Category Archives: procopio photography

Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

We’ve come to the final installment of our beach anniversary photo shoot on Assateague Island, which makes me so sad—no more pretty beach pictures to stare at.

If you missed any of the previous installments, you can find part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, and the explanation of why we are doing these pictures here.

When we left off yesterday, Mr. A and I had just finished reciting our vows again on the beach as the waves came crashing in.  Once we were finished, our photographers walked us back over to a natural dune area in Assateague, away from the beach.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0069 400x600 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

While it was a great backdrop for the sun setting, the area was swarming with blood hungry bugs.  Standing in this spot, I got bit in the forehead and on the chest, which I didn’t even think was possible, while Mr. A had bugs flying up his nose.

Pretty romantic, no?

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0072 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

Despite the swarming blood suckers, our photographers managed to sneak in some great shots.

You can’t even tell that we are being eaten alive.  Note to self, wear bug spray the next time you are in Assateague—in fact, just drench yourself in it.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0074 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

This spot was also one of the only times I actually got to use the shoes that I bought for this dress.  It’s too bad because they were really cute.

After we finished up here, we trekked over to the western side of the island that is surrounded by the calm bay waters to catch the sunset.

We hiked through quite a long area of stinky marsh until we found this quiet respite.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0076 400x600 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

The sky looks so incredibly vibrant and amazing in these pictures.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0254 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

It’s almost like being there.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0082 400x600 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

What you can’t see is that our poor photographer, Jason, who is holding up the lighting for this shot, was literally inches away from horse poop (Assataegue has wild roaming horses).  Thanks Jason icon smile Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0077 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

At this point, we had been shooting and moved around for about 4 hours so Mr. A and I thought we were done with the sunset but Jason and Cicely, our photographers, had one last location they wanted to squeeze in.

Being that he has a penchant for structures, Jason had found this old boat house that he wanted to use as a backdrop for some dramatic backlit photos.  So we drove on over to the boathouse to squeeze in one last locale.

At this point, it was pitch black outside, there’s no light pollution this far back in the woods, so Jason had to use a video light to light our way to the location aka operation avoid the horse poop.

Since this lighting technique was so dramatic, our photographers asked us to use an equally dramatic pose.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0079 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

I had to arch my back as much as possible while Mr. A pulled me towards him as he leaned against the wall.

What can I say? Being a model is hard work.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0080 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 4

With the last shot in the bag, we all packed back into our cars for the 4 hour drive back home.  By this point, it was 9:30 and we hadn’t eaten anything since arriving at 4:30.  We were all pretty exhausted.  But it was definitely worth it.

Thanks again Jason and Cicely for working so hard and burning the midnight oil to give us all of these amazing pictures.  They voluntarily worked way beyond our two hour shooting time frame to give us the plethora of pictures I’ve shown.  They seriously are just really sweet, lovely people.  I think I owe you both a Key Lime Pie!

So what did you guys think of the pictures?

Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

So far I’ve gone through two parts of our anniversary photo shoot (you can catch part 1 here and part 2 here and the original post explaining why we were doing the shoot here).  After we finished taking pictures on the nature trail, we headed off to the beach for the most anticipated part of the day, reciting our wedding vows.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0182 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

For those of you who followed our wedding, you know that we wrote our own vows and recited them from handicalligraphed cards from our calligrapher.  After the wedding, we put our vow cards in frames and displayed them on our nightstands.  For the photo shoot, we took the vows out of their safe dry frames and headed out to the beach to relive our wedding ceremony all over again (hoping that the wind wouldn’t steal them away).

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0235 400x600 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

This turned out to be the most intimate moment of our day because our photographers set us out on our own and photographed from afar.  Everything they captured was totally unscripted.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0190 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

I started off letting Mr. A go first.  We positioned ourselves like we did for our ceremony , holding hands, facing each other, and taking a deep breath.  He proceeded to recite his entire vows from memory.  It was so sweet and so touching.  I had no idea that he had memorized them all.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0225 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

When he finished, I smiled and told him how thoughtful it was that he knew everything by heart.  Then, he reminded me that he’s watched our wedding video so many times that the words are seared into his brain.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0199 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

Then it was my turn.  I felt so bad I hadn’t memorized them.  The running joke is that I took a while to read my vows on our wedding day because I opted for stylish, instead of functional vows.  The calligraphy is white on a shimmery silver card, with the writing running diagonally.  It’s almost impossible to read in the blaring sun but it looks pretty.  Anyway, true to our wedding, I had difficulty again reading my vows and kind of skip an entire line…whoops.

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0222 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

When it was all over, we both were so swept up in the joy of the moment that Mr. A picked me up and twirled me around.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 0065 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

He’s still mad I wasn’t actually looking at him in these pictures but I was more concerned with not flashing everyone icon smile Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

060612DA Procopio Photography Regular Gallery 0237 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

Once we finished our twirl, our photographers had us pose.

060612DA Procopio Photography Artist Favorites 00682 650x433 Beach Anniversary Photo Shoot Part 3

And then again with some cute seashells.

I’m really glad that we decided to recite our vows again during our photo shoot.  It helped us relive the joy, excitement, and love of our wedding day all over again. Even though it had been over a year, my memories from that day are still so vivid that I get transported back to that point every time we talk about the wedding.

Absorbing and rereading our vows also helped to reinvigorate our commitment and promises to each other.  These handwritten vows are still probably one of my favorite details from our wedding. They will continue to live on and on, serving as a testament to our deep love.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final installment of our anniversary pictures, featuring some sunset beach pictures and a little after dark action.