Emily Chastain Photography

Emily is simply amazing. Patient, kind, and great at what she does. She was so wonderful directing us for photos during our microwedding in the midst of the event chaos and timeline. She truly helped make our day smooth and we cannot wait to work with her again.

Do you like puns? Do you ever feel a little awkward when you're having your photo taken? Are you a human who needs someone to take pictures for you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, HIRE EMILY NOW! Emily's photos are incredible - her eye for composition and light are unparalleled. Our wedding day was pretty windy with clouds shifting the light constantly, and she handled the changing conditions seamlessly. Her editing is also fantastic - colors are vibrant and true, never oversaturated or washed out. She goes out of her way to find unique angles so that your photos won't look like everyone else's, and she's always up for an adventure. If you have an idea, even if you think it might be crazy or inconvenient, her answer is probably yes. She's also SO easy to work with. My husband and I are (like many humans who aren't models or Instagram influencers) a little uncomfortable in front of the camera. Yes, I have on many occasions taken 900 selfies in 20 minutes and hated every single one of them. If only I had unlimited money to hire Emily to follow me around everywhere!! Within a few minutes of meeting us she already had us relaxed and at ease. She gave hilarious cues to get natural smiles and poses out of us - not a single one of our photos looks fake. Emily was also super communicative and always easy to get hold of, even when our big day was still pretty far off. She has a ton of local DC-area experience and was able to give us some great referrals, including for our videographer, and she worked so well with all our vendors on the day of to make sure we had as smooth a day as possible. Emily has a great sense of humor and balances friendliness and professionalism perfectly. Working with her was a true pleasure - I would absolutely recommend her to anyone.

Emily was everything we wanted and needed in a photographer! Our engagement photos are literally perfect. The wedding was so great- the day was easy (as far as photos went)! She was around during the reception but it never interrupted the fun or flow of the night. She is highly skilled and beyond easy to work with. I can’t recommend her more!! She was the best!

Do not hesitate, BOOK EMILY NOW! Emily was absolutely amazing to work with! She delivered our engagement and weddings pictures quickly and they're still my favorite thing ever. A year and a half later, I still look at them every single day! If you want someone to capture every moment of your wedding then Emily is your person!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Emily! She captured our wedding perfectly -- She caught all of the little, special moments, the laughs, the tears, etc. impeccably and made me, my husband, and all of our guests feel totally at ease. Her photos are genuine and authentic and aren't staged or fake feeling. Emily was also super flexible as we rescheduled our wedding (which was postponed due to the pandemic) and pretty much restructured our wedding from an 80 person event to a backyard 10 person event. I would hire her again in a heartbeat.

Emily is amazing. We had to cancel our 200 person wedding and switch to a small outdoor ceremony of 15 and Emily was amazingly flexible and chill about the whole process. Beyond that she took SUCH beautiful photos. If you want photos that will capture little moments and memories - hire Emily! She somehow managed to capture every laugh and tear it is so impressive. I actually had a friend text me and ask if Emily had a second photographer at the event, because she manage to capture every angle of the important ceremony moments, she's just that good.

We were introduced to Emily by our sister-in-law, a professional wedding photographer herself, who could not recommend Emily more highly. From the minute we first met Emily for our engagement shoot in downtown Annapolis, we instantly felt comfortable with her. She recommended us to grab a drink (or 3…) prior to our shoot so we could loosen up a bit in front of the camera. After a stop for some margaritas, we ventured into the cold through the historic streets to a number of perfect backdrops. When we received our photos back from Emily (very quickly, we might add), we were amazed with not only the quality of the photos but the variety as well. After all of the compliments we received from our friends and wedding guests on our engagement photos, we were even more relaxed and comfortable for the big day. Emily and her 2nd shooter, Jennifer, showed up right on time to our hotel and instantly became fast friends with the wedding party and our families as well. The stress of coordinating family and wedding party shots was nonexistent because Emily was professional and excellent at “herding” people together for beautiful photos. Emily’s talent is evident in her photographs but it is her professionalism, friendliness, and ability to make us feel comfortable in front of the camera which really set her apart as the perfect wedding photographer. -Vinny & Ross <3

Emily was great to work with. My husband hates getting pictures done, and somehow she got him to smile. I loved the engagement photos and I am looking forward to seeing our wedding photos. I fully recommend Emily, she is AMAZING

