going to home games, or watching the ravens on tv or in sports bars. with mike, of course!

i met up with these two love birds at the gorgeous linganore winecellars back in november on a crisp and beautiful late fall day. they love linganore wine and go out to the winery often for their festivals. (confession: we at spence photographics love linganore winecellars, too! it’s been one of our favorite parts of living in maryland!) so, we trekked out in to the vineyard for some great scenery and had some fun in downtown frederick, too!

we’re looking forward to your big day, guys! enjoy the pics!! and go, ravens!

a long time ago, erica liked to check out our blog every week to get her “wedding fix.” well, erica, now it’s time to get your “fix” from your own wedding pictures! you may remember erica and matt from the baltimore engagement session we shot with them more than a year ago. we absolutely love these two, and couldn’t wait for their wedding weekend at the amazing tremont grand in baltimore!

from the moment we walked into erica’s hotel room, we knew we were in for some fun. erica was all smiles while her hair and makeup were getting done (awesome job by up do’s for i do’s!). and then we spotted this note from matt posted inconspicuously on the wall: “dear erica, I marry you now. – matt” too sweet.

erica chose such lovely, rich details for the day. and that dress!

these two are nothing if not expressive. we love the look that erica gave herself in the mirror when she finally put on her gorgeous dress. that’s right, girl, you look awesome. and then, there’s matt…

… matt, you are the most fun.

the guys … so cool, so fun.

the tremont grand is an outstanding venue. so many old-style details, marble, columns … amazing!

you go, girls!

helping to make the venue even more gorgeous was jj cummings floral company of baltimore.

remember what we said about these two being expressive? well, it continued during the ceremony. matt was so emotional as the ceremony got started. frankly, we were a little worried about him. and then erica walked in, and his face lit up with a smile.

the ceremony was pure love. lots of laughter, then a smash of the glass and a jump of the broom, and boom. husband and wife.

so many people surrounded matt and erica with their love that night.

one of our favorites.

love!

wow! the reception was stunning. one of the best moments was when erica welcomed her guests by exclaiming, “marriage is great, but how about those kick-ass centerpieces?!”

it kinda looks like these two are happy. and that they like each other. a little.

erica’s sister and matt’s brother gave some great toasts! so. much. love.

and then the crazy, awesome dance party, courtesy of our good friend, evan, from my deejay, could begin! horah, anyone?!

that’s the way to party, people! we were glad to have our friends from blue sky films with us that night to capture all the awesomeness!

 speaking of partying, how about that silly station? so many fun pics!

look up “love” in the dictionary. this picture is there.

what a way to end the night – a midnight surprise sundae bar! woo hoo! awesome party, awesome people. erica and matt, we are so very happy for you both, and were truly honored to be part of the start of your lives together. much love to you both!

amanda and carl are most definitely in love. you can see it in the way they look at each other. you can see it in the way they hold hands. you can hear it in their voices.

so it was only natural that during our entire shoot on a recent fall afternoon, they had no problem giving each other lots of “smooches” for the camera. yep, they also like to kiss.

we met up on a gorgeous sunday at catoctin mountain orchard in thurmont. what a place! loads and loads of wonderful spots to shoot, especially with an amazing sunset to light it all!

the apples were in full bloom on the trees, good enough to eat straight off the branch!

congratulations on the engagement, amanda and carl! super excited for your big day next summer at stone manor country club!

the love that surrounded nikki and mike on their wedding day was palpable. you could see it in their families’ and friends’ eyes. but most of all, you could see it in their hands. you see, most of the guests, and most of the wedding party, and most of both nikki’s and mike’s family members speak american sign language. and everyone in attendance, whether they use ASL or not, could see the excitement, exuberance, and joy with every smiling face, and every gesture and sign.

brenda dalton of rose brooke studio made all the ladies look their best, and was a delight to work with!

after nikki sent a heartfelt note to mike just before the ceremony, mike’s groomsmen teased him relentlessly as he tried to write one back!

nikki, you make such a gorgeous bride!

stone manor country club was a wonderful setting for the ceremony and reception.

our friends at the organized bride took care of all the lovely little details! well done!

nikki and mike performed a great choreographed first dance, to lots of cheers from their guests!

at weddings with lots of ASL speakers, claps are replaced by hands waving in the air. and when the guests want the bride and groom to kiss, no glasses get clinked. instead, napkins are waved wildly in the air! fun!

super fun idea – a make-your-own photo stand!

this crowd knows how to do the horah! that really kicked off the party for the night!

shew-sical entertainment kept the crowd dancing in stone manor country club’s great tent!

congratulations to you both! we had a wonderful time and wish you the best!

