Several weeks ago we had the privilege of working with Horace and Mae Photography, on a project that has been in the works for a while: a long overdue wedding portrait session with Rebecca and me.
Haven't we been married for over two years?
Allow me to explain.
In the months leading up to our wedding in 2013 we took steps so that Rebecca would be able to wear her grandmother's wedding dress. It was a thing of beauty, last worn in 1950, and it was in dire need of some restoration. Being so old, the dress needed to be handled, tried on, and worn with a lot of care. We immediately started planning ways to replicate Rebecca's grandmother's solo wedding portrait, which is now a treasured family heirloom.
On our wedding day, our photographer had a health emergency and was unable to reproduce the wedding portrait. Everything turned out to be fine, but we had this bit of unfinished business in the back of our minds. We moved to Charleston, SC and the dress was moved to Virginia to stay with Rebecca's aunt.
And about two years passed.
Finally, we found the time to drive north, exhume the dress and schedule a shoot. Horace and Jennifer (Mae) brought us to Belvoir, the manor house of Ann Ross Key (Francis Scott Key's grandmother) in Annapolis, MD. The home remains much the same as it was in the 1700's and was the most perfect backdrop imaginable for portraits in the vintage gown. Horace worked primarily with gorgeous old film cameras, while Jennifer shot digital.
It was a joy to watch these two artists work, and fun to be on the other side of the camera for a while.
