Katie and Matt were married under a tent at Porter’s Neck Plantation. It was SUCH a pretty wedding – Flowers By Jan took care of all of the amazing floral arrangements, which just pulled the whole elegant look together so perfectly.

Katie is a stunning bride. She is so naturally graceful, and has such a classic look to her, she is a real joy to photograph. She and Matt make an *adorable* couple. I really loved working with them, they were SO sweet, and Matt quite clearly is head over heels in love with his bride. It’s so, so, so nice to see that type of love.

Katie wore two dresses (love this!), she changed during the reception into a dress she could really dance in. The reception was great fun, and I have to throw a lot of the credit over to Daniel, who works with DJ Jason Jackson. Daniel did an AWESOME job. I don’t know what happened, but the last half of 2007 I’ve seen some of the best DJ work in years.

You know who else was there?

My favorite, Maura Kropke, the hottest violinist on earth…
and
the incomparable Joan Allisen, videographer, compadre, shoulder to lean on when you get tired….

AND I was fortunate enough to have local photographer Keith Riggs along to second shoot with me, and I’m really excited to see what wonderful images he captured!

This was another one of those “perfect vendor days” because everyone worked so, so well with eachother. Katie did a fantastic job of picking her vendors, because it all went off without a hitch.

Congratulations, guys! Here are a few images to tide you over until I can finish your edit in a couple weeks!

There’s nothing like working with people who become a part of your family, just by their warmness and their similarities to you and your own real-life family. Angela, Mike, and their families felt so much like home! Aside from the sore feet and the travel-weary exhaustion, it really didn’t even feel like working. It felt like hanging out with some of your closest friends.

Angela and Mike were married on Daufuskie Island in South Carolina. I usually book about one wedding every year there, and it’s probably one of my very favorite locations to shoot. It’s just got this charm that I haven’t found anywhere else up and down the southeastern coast.

So, they chose Daufuskie because of the charm and the extremely relaxed feeling you get when you’re there. It matched their personalities to a tee; the only way it could possibly have been any better is if they had an all-night bar with a selection of 100+ beers from around the world, and a jukebox.

So, the day of the wedding was so beautiful – it had been raining, POURING, the days leading up to the wedding day, and everyone was pretty sure it would be a rain-out. It wasn’t looking good, even that morning. But seriously, hours before the ceremony time, the clouds almost literally parted. They had the most picture-perfect day I’ve probably ever seen at Daufuskie.

The reception was a lot of fun, most of their guests were on the dance floor the whole night, there were lots of kids roaming around and being cute, and despite it being pitch black in that reception room, it was a lot of fun to shoot. Hard. Hard to shoot, but fun.

The day after the wedding, we all got back together to do some casual family portraits and to eat lunch at her parents’ cottage. It was a little more low-key, like a family barbecue, and it was a really great way to round out the weekend. I left Daufuskie Island tired, but feeling like I’d just been invited into a new, wonderful, amazing family. What a great feeling. What a great job I have.

What IS this? We found it on the beach, and at first we thought it was some organic matter, but at closer inspection Mike decided it was a floater that had somehow… I dunno, turned into a BRAIN. So freaky. If you know what this thing is, please let me know!

When we were walking around on the beach at the day after session, we saw these little translucent tubey things sticking up out of the sand. They would move almost imperceptibly… and once in a while one of them would spit water out! They were TINY little tubes, and they were everywhere. We were FASCINATED. Thinking I’d discovered something really cool, I drove the 5 hours home thinking about how fun it would be to get internet access and start looking these little exotic creatures up!

Clams. They were CLAMS.

Talk about disappointing!!!!

This was a FUN WEDDING. Omigosh, I just don’t know how better to put it. Rachel wanted a fun wedding, and she totally got it. Everyone was fun, everyone HAD fun, the music was great, everyone danced and ate and drank and partied, I *love* weddings like this!!! This was, truly, an absolute blast to shoot.

See, Rachel is from New York. And one thing I know, after doing this for as long as I have – a New York wedding down South is gonna ROCK.

So, we had all the obligatory things… a little Bon Jovi, some Billy Joel, and a sprinkling of Def Leppard to round it all out.

By the end of the night, I was pretty sure that I was a New Yorker in a previous life. And I felt like Rachel and all her bridesmaids were my BFFs. I mean, yeah, it was that much fun. In fact, they begged me to stay and party after my coverage was over! It was sooo tempting, but I had to leave.

Oh! And to top it all off, they had several guests who flew to NC all the way from Hawaii for the wedding – and one family who was actually from Maui, my home! I got to talk with them a little bit and reminisce, which was awesome. I think I was meant to shoot Rachel and Steve’s wedding. I’m so glad they found me.

Oh! The wedding and reception were held at Porter’s Neck Plantation, the flowers were (expertly) done by Flowers by Jan, and Jonathan of DJ America provided the entertainment. Every time I work with Jonathan, I remember how much fun he is – once the party ramps up, he keeps it pumping with the perfect music, all night long.

Click here to view the entire wedding collection at the password protected proofing site. The password is Rachel’s maiden name.

Rachel was not at ALL about the posed pictures

Remember Becca and Wyatt from their engagement session? They got married just a couple days after that session, and you know, it was probably one of the *prettiest* weddings I’ve shot in years. Everything was bright and airy, and the details were so well thought out, it was just eye candy, I loved it.

The wedding was on Bald Head Island, at the Harbor Pavilion, a really gorgeous spot for weddings and receptions. Tommy and Teresa of Shoresound Productions provided all of the music, and did an absolutely amazing job. If you want a professional, NON-cheesy, caring, easygoing DJ for your wedding, Tommy is second to none. Becca’s friend did all the flowers, and they were incredible (pictures below).

Wyatt and I sort of played a cat and mouse game all day; when he’d see me with the camera, he’d duck away and make me chase him down…. but it was actually done in fun, he was more than happy to pose for photos when the time came. In fact, he was all smiles, all day long. They both were. They have this real quiet bond that you can sense when you’re with them, it’s nice.

Click here to view the entire collection of wedding images. The collection is password protected; the password is Becca’s maiden name.

Here are a few more images from the wedding!

When Cathie first contacted me about her wedding, she was based in Iraq, and Rob was based stateside after having served in Iraq not long before. Until Cathie made it back to the states a month before her wedding, I was worried about her every single day. I’ve been so lucky in that I don’t have anyone, personally, who is stationed overseas, in the middle of a war. Having Cathie out there, in a weird way, helped me understand a little better the helplessness of caring for someone who is so far away, in a situation that you have no control over. It’s pretty intense. To say the least.

So Cathie and Rob got married on Fort Bragg at the Special Forces Memorial Chapel, and their reception was at Gates Four Golf and Country Club. Here are a few more images from their beautiful day: