So check this out.  Dhruti and Andrew are getting married in June, in a tiny town near Rocky Mount, NC.  They’re having a traditional Indian wedding, but they’re also infusing some Chinese elements as well, in honor of Andrew’s heritage – so there will be an Indian baraat… with a Chinese dragon dance.  An Indian ceremony, with a Chinese tea ceremony.  Indian AND Chinese food through the entire weekend.  Are you kidding me?!?!  Yeah, we’ll be there

Mike and I met up with these two at their alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill, to take a tour of their beloved campus, talk about the big (huge!) wedding plans, and, well, get some pretty pictures.  We walked EVERYWHERE, from Franklin Street and Top of the Hill, to the Old Well (where we waited… and waited… aaaaand waited for our turn to take pictures), even got to witness a surprise proposal right in front of the Old Well (got pictures of that, too, but we won’t be showing them out of respect for the hired photographer, and the couple – whose names I never caught, but what an awesome proposal it was!).  We visited the rose garden, of course had to stop at The Pit, took some gorgeous sun-backed shots in the Quad, and even got the entire football stadium to ourselves.  We did try to sneak into the Dean Smith Center at the very end of the shoot, because COME ON HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE? Engagement pictures on the Tarheels Court?  But, alas… they were shut down for the day .  We tried.  Still got some shots in front of it, but it’s not quite the same.

I really do love the UNC Campus… even though most sessions seem to take the same route and use the same landmarks , there’s always something new to see, and the grounds are just gorgeous.  And it’s been nice to have more excuses to get back up to Chapel Hill lately, it’s such a cool little town.

Let’s look at pictures now, yeah?

Dhruti brought some props after seeing so many engagement sessions on the wedding blogs that use umbrellas, balloons, furniture, suitcases, etc.  I’ll admit, I don’t really know what to do with props.  I just… well, I don’t do styled shoots!  I guess I just feel that my photography is more honest when we use our environment and our personalities to create images that reflect who and where we are… and I’ve never really thought that a bunch of balloons would add to that statement, right?  But I also only have three pairs of shoes, and my musical taste hasn’t advanced since 1994, so I’m certainly not saying I’m right .  Anyway, where was I?  OH!  The props!  Since I didn’t know what to do with them, and Dhruti and Andrew didn’t know what to do with them, we all just sort of stood there with these adorable umbrellas… and laughed.  And even though they’re not sinister or stylized, I still think these shots are super cute .

And a cute patterned umbrella makes a great portrait background, turns out!  Also: how fantastically darling is Dhruti?  Right?

I completely love this shot.  I think it’s going to have to be added to my permanent favorites collection, up in the header of our website.

We can not WAIT for this wedding.  For soooo many reasons – I mean, it will be just plain awesome between the decor and the traditions and the amazing colors and energy and aaaahhhh!!!  Plus, this couple is so sweet and easygoing, and completely EASY to shoot… we’re showing what seems like a lot of photos in this post, but truth be told we could have shown three times this many, and you still wouldn’t see every location, every expression, every pose.  They’re just FINE in front of the camera, which means that the umpteen hours we will spend with them on their wedding weekend will (should!) just fly right by .  You gotta love that!

This has been an amazing month so far… shooting with my best friend, watching new and old friends commit their lives to one another, watching little Miss Bean hog the house phone for hours at a time (seriously… she’s eight!  I don’t think I commanded the house phone until I was at least twelve!), and just enjoying this time in our lives.  It’s been awesome… and busy.  I’ve barely had enough time/energy left to respond to emails lately!  Hopefully sometime a little later today we can take a break from the editing to post a few pictures from recent sessions, and maybe a couple of those blog feature links.  And then we’ll go from there .

So, I’m posting from my phone and I can’t show you any teaser images from those last few weddings or portrait sessions yet until I get back to my desk, but I *can* show you our new haircuts!  Mike and I both chopped off all our hairs!

My head is actually quite a bit larger than Mike’s, so I make him stand closer to the lens so I feel better about my giant head.  Yes, that is extremely vain of me.  Don’t care.

