Wedding & elopement photography for Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and wherever else you want to take me. Based ninety minutes outside DC, and further when asked.
Neither do I.
You know you want the two of you looking incredible. You know you want your family. Your friends. The place you picked. The flowers you spent six months thinking about and will somehow never think about again.
But there are photographs you don't know to ask for yet.
Your mom looking at you when you're not looking at her.
Your dad laughing with somebody across the room.
Your friends holding hands during your vows.
A kid asleep on someone's lap.
The people who have known you separately for years, suddenly at the same table.
Someone's grandmother, losing it at the same joke as everyone else.
Your dog doing whatever the hell your dog decides to do.
Or deciding, for once, to behave.
That's why I pay attention to everything.
I do this at every wedding.
Because I'm not spending eight hours pretending the only two people here are the two people getting married. Obviously, you're a pretty big deal. But these are your people, part of the reason you're throwing this thing in the first place.
I want you to find photographs in your gallery that make you say: "Holy shit. I didn't even see that happen."
And then give it some room to breathe.
I want to know when the ceremony starts. I want enough time for photographs. I'm probably thinking seven steps ahead anyway. But I don't want every minute of your wedding assigned a job. Life is going to happen in between all those carefully planned things.
Let it.
If dinner runs ten minutes late because everyone is having a good time, we'll survive. If somebody starts crying, I'm not checking the timeline. If the light suddenly looks reeeeallly goooood, I may steal you for five minutes.
And if everything goes completely according to plan? Well. That's suspicious.
I don't want to pretend I'm above making a gorgeous fucking photograph. DC courthouse steps. A Loudoun County vineyard. A backyard in Maryland. The Blue Ridge. A ballroom with terrible light I'm absolutely going to complain about internally and then figure out anyway. I want the photograph you print enormous: the one that makes you look at each other and go "Jesus Christ. That's us?" And then I want the one right beside it of your best friend absolutely losing her mind. Both belong here.
My favorite weddings are all over the damn place.
A Jewish and Indian backyard wedding: a drummer leading the processional, henna still fresh on her hand.
A backyard reception with a drum circle, cold-spark fireworks, and an airplane on the cake.
A wedding in California, surrounded by actors and theater people.
Seven of us, standing in a moss-covered Oregon forest.
Then cliffs over the Pacific.
Then a walk down Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock behind us.
And a thousand moments like these.
I'm a little quiet. This surprises people who have only encountered me while I'm working, because apparently Wedding Aaron knows what he's doing. Regular Aaron can absolutely stand beside someone at a party wondering whether we've reached the part where I'm supposed to talk first.
At a wedding, I have a job. I know when to give direction. I know when the light isn't working. I know when somebody needs help, or needs space. And I know when nothing needs fixing and I should shut the hell up and let something happen.
Clients have called me calm and collected. Meanwhile, inside my head, I'm thinking about the light, what's happening next, whether I've photographed the cake, and approximately seventeen other things. So apparently the system works.
By the end of the night I've usually talked to your parents, your friends, your wedding planner, several relatives, and whoever can tell me when dinner is happening. Especially whoever can tell me when dinner is happening.
I've been photographing weddings since 2018. I'm based in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and most weekends take me into Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Maryland, the Shenandoah Valley and everywhere in between. Sometimes somebody has a better idea and puts me on a plane. I like those too.
AARON MAY · SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV
From the people who actually hired me
He has such a calm demeanor that makes you feel totally comfortable even if you hate being in front of a camera.Sarah
We said we wanted to be out in nature, and Aaron delivered. He even suggested the location.Lillian
He was very professional, but also very calming and helpful when I was a nervous wreck.Kathy
Not styled shoots. The actual weddings, start to finish. See all stories
Your date. Your venue, if you have one. The general shape of the thing. I'll send you my full pricing and we'll find a time to talk.
Not a sales call where I spend 45 minutes trying to create scarcity around myself. I want to hear what you're planning and who's going to be there.
We'll tighten up the timeline as the wedding gets closer. On the day, I'll know the plan. You can go get married. I'll take it from there.
City Hall and pizza. Your parents' backyard. Two hundred people. Seven people in Oregon. A ballroom in DC. A little ceremony in the mountains of West Virginia.
You're putting a stake in the ground: this happened, we chose each other, and these were the people who were here when we did. That's what I want the photographs to hold onto. Not just what everything looked like. Who was there.
So no. I don't know which photographs will matter yet. I'm going to make damn sure we have plenty to choose from.
Check Your DateFirefly session dates, Texas winter openings, and the occasional full wedding worth seeing. Nothing else.