we are proud to announce the opening of spence photographics’ very own studio! we’ve officially opened our doors in downtown frederick, in the cultural arts center, at 15 west patrick street, just across from the weinberg center for the arts! we’re thrilled to be neighbors with some fantastic, artsy people, including the frederick arts council and maryland shakespeare festival! come on in and take a tour of our new digs …

having this space allows us to show off some of the absolutely gorgeous couples and families with whom we have had the pleasure to work during the last several years, as well as all the awesome products we have available for your own home!

we created this cozy little space with some help from our good friend, ikea! it’s a great place to chat and hang out for a while, with no distractions! eager to see it in person? give us a shout by clicking here! we look forward to it!

we met the mitchell family about two years ago, when our sons — their middle, our first — started preschool together. and now, the boys are in kindergarten! it’s amazing to see how fast the boys have grown! the mitchells have two other super cute kids, too, and we were happy to head over to their beautiful house and property in a more rural area of frederick to take some portraits! what a photogenic family!

brothers! do these guys look like troublemakers to you?!

and here’s the whole family – cat included!

these kids were a blast to photograph. lots of smiles and laughter! and we love those plaid shorts!!

this is one of our favorite shots. what a great property!

and here’s another favorite. the mitchells’ tire swing inspired us to create our own tire swing in our yard  – our little guy had so much fun playing on theirs, we figured we should have one, too! thanks to all the mitchells for all the smiles and all the fun!

we’ve known the fedors for a long, long time. ever since we moved to maryland, in fact. they attended our wedding many years ago, and both molly and dave have been co-workers of tom in the past. our dogs are buddies. and so are our kids. let’s just say we love these guys! so it was a pleasure to get the chance to take their family portrait as a mother’s day gift for melissa several weeks ago.

it was tom’s idea to shoot the family on the grounds of walkersville southern railroad. cool spot. but especially cool because tom is a railfan!

jillian, melissa, and tom were all good sports, willing to have some fun during the shoot! thanks, guys!

gotta love that jillian! can’t believe how big she’s getting! what a smile.

we met three tiny little sweethearts last week, and fell instantly in love. as you may remember from a previous post, we first worked with tim and holly gaydos when they got married in may 2009. in december, madelynn, natalee, and claire joined the family and the gaydos gang was born! we were lucky enough to spend a recent sunday morning with the tiny triplets and their very put-together parents for the girls’ first official photo session. we were so impressed with tim and holly and how well they “have it together,” taking care of three infants at once. we had a hard enough time with just one at a time! what a beautiful family. we look forward to watching the girls as they grow and grow and grow!

this will probably be an embarrassing photo for the girls once they are older, but for now… total cuteness!

and introducing … madelynn

this is claire, who was molly’s little buddy during the shoot.

and here is the precious, little natalee. she’s the smallest of the three, and such a little fighter.

pretty in pink: claire, natalee, madelynn

a little more than one year ago, our family was blessed with a new member. our niece, ginger miriam spence, was born in idaho in february 2010. we were ecstatic for our brother, matt, and his wife, naomi. we “met” little ginger online via the marvelous skype and kept in touch via photos and phone calls until we finally got to meet her in december. what an awesome, smooshie little girl! naturally, we had our cameras ready and suggested a wintertime family portrait session with the idaho spences while we all spent time together in bucks county, pa. luckily, a big snowstorm hit early in the week. the snowy, white backdrop is what matt, naomi and ginger are used to. they rarely see bare ground in idaho until may!

what a good-looking family, don’t you think?

the gorgeous naomi, as captured by molly.

see what we mean about ginger being smooshie? those cheeks are so kissable!

ginger at 10 months old

here’s looking at you, gingy! can’t wait to take photos of you again soon!

tim and holly got married in may 2009, on a lovely, super-hot, blue-sky day. these two just burst with love all day long. that bursting love exploded in the last few weeks, as holly gave birth to triplet girls back in december! wow!

we haven’t had the privilege of meeting little madelynn, claire, or natalee in person yet. but we’ve had fun reading about their adventures with their mom and dad on the family’s blog. these three little beauties, just more than a month old, are amazing!

becoming a parent is an awesome, and overwhelming, experience. even with one child. but with three at once?! well, that’s a challenge times three. that’s why we’ve decided to help out holly and tim via their friend’s “diapers for divas” campaign, to purchase some of the thousands of diapers these three little babies will go through in the first several years of their lives.

if you’d like to help out the effort as well, go to the gaydos gang blog and click on the “donate” button on the right side of the screen.

congratulations on your three beautiful blessings, holly and tim! let us know when they’re ready for their close-ups!