I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I researched photographers excessively – including making a huge spreadsheet of details about each one. We were looking for a photographer that had some non-traditional pictures, someone who wasn’t just looking to capture the basic couple pictures, and someone who we felt could really capture who we were as a couple and as individuals. I scheduled a meeting with Emily about a year before our wedding, and after talking with her I felt like I had just hung out with an old friend. I went home and raved about how I found the perfect person- and she is the ONLY one I actually met with. I booked her immediately. A quick decision we will forever be thankful for. We took our engagement pictures with Emily, and we were a little nervous – we aren’t really picture people and aren’t very good at the whole photogenic thing. Emily made us feel at ease, she captured us being ourselves, and she made us laugh, authentically, over and over. Once she told Chris to whisper my favorite lunch meat in my ear – and I laughed hysterically over a whispered “salami” – you can see in our pictures how real that laugh was. Fastforward to our wedding. I spoke with Emily a few weeks out to go over pictures we wanted to take, general timeline, etc. She helped pick our wedding party picture location and we trusted her completely – and because of trusting her and her incredible insight we have unbelievable wedding pictures (and we haven’t even seen them all yet!) After the wedding we were immediately raving about how we couldn’t wait to see particular shots she got – one in particular, with us on the balcony at the Mayflower with a light on us, and the full reception room in the background. It’s unique, and beautiful, and captured how we felt on the day. That’s what’s so special about Emily – she somehow sees into who you are, and makes your pictures about that, not about looking pretty and in love. That comes through because of how she captures you as a person and you as a couple. She makes it art. I once posted a picture on facebook of me catching a bouquet from a prior wedding with the quote “that’s the thing about pictures, no matter how beautiful, they couldn’t capture the truly felt parts of a moment.” After working with Emily – I know that quote isn’t true. She did capture the truly felt parts. Over and over and over. We can relive our wedding day through her pictures – not just the beauty and the love, but how we felt. It’ll be what keeps us going when times are hard. We can look at them and remember the happiness and it will always bring us back to that wonderful day. Working with her was a blessing. Hire her, you won’t regret it.

Emily was AMAZING. There aren't enough stars here for me to show how fantastic she was. Every single photo is beautiful and we had such a hard time picking just a few for the photo album she put together for us, because we wanted all of them. She truly captured the best moments of the wedding and really understood what we were looking for. I regularly look through the photos to remember all of the moments from the wedding, and each one brings so much joy. Emily is wonderfully talented and we were so happy she was a part of our big day. Planning a wedding while being stationed overseas comes with many stressful moments, but there wasn't a single time I was nervous about working with Emily or the photography.

We are SO glad that we hired Emily for our wedding and engagement photos! Our pictures came out absolutely AMAZING! Emily is not only professional, creative and talented, but she is also super nice, easy going, and fun which is just as important! She helped make me and my husband feel comfortable in front of the camera and we never felt super posed or awkward. Throughout the wedding reception we hardly even knew she was there and she got so many incredible shots. Emily also had a 2nd shooter, Jim Heine, who was also so great! They both really captured the energy in the room with all the candid shots of our friends and family having a blast! I can't say enough good things about the whole experience. We absolutely love our photos and we will treasure them forever! Thank you Emily!

Emily was fantastic and such a pleasure to work with. She made the entire process easy and fun and we loved getting to know her. Our pictures turned out beautiful and felt so effortless. They were waiting for us when we returned from our honeymoon and we loved reliving our day. Can't thank her enough for capturing our special day. Definitely recommend!!

We could not have asked for a better photographer. She knows what she's doing and works WITH you rather than for you. I'd give her TEN stars if I could.

Emily is an amazing photographer. She came well recommended from dear friends of ours, (Just look for the David K., 06/09/2018 review below, which is ALSO glowing which will come as no surprise if you set up a meeting with Emily.) Her services were well laid out, and while I believe her Portfolio speaks for itself, I would like to add that the photos on her site speak not just for the best of her work, but for ALL of her work, she's just that good. She listens and carefully takes into account all of your odd special requests, my grandparents have a 50th coming up and this might have been our last chance to convince them to dress up before the big event and with a little request on my part, we now have a mountain of wonderful pictures to prepare for the Anniversary presentation we are putting together for them. She caught our guests at their bests, and during the time reserved for groom and groom photos managed to assemble some wonderful not-quite-candids in the historical alleys of Alexandria round our wedding venue. And even when rain decided to limit our outdoor photos, she managed to spin it to our advantage with a night time, rain photo, with the full lighting on the rain drops around us that I can't stop smiling at. And then there's her amazing dedication. Though we didn't get the assistant package, when it became clear weather would limit our outdoor shots, and she knew how important those were to us, she brought in an assistant for the first half anyway, (at no charge) to make sure her work would be spot on. Having seen what her assistant did after, I would add one regret of my own, we should have gotten the second photographer package even though we were under the 150 guest suggested number, because Rachel was charming and did a wonderful job corralling wedding parties during photography as well as taking secondary shots! I cannot stress you will not regret selecting Emily, because we went in with high expectations set by our friends using her services, and were blown away by how easily she met and rose above them. Do yourself a favor, there's a lot that can go wrong on a wedding day, (we should know, not just the weather turned on us, at one point the fire department stopped by during our cocktail hour and we had to usher everyone out) but if you have Emily, at least you know the photographs wont be ONE of those things. (Even the firemen turned out great in the photos!)