“Well, sure, you can have whatever you want for your wedding if you’re gonna be a bridezilla about it.”

WHOA.

Here’s the thing that rubbed her the wrong way: tablecloths. I mentioned that after shooting hundreds of weddings with the same starched white linen tablecloths, I’m really hoping to find something a bit more springy, lighter, probably more expensive, but closer to what I envision when I think about how the tables will look. Because, yes, I have thought a lot about how our tables will look, and the standard linens don’t really go with my vision. And YES I have a vision, but how could I possibly plan without one? Who plans a party without having an idea in their head of how things will come together? What could possibly be wrong with wanting one element upgraded from the standard?

So, I got called a Bridezilla for the first time in this process. It’ll happen again, I’m sure – the wedding is still ten months away, I’ve got plenty of time left to offend the sensibilities of all my friends.

All the magazines and blogs will tell you that it’s YOUR wedding, and you get to throw whatever kind of party you want; your only restrictions being money, culture, and the law.  Even those three things just help to set loose boundaries, really – I’ve seen plenty of couples disregard every rule,  every piece of etiquette advice, even a few laws, to throw exactly the party they felt reflected them best, budget, guests and family be damned.  And there is an entire segment of the wedding industry that applauds that effort heartily, just as there are entire segments that applaud the tireless and way-too-labor-intensive full-on DIY weddings, or the super duper ultra-fancy ones, or the ultra feminine ones, or… you get the picture.  There is something for everyone, weddings-wise, and there’s a huge audience at each corner just waiting to cheer your ideas and vision on.

So, when you’re on your computer, at home (or, more likely, at work), browsing through Pinterest and Martha Stewart’s awesome DIY repository, and collecting beautiful, fabulous ideas for your wedding… it’s just you and the wedding industry in those quiet, safe moments.  Everything is fine, there is no budget, no one to offend, no one laughing at your ideas… it’s just you and Pinterest, and a sea of strangers who will immediately repin your AMAZING IDEA, instantly reassuring you that you do have great ideas, and everyone in your life will love those ideas because 47 people repinned those ideas in under five minutes!

And then you get to real life.  And, oddly, your friends and family don’t like your ideas the way those 47 strangers on Pinterest did.  They’ll come up with every way to suck the air right out of your balloon.  “Regular linens were fine for my wedding, hell, I don’t think anyone EVER notices the linens anyway, so you’re just wasting money.”  “Um… really?  A lavender tie?  Isn’t that… well…. GIRLY?”  “Just heavy hors d’eouvres?  Don’t you think people would like to EAT at your wedding?  After all, we’ll be tied up ALL DAY LONG.”  “You do realize that almost no one from out of town will come, right?  I mean, not to upset you or anything, it’s just the way it is.”  “Why would you care about providing a full bar, you only have 30 guests anyway, make them drink beer and soda, save the money toward a house.”  “You’re not having a cake?  So what the hell’s for dessert, then?”   “Burlap?  Your wedding will look like a ho-down.  But, if that’s what you want…”

Funny things happen to everyone in your life when you start planning a wedding.  Suddenly, your friends expect more of you.  You were always cool, why are you talking about color palettes and centerpieces now?  Why won’t your wedding be AS COOL AS YOU USED TO BE?  Why are you being so BRIDAL?  What’s wrong with youuuuu?!?!

There is a very difficult balance between planning and throwing a beautiful wedding that not only matches what you see in your head, but also takes care of your guests AND reflects your personalities… and still being cool in your friends’ eyes. I’m not finding that balance. The more I try to incorporate our personalities, pretty things, lots of details… the lamer I get.  Although I wasn’t expecting to be called a bridezilla in this process, I just figured I’d get mocked a lot.

I don’t think you can retain your cool if you want pretty tablecloths for your wedding. And I’m pretty sure if you mention twinkle lights, even once, you have to turn in your cool card until six months after the wedding has passed. Permanent revocation of the cool card happens when you describe your wedding as “classic, but casual, with some vintage elements mixed with modern touches in an edgy, whimsical way.”

