we discovered the website etsy a few years ago, and absolutely love it. in case you are unfamiliar, the site is basically an online marketplace where creative, crafty folks can sell their wares to people around the world. amazing products abound, especially for crafty people who are planning a wedding! lots of our couples have incorporated crafty details into their weddings, whether purchased on a site such as etsy, or even more impressively, created by themselves! we love when crafty details show up at a wedding – they help to give loads of personality to the day, and hey, they’re fun to photograph, too! (note to couples with upcoming weddings: make sure to give us a heads up about any crafty details you are planning, so we can be sure to get lots of great images of them for you!)

we’ve often used the expression: “when one door closes, another one opens,” and have found it to be true in many aspects of life. it’s all about seizing great opportunities. when it comes to engagement sessions, doorways have offered some great opportunities for unique backgrounds to show off the lovely couples we work with! doorways can add a pop of color, texture, and interest to a shot. take a look at a few interesting ways we’ve incorporated doorways into engagement sessions recently (below), and if your engagement session is coming up soon, let us know if there’s a special doorway we can capture for you!

rain, rain go away?! actually, no! most people think rainy days (like today, for instance) mean a rain-out for good picture-taking opportunities. but that’s not true at all! when rain is in the forecast we just grab our nicest umbrellas and go for it! we’ve been fortunate to work with some great couples and families who were eager to get out in the rain and the results have been fantastic. you know, they say that rain is good luck on a wedding day! and we believe it! check out some of our favorite rainy day photo ops…

these cuties were guests at a wedding and weren’t afraid of a few raindrops!

we think the umbrella makes a sweet (and necessary!) prop in this pic!

jessi and steven were ready for the rain – she brought some cute rain boots with her to their engagement session. and the misty atmosphere made for some really romantic shots!

steven and liana were the definition of good sports when an unexpected rainstorm drenched them (and me!) towards the end of their engagement shoot! love it!

welcome to friday, and the friday feature! this week, we are featuring a little thing we like to call “found details.” so many couples find so many special and interesting ways to express their personalities at their weddings. when we find these details and photograph them as they are in real life (no set-ups here!), then we call them found details. we absolutely love finding these little details, since it really does help us tell the story of each couple’s wedding day. click below to see a slideshow of some really special found details we … found … at some recent weddings. they range from a sticky note written by a groom to his bride to an interesting guest book technique to a bride’s handwritten vows. enjoy! and happy friday!

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!

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!

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!

liana and steven are married! yay! we had a blast on their big day at matapeake state park in stevensville, maryland! everything was amazing, from the cupcakes(super yum!) to the home-made details(super awesome!)! more pics to come soon!

meet jessi and steven. two kids in love. he’s a native marylander, she was born in illinois. they have been dating since high school. and a little while ago, steve proposed to jessi on the beach. perfect.

i met up with the happy couple a little while ago in middletown, maryland for some fun engagement images. we met outside the main cup, a really awesome local eatery and coffeehouse, and right away they felt like celebrities. literally moments after we met up, a server came bursting out the doors yelling, “hey, sis!” it was jessi’s brother! so, when we went inside for some pics we were treated like royalty. yay!

i am crazy excited for their big day, which will take place at the comus inn at sugarloaf mountain in dickerson, maryland. such a beautiful place for a wedding!

i have driven past this little old building for years on the main drag in middletown, and finally got to shoot in front of it! such a cool place!

chillin’ at the main cup!

found this ultra secret location on a drive with the family a while back. love it! especially in the rain!

i’ve also been waiting for the right time to photograph in this field. perfect!

jessi and steven, you guys are incredibly awesome. i can’t wait for your big day!

meet liana and steven. they’re penn staters. they rock. enough said.

we met up a short while ago in their adopted hometown of stevensville, maryland. (check it out the next time you go over the bay bridge, it’s a fun little town. first exit. blink and you’ll miss it.) driving there, i kept seeing seriously massive storm clouds brewing over the Bay. hoping for the best, we watched as most of the storm swung by us, and braved windy conditions at times, but had a blast!

after walking all over stevensville, we headed to matapeake state park, where they are getting married. what a cool place! steven found an abandoned parking lot with a path that led to the beach. but after only minutes on the beach, the skies opened up and we all got soaked! they were super troopers about the whole thing, and let me get some fun walking in the rain pics!

we’re excited for their big day! bring on the fun!

this little post office was so fun to shoot around!

this town was chockfull of charming details. perfect for a charming couple!

right here is when the rain started coming down, they loved it!