Emily was absolutely a dream to work with! My husband and I did both an engagement shoot and wedding photos with Emily. She worked with us to put together a package that fit our needs. Working with her, it’s clear she knows what she’s doing and absolutely loves doing it. She does a great job of capturing the moment without you even knowing she’s there, and all of our photos turned out beautifully! We highly recommend using her!

Emily was great to work with because she was behind the scenes, yet still got every picture we wanted. She wasn't pushy with setting up shots. She had genuine enthusiasm for the event which put us at ease that this wasn't just another job for her. We could tell she enjoyed her work and wanted to provide us with the best shots possible.

Emily is amazing and captured our day with class, creativity and beauty! The images she created are beyond beautiful and are better than I hoped for and imagined. She was incredibly professional, kind and fun. Her second photographer, Jessica, was fun and very talented as well. Emily captured the spirit and love of our wedding and relationship and did so without demanding shots, "setting up" moments or being obtrusive. I was worried about many aspects of the wedding, but from the very beginning, I never once worried about the photography. I knew she was going to handle everything and I had complete confidence in her. She deserves every bit of that confidence! she is amazing!

Emily was amazing. She was everywhere but it felt like she was nowhere. Completely unobtrusive while capturing fantastic pictures. She calmed my nerves from the moment she walked into my hotel room. Her professionalism, kindness, and grace cannot be overstated. Our families and friends are incredibly impressed. My husband and I so enjoyed our time with Emily and HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend her.

Emily is the best. Really. She photographed my sister-in-law's wedding, and then her sister's wedding, and then mine, and there is a reason we keep going back to her. She takes beautiful pictures, of course, but what's special about her is the way she's so subtle about it, yet gets exactly what you - and she wants. I've been in weddings where the photographer was annoying or pushy - she's none of those things. And she was so adept at her job. She got the perfect lighting for everything, set up beautiful shots of us, organized our huge families for group shots, and handled guests in our way wonderfully. And she got our pictures, both from our engagement shoot and the wedding, back to us super quickly. I'm recommending her to every bride I know - she's fantastic!

My husband and I hired Emily after immediately falling in love with her calm and professional demeanor. The photos she shared with us were breathtaking, and we knew that she provided the right blend of posed and candid that we were looking for. The day of the wedding, she and her second photographer Marcella put everyone completely at ease. During the ceremony and reception, they blended in with the crowd and got some fantastic dance shots. Emily was very quick to show us our photos - all of which were gorgeous! We could not have asked for better mementos of our wedding day. They capture everything that we loved about that day; I would recommend Emily a thousand times over.

My husband and I used Emily for our engagement photos. We loved working with her during that session and were so impressed with the quality of our photographs that we immediately hired her for our big day! Emily was so friendly and easy to work with - we talked a couple of weeks for before the wedding to go over all the formal shots we wanted to capture. The day of, Emily and her assistant photographer seemed to be everywhere! They blended into the background and were able to get pictures of everything without being intrusive. Our wedding was outside of the DC area so we opted to pay for her travel because that's how much we loved working with her, I would recommend her to everybody!!

Emily took our engagement photos in NYC and we had a blast! When selecting the right photographer I was looking for someone with the right blend of skills, creativity, and awesome personality - Emily totally fit the bill and then some! Because after all, if you're gonna be with this person for a while whether it's for your engagement session or wedding, you might as well like 'em! Emily went in with a really positive, upbeat attitude and remained that way even when we did a super early 6:30 am session (yikes!). She was truly able to capture the best, unique shots that were reflective of our personalities. And yes, the photos were phenomenal! All in all, I'm beyond thrilled that we selected Emily as our photographer. The fact that we hired her to come to NYC out of all the local photographers in the area, speaks volumes of her craft.

Emily was one of my favorite vendors that I worked with during the wedding. Her photography really speaks for itself. We loved our engagement and wedding photos as has everyone else that has seen them. Even now, 6 months after the wedding, people are still talking about how great she was and how much they love the photos. If I could give her more stars I would. She is great!

Emily did everything we asked and did a fabulous job. We are still waiting on the final photos, but the previews we have seen are amazing! Her price was very reasonable as well.

My experience with Emily Chastain photography has been exceedingly wonderful. She is a fantastic, talented artist and photographer, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the rest of the photos!! My day-of was very busy, and could have been riddled with hiccups, based on the schedule I had lined out. Emily made everything go so smoothly, and was so pliant in terms of plans and timing. Thanks Emily!!

We have only received about 30 pictures so far, but they are amazing. They are gorgeous. We are so excited to see the remaining "thousands" that Emily took. She is incredibly creative and I have never seen some of the the ideas she had for shots... we never even knew she was around and we are a really big crowd with lots of family.

Emily and Stephen were spectacular!! I just received all 800+ of our wedding photos and they look aaa-may-zing! They were both so fun to work with! And patient. We had a grumpy helper at the Church who liked to move everything before we were finished and get in the way of the photos. But they were able to shoot around her and do wonderful work! I can't wait to put my album together! The album was the deciding factor in choosing Emily, besides being super nice and having a spectacular portfolio. She includes a really thick, cardboard-type album with a collage of photos on every page. I'm going to get 3 mini albums for our parents as well! Definitely choose Emily as your photographer!

Emily was a wonderful photographer! I have had numerous compliments on the pictures of our wedding. She kept in touch with me in the months preceding my wedding to be sure she had all the info, and knew what I was expected from our pictures. After the wedding I was worried that I had forgotten to get pictures with certain people, but Emily had anticipated what pictures I may have wanted and they were all there when I looked at the proofs. I will be recommending her to all of my friends and any future brides.

Emily was amazing. She got all the pictures I could imagine plus some. I wanted a photographer that would have classic shots mixed in with some more modern images. Emily did just that. She got some amazing photos of the ceremony! After the ceremony, she took myself, my husband and the bridal party to numerous locations to get more photos. When she captured was so clean, clear and unbelievable. Emily shots photos that I never saw before. She made sure we were satisfied with the pictures we got. When my husband and I entered the reception, Emily had already uploaded the pictures we just took to her iPad to show our guests. It was a "sneak peak" minutes after she took the pictures. Before she finished for the night, she made sure to ask if there were any other pictures that we wanted her to take. Also, her pricing is very reasonable. I was glad I chose her to capture my wedding day! For her amazing price, Emily is by far the best deal out there. Her photography is priceless!!!

Emily was such a find. My fiance actually found her online b/c she had photographed at our venue before and he loved her pics. We met with her and she was easy going, showed us some BEAUTIFUL pictures of other weddings she photographed, and we were so excited to sign her on. She was even able to guide us a little on our timeline (which we were clueless about to start with) so we could enjoy the wedding and have great photographs! During the wedding, she was just the right balance of making sure we got the pics we wanted and magically finding the great pics we didn't even know we wanted. Everyone who has seen just the first 30 or so pics she posted right away on her blog and fb page is just in awe. They are so fantastic and capture the mood of every part of our special day. I can't believe she got them up so quickly, it really was wonderful because everyone wanted to see pics afterwards, those who were there and those who weren't. We absolutely loved our wedding as every couple should. Totally loved it. But the pictures made me love it even more. In short, Emily rocks. Our pictures are here if you want to check it out. http://emilychastain.blogspot.com/2011/09/zack-katie-mount-vernon-inn-wedidng.html .

Emily was the first photographer we interviewed. We did not need to look any further because we clicked immediately. Emily is so easy to talk to, work with, and she is always right there when you need her (for advice and logistics for your big day). Emily captured our wedding day in such a way that every time my husband and I look at our pictures we feel like we are reliving the best day of our lives. Her pictures are so real and fresh. Emily also managed to capture all the guests that we love dearly and in their best moments (dancing, laughing, eating, and just having fun). I am convinced that Emily Chastain is magic, my husband and I and all of our viewers are still trying to figure out how she did it! Rob and I could not have asked or wished for a better photographer! Emily is the best and everyone at our wedding will highly recommend her!

I used Emily Chastain Photography for my very simple park wedding/luncheon. Emily took the time to speak with me about our goals for the photography, met face to face, and was on time and very friendly. The pictures they turned out great! Emily posted pics to Facebook (with my permission) within a couple of days, and we have received so many great comments from friends. I would recommend Emily to all brides and grooms. Note - our wedding photography needs were just 2 hours plus the DVD of high-res images. Look at her web site for all of the options - she has a great eye, and her albums are unique and beautiful.