If you have never been out to Arrington Vineyards, then you are definitely missing out! This local Nashville area vineyard, as well as the drive to it, is fabulous! It’s Tennessee at it’s best. I was asked to create some creative photographs for a new magazine called Cork it! and had the best time. You can view the entire magazine online HERE.  It was great just to visit the vineyard and have a chance to be creative. The following are a few of my favorites photographs.

We recently had the privilege of photographing Sam’s Bar Mitzvah! Several years ago we were able to photograph Sarah’s Bat Mitzvah and you can see a slideshow of her Bat Mitzvah album here.  A Bar or Bat Mitzvah is Jewish celebration of a child’s turning 13 which is when they become responsible for their actions. You can find out more information about the ceremony and celebration here on the Wikipedia page.

We arrived at Sam’s celebration after the ceremony and were there to capture his party! Sam’s family and friends were there to help them celebrate, and boy did they have fun.


Angela Proffitt was the coordinator for the Bar Mitzvah, and the Noah Liff Opera Center was the perfect backdrop. Nashville Event Lighting made it perfect! Part of the center was sectioned off for the adults to have a laid-back, quite, evening, while the main area was decked out for the kids to celebrate.


Contagious Entertainment came from Atlanta to help the kids get on the dance floor and have a blast. Since Sam plays basketball, the theme was suited just for him. It’s surprising to find that Middle school dances haven’t changed that much since I was his age


I love the image of all the shoes lined up…. it about sums up the night!

As many of you may know, cameras are now being equipped with the capability to shoot video. Although we have used the Canon 5D Mark II at a few weddings this fall, I have not had the time to play around with the video feature. A few weeks ago I finally experimented with it to make a video for our church’s Christmas program. I love the way it turned out! I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, the youth in this video came up with the majority of the content on their own. Amazing!

Have a Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Last night Erin and I had a great opportunity to photograph the Cider Carols event benifitting Hope Clinic for Women. They are an amazing organization and just a couple of blocks down the street from our studio! Be sure to check out their website to hear about all the incredible things they do. We will post more images of the event later on, but for now I am just going to share the information for the photo booth.

50% of profits will be donated to Hope Clinic for Women

visit www.pictage.com/768759

Register for the event. An e-mail notice will then be sent to you once all the images are online. This will be in the next couple of days!

Peter and I just returned from New Orleans, LA where we attended the Pictage PartnerCon. Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about how Dove has grown, and all the changes that have gone on over the past few years with our business. My first thought is that I never imagined we would be where we are today. I never dreamed of owning my own business, let alone a business in wedding photography. It has turned out to be the best dream I could ever have had. The fulfillment that photographing weddings brings me is nothing I have ever felt before, and I still get excited every day about the new things we are planning and the goals that I can’t wait to meet!

What does all of this have to do with Pictage and with our trip? Looking back over the years, I can now see how Pictage has been essential in bringing our business where it is today. I still remember the first PUG (Pictage Users’ Group) meeting we had in Nashville, where I met Alison Bynum, Phil Thornton, Joan Evans, and Nathan Holritz, all photographers that I still see today. (Although it has been way too long Alison!) Alison was a great leader of our PUG, and Peter and I were honored to be asked to take her place when she stepped down to start her family. Here is one of my favorites from a PUG a few years ago!

The first PartnerCon we attended was several years ago in Atlanta. It was a smaller version of one out in LA, but it totally changed how we did business! I can remember coming back overwhelmed with excitement by all the things we’d learned. Since then, we have attended 3 more Partner Cons, each time coming back overloaded with information and ready to share what we had learned with our PUG.

This year was a little different for us, but we have come back excited just the same. This year we got to share what we have learned, through our years of experience, with other photographers. It was exciting to see the other photographers’ light bulbs come on. It makes me excited to see others leaving Partner Con with the same excitement that we have! Here are a few shots from our friends Sean and Mel of McLellan Style of us sharing at the Photographer’s Lounge on having employees.

Even though we spent a lot of our time sharing with other photographers, and modeling for a shooting workshop (some of that to come later!), we still learned a ton. Our favorite times were the shooting workshops by David Beckstead and Joe Buissink. We also got to meet some amazing people from all over the country and even new photographers from Nashville!

The CEO of Pictage, Jim Collins, is honestly one of the best CEOs I have ever seen in action. His excitement about the company, and the photographers they work with, is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He really wants to know what they can do to help us become better photographers and business owners. On top of that, he knows how to inspire. It makes me proud to be a Pictage member.

We were especially grateful to be able to personally meet the people, at Pictage, that work so hard for us. Even though we have already met Emily Engle, one of the Pictage community leaders, she is always such an encouragement to us. Not only that, but she is quite the photographer herself!

I am already looking forward to next year. There is so much left of New Orleans to see, and so many more people to meet. The great thing is that we get to continue it in our Nashville community. If you haven’t come yet, please please please make it to our next PUG meeting. You don’t have to be a Pictage member, you just have to come! Our next one is this Thursday, November 12th at 6:30. We will be talking about Partner Con, and have a critique of Family photographs. Email peter@doveweddingphotography.com for more information. I hope to see you there!

