Lizzie + Kris // a summer celebration at James Monroe's Highland

Lizzie + Kris are, without a doubt, two of the sweetest people I’ve ever photographed. Kris is a very talented stand up bassist who tours all over with his jazz quartet, along with teaching music, and Lizzie is super accomplished in her field of finance. They lived in Charlottesville for a time during the pandemic and then returned to NYC once things returned to normal. I got to meet them when we met for their engagement photos in Shenandoah National Park last summer, and then a few more times in between for coffee, and every time it felt like catching up with old friends. The thing I will always remember about these two is how Lizzie is always smiling and Kris’s laugh is iconic and can be heard across a room.

I’d never had the privilege of photographing a wedding at James Monroe’s Highland before, but I always dreamed of portraits under the trees lining the driveway. These two got very lucky with what I would call an objectively perfect June day - it was around 80, sunny, and not humid at all. Weather in VA is always a total wildcard so stepping outside on the morning of their wedding felt like a great sign of things to come. Their first look was adorable because Kris was momentarily entirely speechless, which makes sense - Lizzie had her dress custom made by combining two different dresses, and I’ve really never seen anything like it. As someone who knows very little about dresses and fashion in general, I didn’t actually know you could do this. In my mind it went down like the Mike Tyson bird meme of two dresses “now kith”ing.

There were so many other lovely parts of the day that it’s really hard to pick favorites and I will mostly just leave it to the photos, but beautiful ceremony, everything-I-dreamed-of golden hour portraits on the driveway, and an awesome party with music from a friend’s band aside, live music is also one of my favorite things, so there were two moments that really stood out. One was that Kris’s music mentor played trumpet with a trio during their ceremony and Kris’s sister joined in to sing a very emotional song, and the other was that same mentor playing a song he had written for Lizzie + Kris for them as they headed from cocktail hour to reception. The love and respect was so palpable. It always kind of amazes me that I get to photograph people who are so good.

Without further ado, here are some of my favorites from their wedding.