Carly was our wedding photographer and we are so thankful we chose her. After multiple reschedules…read moredue to Covid, Carly still managed to accommodate our engagement photos and wedding photos. She worked with us to craft a custom photo package that fit our needs and budget. My partner is shy in front of the camera, but Carly made us both feel at ease. She provides just the right amount of direction while making the poses feel natural. We appreciated the excitement and good energy she brought on both the engagement shoot and wedding day. One of the reasons Carly's work stood out to me in the first place was how the colors in her photos were vibrant and true to life. We were extremely happy with how the photos turned out. As a perfectionist that has worked with dozens of photographers in various jobs (music events, real estate and modeling), I know how rare it is to find such consistency. After the wedding we received a digital album and she had a convenient system for us to order high-quality prints. Carly is a talented photographer with an obvious passion for her work - we highly recommend that you get on her schedule!

I've had the opportunity to watch Carly take photos of multiple people, family's, and children…read more Carly has a way to make these family's, especially kids relax and enjoy the photo shoot! I have recommended her to multiple people, and no one has had a single complaint! She's easy going, and very open to your needs for the entire photo shoot! I will continue to recommend her to family and friends, knowing they won't be disappointed!!!!!

A little over 8 months ago, we hired Kimberly Toney Needles of Kimberly Needles Photography to…read morephotograph our wedding. Long story short, 8 months later, and we still don't have our wedding pictures. The trail of excuses and outright unprofessional behavior has been a long and distinguished one from Ms Needles. A couple of weeks after the wedding, she posted "Preview" pictures of the wedding on her Facebook page. Afterwards, we heard nothing for a few more weeks. When we finally called, she said her hard drive had crashed and that she was working to get it fixed. According to my text log, on 9/11 she said she had an appointment with the computer company and would find out what was going on. She also offered a refund at the time, which I said I would accept, and said she had "many more pictures" to give us, inferring she had at least a few pictures from the wedding. We have never seen them nor have we been given the ones she posted on the preview on Facebook. On 10/3, I asked for any pictures she had. No reply. On 10/21 I texted again, and she said, "The entire drive came back to me completely disorganized. I am currently going thru everything now. Not sure why this happened but cleaning it up now" Funny thing is, we skip ahead a few more weeks and she has sent this drive to a company in NC. I called the company to confirm this and the guy said he had had the drive since the 20th. I wonder how Ms Needles was "cleaning it (The hard drive) up now" on the 21st when it had been in NC since the 20th? In the middle of November, I called Ms Needles and insisted on a refund check. It came, in the form of a check written on another family members account. IT BOUNCED. I called her and told her it had bonced and she said she would pay any bank fees and would bring a good check to us the day before the Thanksgiving break started. Never saw her. We texted Ms Needles about the pictures on JAN 5th, and the reply came on JAN 8th as follows; "Since Monday I have left Marlon 3 messages and 1 email. I haven't heard anything back as of yet. He could be on vacation or sick bc he usually contacts me back. THE LAST THING I HEARD FROM HIM IS THAT HE WAS GOING TO TRY ONE MORE THING BEFORE SENDING IT BACK TO ME. AS SOON AS I HEAR ANYTHING I PROMISE I WILL CONTACT YOU". Then, later that day (after I had spoken to the computer guy, unbeknownst to Ms Needles) we got this; "I JUST GOT A PHONE CALL FROM HIM AND HE SAID THE DRIVE IS UNRECOVERABLE. I DO HAVE ONE OTHER DRIVE FOR HIM TO TEST AND IT HAS ALREADY BEEN SHIPPED TO HIM. HE WAS OUT A COUPLE OF DAYS". However, I was in touch with the man at the computer company that was trying to recover the hard drive. This was the timeline of events he emailed me on 10 Jan. Jay, We do not have an additional hard drive from Kim. We only had the one that was unrecoverable. It was received originally in our office on: 10-20-15 We emailed her that is was unrecoverable on: 12-18-15 We are mailing the original defective drive back to her. Thanks. Note that he contacted her on DECEMBER 18th and told her the drive was unrecoverable, and yet she messaged us on JAN 8th and acted like she had never heard this before. So here we are in Jan and I'm done. I've been more than fair and patient. We have come to the conclusion that we will never see our pictures unless legal action can force Ms Needles to give them up. To that end, I have had her served by the Frederick County Sheriffs Office with papers from Small Claims Court to get our $500 back, plus interest and any pictures she has in her possession. It is also obvious that we have been scammed. After some research, we found out we are not the only ones. As a friend of mine said, "If she's doing this with you, she's doing it with others" Of that I'm sure. I know of at least one other organization that is experiencing the same thing. BTW, in Virginia, the amount of the bounce check is a felony amount. A professional would have obviously handled this much differently. I hope this keeps our friends or anyone else from having to experience the frustration, disappointment and heartache we have dealt with over the last 7 months. Please feel free to share this far and wide.

