Fine art wedding and portrait photographer Sidney Leigh not only encapsulates how striking you look in your wedding dress or suit, but how radiant and in love you feel on your special day. Her sincere style is film-inspired; residing where editorial meets documentary and lending a timeless, light-filled textured aesthetic.
 
“With my whole heart, I believe there's something about the way light gets caught in a photograph, in the way that it wraps you in its warmth and holds you in that second for years to come,” Sidney says.
 
Sidney grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor’s of Architecture. Working full time in Baltimore for an architectural form, she used cameras to document building projects and expectantly ignited a deep interest in photography. She began shooting friends’ weddings, traveling from Baltimore to Charlottesville every weekend and, in 2013, she launched Sidney Leigh Photography.
 
“When compared to serving couples and being a part of really joyful days, it felt weird to go back into the office on Monday and work with contractors who are just money focused,” she says.
 
Sidney’s couples value design and creativity and are typically seeking photography that becomes generational. Candid emotion shines through in each of her intentional photographs as she seeks out the intimate and authentic. She taps into her affinity for all things design — poring over the latest issues of Architectural Digest and _Vogue _— and always encourages and includes an engagement photography session for couples.

“It’s a way for us to get comfortable working together and read one another before the wedding day,” she says. “I’m there throughout the planning process, serving, acting as a sounding board, cultivating a timeline. The end result is imagery that becomes a part of their story, not just documentation.”