today we begin a special weekly blog post we’d like to call … the friday feature! that’s right, every friday, we’ll be featuring some great pictures right here on our blog. to kick off this series, we’ve created a fun, little slideshow of some of our favorite images from weddings we were fortunate enough to photograph in 2011. we had so many lovely, wonderful, happy brides and grooms in 2011 that we ended up with an amazing array of images to share. we hope you enjoy them!
 

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!

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!

cute. bubbly. all smiles, all the time. yep, that’s holly.

handsome devil. a serious face, but totally lovable. yep, that’s steve.

these two are perfect for each other.

you may remember holly and steve from their super fun engagement session in gettysburg, pennsylvania last year. a few weeks ago, these two tied the knot at the amazing musket ridge golf club. what a day! from the very beginning, we felt right at home. everyone was so easygoing and happy for the cutest wedding couple on the east coast!

thank you, holly and steve! you two were incredible and a joy to photograph! we wish you all the best in your marriage!

holly’s dress was amazing! so many lovely details!

all the bridesmaids looked gorgeous! we love all the details that holly put into the look! flowers by ory custom florals in new market!

thanks so much to my second shooter, mayrn! she rocked the shots with the boys!

holly and steve planned out time before the ceremony to take portraits together. we call this their “first look.” that look on holly’s face when she realizes steve is there — love it! she had no idea he was coming!

that’s one good-lookin’ wedding party!

the beach has a special place in holly and steve’s life together, so all the sand, shells and other beachy details were a nice touch!

we loved all the time holly and steve committed for pictures! it wasn’t hard photographing these two! love, love, love these!

the party was awesome, thanks to the great bruce pike from dynomite djs! so many fun pics!

you can really tell when two people are perfect for each other. amanda and chris are two such people. they make each other laugh. a lot. they both have a love for life, family, and each other. they both are the life of the party, and make themselves at home no matter where they are. perfect for each other.

so, when documenting their wedding recently at the gorgeous stone manor country club, we were thrust right into the middle of that love and laughter, and it was everywhere, all day long!

when i first arrived, the girls were busy, busy, busy putting the finishing touches on the delicious take-away treats!

everyone was having such a great time! lots of smiles and laughs all day long!

while we were getting some portraits of amanda, bridesmaid suzanne made herself right at home! she’s too funny!

what a fun group!

all day it was threatening rain, but we went ahead with an outdoor ceremony, and it was so worth it! gorgeous location!

chris and his groomsmen cutom built three sets of cornhole boards and bags, even making a midnight trip the day before to walmart to get more paint! love it!

chris has a love of heinz ketchup, so much so (according to his grandmother) that he uses it all the time. so it was only natural that they had custom bottles of the stuff for everyone to take home. perfect!

chris’ best friend, anthony, and amanda’s sister, lindsay, provided many good stories and laughs, plus some embarrassing tidbits for the toasts. all around good fun!

love was in the air all night long, and folks were loving the dance floor!

amanda and the girls were having fun all night long!

congrats, amanda and chris! we loved being a part of your big day!

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.

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!