Kim did an unbelievable job photographing my family. We purchased a package and gave it to my Mom…read morefor Mother's Day. Kim's laid back nature made for an easy 2 hours of photo taking. She's very responsive to questions and comments and her pictures come out amazing. We highly recommend Kim to anyone in need of and excellent, professional photographer.

This guy...what an extraordinary person. We hired him as our deejay but he was sooo much more! He…read morewas a major part of the entire ceremony as well as the reception. We could not have had such a smooth, exciting, fun filled day without him and all of the joy he brought to our family that day. We would definitely hire him again for events. If you are looking for a deejay that goes above and beyond, Mike's the one to hire. Above and beyond and worth every penny!! Thank you sooo much M & T Entertainment

Chelsea is wonderfully talented and a joy to work with. She is able to help even the most camera…read moreshy people feel comfortable. She was able to capture genuine smiles from my boyfriend who NEVER smiles in photos! She plays with light in unique and creative ways and always finds the most flattering angles. She is hands down, the best photographer I have ever worked with.

Chelsea is a magician. Plain and simple! Everything in my session seemed to go wrong with the kids…read more(blowouts, both kids upset, etc.) but she still managed to get incredible photos in between all the chaos that I will cherish for years to come. You won't regret hiring her! Worth.every.penny.

As an aspiring model, David is the perfect collaborator :)…read more He's very creative, open to ideas, and makes me feel extremely comfortable. He also knows his stuff - an artist through and through. We have been working together for a while now, and I have nothing but good things to say: he is always learning, experimenting, and personalizing his work. Whether he is covering an event or shooting a one-on-one creative photoshoot (like with me!), he is always aiming to understand your vision and showcasing what is important to you. I'm thankful for his collaboration and plan to work with him in the future.

Fantastic! We…read moreselected David at the referral of another officiant because he does weekend weddings. From the first moment I called David to set up our date and time, I knew he was going to be helpful and make things easy. He was very knowledgeable about the process for Virginia marriages and could be reached through phone, text, or e-mail to answer any questions I had. His prices are also very reasonable, and were much less than many of the officiants I had looked at to conduct our ceremony. David was on time for our wedding, was very polite, and did what he came to do. I couldn't have been happier with the process, and it was one less thing a stressed bride needs to worry about on the big day. Thanks, David!

Fast and simple. David is a nice person because my husband was late and I was waiting outside of…read moreanother side of the door. We both didn't see David but he was waiting for us. Of course I do not recommend being late on the court wedding day; but having such a nice marriage commissioner made our wedding so easy. Also, People in the court know David pretty well; this means that he's been practicing a lot. You don't need to be worried of getting married then found out the marriage commissioner was not authorized. Yes, this happened on other unfortunate couples.

When someone states that this place is in the middle of nowhere that is coming from a NYC dude like…read moreme. But actually Shadow Creek is in the spirit of North Virginia's hunt & wine country. Shadow Creek is a converted horse trailer that caters to Weddings and large events. They are located high on a hill overlooking the rolling countryside surrounded by horses & cows grazing. They have indoor dining room with seating for a group of almost three hundred. We were enjoying a wedding at Shadow Creek with friends and family. The cocktail hour was in a large rectangular room adjacent to the large dining room. They had two bars at both ends of the room, but was challenging to move from one side to the other through the standing crowd. The dining room was fairly large and the sound system for the band was actually very good considering we were in a once horse trailer. Overall I found the place unusual, but it surely a unique for a wedding.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Shadow Creek is one of, if not THE, most beautiful wedding locations in the DC…read morearea. Everything was absolutely perfect. Lori was more responsive than I ever imagined, answered any of my questions right away, and helped us the entire way leading up to the big day. She ensured every detail we wanted for the day was prepared for and provided us with the perfect list of vendors that she had experience with. Her sincerity and knowledge guided us to truly have the *perfect wedding.* We cannot imagine getting married anywhere else, and having worked with anyone else. Thank you for the experience - and the kindness - truly a world class experience.

