We are so excited to share with you a gorgeous wedding reception at Chima Restaurant, in the heart of Tysons Corner, where I have created so many memories, growing up in this area. My high school friend Sergio knows we do wedding photography in Virginia and North Carolina and had seen the wedding and family portrait photos in our IG and FB pages. He sent us a message about coming to Virginia to do a wedding for his coworker Jamie and her fiance which was happening in two months! The answer, of course, was “yes” as we had that weekend available. The conversation started right away with Jamie and her fiance Carl. This couple was so organized, had a clear idea of what they wanted, shared with us beautiful traditions they wanted to make sure were photographed and chose a beautiful place to have their wedding reception.
Organizing their Big Day!
Let me start by saying that Chima Steakhouse has a unique style of service which is “rodizio,” meaning that the servers dressed in gaucho attire go in a rotation to each table serving a variety of beef, lamb, ribs, sausage, pork, chicken, etc.. plus, a gourmet salad bar. With that, it is not easy having a limited amount of hours to do a reception and trying to fit beautiful photos of the couple. Because our couple had their civil ceremony at a previous date, our Silver Package was almost ideal to cover their wedding needs, with a few modifications. We spent about two hours the day prior taking photos of just the two of them at the Green Spring Garden in Franconia and then four hours at Chima Restaurant that was easily executed.
The couple chose a beautiful garden for their wedding photos, they were adventurous and trusted us with the different locations we went to, including a creek! (We may one day share how all of a sudden we see Brian going into the creek to get the best angles, we were all holding our breath!) We loved this couple in particular because they were always super interested in meeting with us every time to go over all the details of their wedding day, listened to our suggestions as we have know how important photos are to keep special memories of their wedding celebration.
Beautiful Traditions
During our “Discovery Calls” with Jamie and Carl, we learned of a few amazing traditions we knew we couldn’t miss photographing. For the day of the reception, the bride expressed an interest in doing a toast at each table. This practice is often done in Chinese culture to celebrate special moments with a toast, just as it was important for her grandfather, of 95 years, to take a photo with all her grandkids. He was just the sweetest man and was always in high spirits seeing her beautiful grandaughter and family members so happy. Also, spending the two hours with them the day before the reception allowed us to get to know each other and make it extra special with a few props of our own which we brought with us to truly make the details pop.
We love creating moments which become “our traditions.” We work with Gaby Lugo Calligraphy who makes just everything beautiful for weddings and we asked her to write their initials and anniversary date so the couple can also have a photo of their civil ceremony date as part of their photo collection.
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