For high school sweethearts and professional Charlottesville wedding photographers Hunter and Sarah Sheldon, the sacredness of marriage is everything. That’s why they hold tight to their Thursday night date night tradition and how they’re able to communicate in a simple glance across a ceremony lawn.
 
“Growing as a couple and growing in marriage has allowed us to communicate in clear ways as business partners,” Sarah says. “I can look over at Hunter with a slight gesture and he’ll get it: Oh, Dad is crying up front, go shoot it.”
 
The two self-taught photographers have captured nearly 120 weddings together since 2015. They work as dual lead photographers—rather than one lead and one assistant—at every wedding, each delivering a special skill set. Sarah brings the creative edge and fine art aesthetic, composing candid shots and creating reception space storytelling magic. Hunter is not afraid to get up in the action, snapping cocktail hour and dance floor moves with ease.
 
“When you put our two skill sets together, you’re going to get a beautiful mix,” Hunter says.
 
Sarah and Hunter started dating in high school, doing the long-distance thing in college. Sarah took the pre-law track at Christopher Newport University. Hunter studied bio-medical engineering at UVA and, when a friend of a friend asked him junior year to dust off his camera from high school and shoot a wedding, he declined. Luckily, they persisted and he gave in.
 
“I fell in love with it,” Hunter says. “This was going to be way more fun than working in biotech.”
 
Soon he was spending every weekend shooting weddings. Since he and Sarah only saw each other on the weekends, he convinced Sarah to pick up a camera and join him. The rest is history. “Sarah is now a better photographer than I am,” he says. “She has an eye for high-end photography that exceeds my own.”
 
Growing a marriage and a business in tandem over the years has taught them how to love each other and how to love the couples they work with. They’ve realized their gift for making others feel confident and comfortable in front of the camera and hold great value in empowering couples with knowledge.
 
“We know, for most people, spending time with loved ones on their wedding day is so important,” Sarah says. “So we walk them through a wedding day experience when they book with us. We give them all the information up front.”
 
Sarah and Hunter mail out a hardcopy style guide that includes tons of real-life advice on everything from wedding day timelines to golden hours to first looks to telling your chronically late family members that portraits start 15 minutes earlier than they really do.
 
On the big day, the mood is fun, playful, and efficient. Sarah and Hunter thrive off of each other’s strengths, making everyone laugh and delivering a timeless fine art hybrid of film and digital photography.
 
“We know what comes next and we know how to get in and out of family photos as quickly as possible,” Hunter says. “We’re able to serve our couples really well with really beautiful imagery.”