Last week we had a great time at The Franklin Bridal Ball. As part of our booth, we thought it would be fun to set up a mini photo studio. It turned out to be a lot of fun! If you had your photo taken by Erin & Peter at the show, please visit our Flickr page to download your free digital image. Feel free to use your photograph on your personal website(s) showing your friends what a great time you had with us at the wedding show.

I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to take Whitney’s editing class this past Wednesday. Why? I’m scarred she is going to make me edit photos now. However, learning to edit a little better has allowed me to have the confidence to prepare the following photos for this blog. Sarah & Whitney are both really busy these days editing weddings and Sweets sessions. So, I decided to be nice and edit these photos myself.

The class was great! We had a room full of photographers who are all at different levels. The professionals left with new tricks to improve their workflow and quality. The hobbyists left excited about being able to take their personal photos to the next level.

Whitney is always very intense when she teaches. You can tell she loves it!

Events at 1418 was a fabulous host and the perfect place to hold the class.

It was fun seeing everyone with their open computers.

The next Digital Editing course will be this winter. Our next Intro to Photography class is August 22, 23, & 29. If you would like to be a part of any of our classes, please contact Audrey at audrey@doveweddingphotography.com.

- Peter

On May 6 we had the opportunity to photograph the American Heart Association’s annual Go Red for Women Luncheon. The lunch is not only a fundraiser, but an opportunity for the American Heart Association to help educate women on the importance of taking care of their hearts. Whitney covered the entire event while Peter set up a red backdrop and took photos of guests in the VIP room. It was fun to bump into a number of our wedding industry friends who also volunteered their services for this charitable event.

The flowers were provided by Fresh by CarryAnn. CarryAnn always does an amazing job.

All kinds of food and activities were set up at the event. These custom dresses were stunning.

The Grand Ball Room at The Cool Springs Marriot was gorgious with all the red decorations. Our friend Blake at Nashville Event Lighting makes every place look its best. You can’t go wrong when you work with Blake.

Holly Thompson, of News Channel 4, was the MC for the event.

We love the boas that get passed out to special guests every year. This year our friend Kristin Carolan, from Simply Stunning Events helped pass them out. Of course she also helped coordinate the entire show! We have enjoyed getting to know Kristen and her husband-to-be.

- Peter & Whitney

Whitney grew up listening to country music. You should ask her about the Paper Mache Garth Brooks head that still sits in her bedroom closet at her mom’s house. Other than my preschool obsession with The Oak Ridge Boys, I did not listen to any country before my move to Nashville. Working in the Nashville music scene for 4 years exposed me to quite a bit. Heck, just living in Nashville exposes you to a bit. Last week Whitney and I were trying to get a little Northern exposure by attending A Prairie Home Companion, at The Ryman. Of course, it was filled with country musicians including Brad Paisley and Sam Bush. Both: amazing musicians.

Well, for the last installment of the Craig Morgan Blog Series, I bring you the concert footage. Many musicians came out to the sold-out concert, supporting Craig’s effort to build a home for children. Here a just a few of the photos from the concert.

Jason Michael Carroll had a super rich low voice and Kellie Pickler was just plain cute!

The ladies loved former American Idol contestant Bucky Covington. Even after a full day of off road riding, he had plenty energy to entertain the audience. I have to admit, this is my second time seeing Bucky in concert. My mom is a big American Idol fan and came down to Nashville to see his debut performance at the Grand Ol Opry. She was kind enough to take Whitney and me with her.

Blake Shelton kept things rolling with his stage banter between Craig and Kellie.

Craig Morgan gets passionate.

This photo is for my mom. Bucky’s mom was behind stage with us and really wanted me to get my photo with him. She offered to take the photo, but I let Whitney. Ya gotta love moms!

- Peter

This is the second installment of photos from the Craig Morgan Charity Ride.

Being the day was wet and muddy; things got a bit off schedule. The rain ended up stopping for the afternoon, but our time to photograph Craig at his house became very limited. I ran around as fast as I could with our large flashes as Whitney photographed Craig in as many locations as possible. On top of all of this, The American Motorcycle Association Magazine was interviewing and videotaping Craig. It was a whirlwind, but we all had a lot of fun with the limited time we had.

Craig in his shop and Craig with his dog. This little guy wanted to get in on the photo shoot. He loves attention, especially from Craig.

Craig is a true country boy. We drove down a gravel road to get to his house that was surrounded by woods, which he and his boys love to ride in. The left photo is in Craig’s basement. Truly a man’s room. The stair wall was full of music trophies and the remaining walls were full of hunting trophies. I’m not even sure what some of the heads on the wall were.

The basement, equipped with barn wood walls and a tin ceiling, is so unique CMT Cribs visited his house and MTV Cribs will be featuring it in August.

This was easily Whitney and my favorite part of Craig’s home. How could you have a hunting themed home theater without a deer stand? As you can tell, Craig is very proud of his favorite chair.
Whitney got a kick out of me being able to converse hunting with Craig. She sometimes forgets that I grew up in South Dakota. Deer hunting was a way of life at the Carlson house.

- Peter