From the stunning photos to the wonderful photographers, we are so happy that we chose Claudia…read moreDalton Photography for our wedding! Wedding planning is stressful enough, but finding a reasonably priced photographer with a nice portfolio proved to be a challenge. As with many things with our wedding, everything just fell into place. After seeing Claudia's photos of a mutual friend, I reviewed her blog and reached out to her with a few questions. A couple weeks later, Claudia and her husband Peter met with me and my fiance' to discuss our vision for engagement and wedding photos. They were very supportive of our ideas. Besides incorporating what we wanted, they went above and beyond to ensure that we had great pictures. Prior to our engagement session, I shared pictures of locations in Old Town Alexandria and talked with Claudia a few times by phone and email. They even recommended some places. The photos came out great, and we loved so many of the shots. A couple weeks before the wedding, Claudia and Peter were nice enough to meet with us to find good shooting locations in our venue and in the nearby area. The shots from the wedding were incredible! We get tons of compliments on our photos, and we often hear that Claudia has such a great eye! Plus, the presentation of our photos in their custom packaging was very beautiful. I highly recommend Claudia Dalton Photography! Claudia and Peter are just wonderful people. They truly captured all the love and joy during this special time in our lives. Thank you for everything!

Our family had a very negative experience with Claudia Dalton Photography (CDP), so I am using this…read moreforum as a means of expressing my feelings on the matter to share my feedback with other folks looking to acquire professional photography services. This is not meant to be a personal diatribe against Claudia as I feel that she really is a nice person, however this is the only means that we I have to voice our displeasure and share information that may aid another person or couple. We contracted CDP to provide two photography sessions, one for a pregnancy shoot, and another for after the baby was born. It seemed to be explained to me that we were receiving a bundled discount for services, and from my perspective, that other perks such as a hair dresser / makeup artist were included as part of the deal. Our family has hired photographers in the past, and the typical arrangement is that we pay the agreed upon fee for the photographer's time and a quantity of included digital picture files and / or prints. CDP does not operate in this fashion however as all of the digital files or prints resulting from your photo shoot are purchased separately on a strictly ala carte basis. The long story short of it is that we signed a contract with CDP for $300.00 for our two photo shoots, and then realized after the fact that we could not afford the ala carte pricing for any of their products. This was extremely distressing to us as we are a young family, and a luxury item such as this is something that we have to carefully budget and plan for. To invest $300.00 and come away with no real product is very upsetting. We expressed our concern to CDP, saying that we could not afford their products, and asked for half of our money back (we had just completed the first photography session and would not be seeking to schedule the second). CDP refused to meet us half way however, the tact taken from their party was more of a, "Well that's too bad, I am sorry that this didn't work out better for you." That response added insult to injury. From our perspective, CDP failed in the following respects: 1.       Clear Communication: CDP did not send their company policies, business practices, pricing list, etc. in one clear concise email. Some of these details (such as a pricing list) are not made available for reference on their website or are even in their contract. If I piece together the 5 or so emails that we exchanged with CDP, I can understand more fully how her business works... however the reality is that life (and my life) has many demands on it and if something isn't spelled out clearly and succinctly, I may interpret it or fail to comprehend it clearly. I should have looked into that string of emails that we exchanged more closely, and in retrospect asked more questions... but I also feel that CDP can do a better job of explaining their business practices to folks who have no familiarity with them.   2.       Value: CDP's prices are much higher than ANY other photographer that I have ever worked with. For example, the cheapest print offered was $75.00 and 20 digital files ... were $2,100.00. That is almost as much as I spent for the entirety of our wedding pictures. If CDP were a celebrity photographer, or had the portfolio to command such a high fee, I suppose that would be one thing, however there is nothing about CDP's work to suggest that her fee should be head and shoulders higher than other photographers in the area.   3.       Customer Service: As a client, I will own my share of the guilt in our negative experience, that I failed to properly understand CDP's business practices and prices before signing our contract. I should have read more carefully through our correspondence and asked more questions. However, when our family voiced our concerns, that we could not afford her work, and that we had backed ourselves into an unfortunate corner, we were met with absolutely no empathy. CDP was polite but refused to do anything for us that might improve our otherwise unfortunate position. The reality is if CDP had even tried to work with us a little... perhaps refund part of our $150? Offer some untouched digitals? A Print? Something? Had their response been anything other than "Well that's too bad", we could have walked away from this transaction feeling somewhat whole. Instead, we feel like we spent $300.00 and received next to nothing to show for it. Claudia is not a bad person, if anything, she is inexperienced with the business aspect of her part time photography venture. Maybe she'll take some of the lessons learned from our encounter and use them to better her practice. Either way, our family will not be using her services in the future and cannot recommend them to anyone else.