I’m actively avoiding the permanent revocation, but only because I am so over vintage I could puke.

The first blog to pick it up was this gorgeous, understated, simple and elegant blog, A Thousand Threads:

Then, The Lovely Find wrote about the incredible details that Cat and her mom put together:

And THEN, the Inspired Beach Weddings blog wrote a fantastic and engaging piece about the wedding, and included a whole bunch of pictures:

I find it interesting to see how different writers choose to show the same wedding… the images they select, the stories they write about, the details they focus on.  Click through and have fun reading about the same wedding, told three different ways!

I first met Lauren when she contacted me about shooting her wedding this July on the Cape Fear River.

Yes, that’s right – they’re getting married on the Cape Fear River in July.  The hot kind of July.  Mid-summer.  River.  It may be a bit warm out that day

What I loved most about Lauren when we first talked was how utterly laid back and non-bridezilla she was, and how much faith she put in me and my abilities.  She was all, “yeah, your portfolio rocks and I love your work and your personality, so where do I sign?”  SO easy, SO not panicked, SO awesome.  And even as the time draws nearer and all reports say that this July will be a scorcher of unusual proportions, Lauren remains ultra-cool.  ”Yeah, so we’ll just have lots of ice water and fans and stuff.  Of course it’ll be hot, it’s July!”  She’s so fabulous.  You really have to love a bride who’s that grounded, you know?

Since this winter has been crazy warm, we lucked out with a really nice FEBRUARY day in downtown Wilmington for the shoot.   We hit all the alleyways, the riverfront, Front Street, and then headed over to Greenfield Lake to catch some beautiful light through the trees close to sunset.

Randy is pretty adorable, and has the best expressions… you can’t help but feel how much he loves Lauren, just looking at that sweet, almost shy smile of his, right?  And Lauren is so elegant, with such incredible features – I honestly can not WAIT for their wedding!  Yeah, okay, so it’ll be hot.  I’ll probably bring a few changes of clothes and a cooler of ice and bug spray.  And at some point I know I’ll text my BFF Kim to bitch about how hot it is.  But at least I’ll be working with fabulous people who really appreciate what I do… it makes all the difference in the world!  Check back in mid-July for a sneak peek from their wedding!!!  Eeeeeeeee!!!

We’re fast approaching a crazy few months ahead… a bridal portrait tonight, my sister’s wedding next weekend (my baby sister is GETTING MARRIED!!!), five weddings and a few engagement sessions in May, more weddings and engagements in June… my head is spinning! I’ll try like crazy to keep the website up to date with the latest and greatest as time goes on… but if you’ve been reading my blog for any time now, you know I operate in fits and starts. It’s how I do everything, really. I binge.

In the last few months, I have been tickled to DEATH by all the wedding blogs that have picked up my work… but I never did find the time to brag about it on the site. So, over the next week, I’ll be catching up on those posts, and maybe if I find a spare hundred hours I’ll re-do my galleries. Baby steps, yo.

I’m gonna start off with a feature from one of my very favorite wedding blogs, Poptastic Bride. Cynthia at Poptastic has such incredible taste, and that blog is so full of great features, awesome finds, lots of fun and whimsical weddings and engagements… she really has an eye for personality-driven, unique details. Total eye candy over there, so if you haven’t subscribed to her feed yet, do it now. Right now.

One of the reasons Cynthia and Poptastic Bride are at the top of my list is the writing – she takes SUCH care to include every detail, to contact each bride directly and talk to them about their weddings, the interview process is involved and personal, and I feel this really creates a much more intimate and warm feeling to each post – the reader almost feels like they KNOW the bride and the photographer, they can almost see the wedding played out in their minds. She has featured two of my weddings this year, and both were given such personal, hands-on care, and were represented PERFECTLY in the features. It’s some of the best wedding blog writing I’ve seen, and I definitely plan to continue my friendship with Cynthia for years to come . She’s the shizz.

Martha and Neil were featured on Poptastic Bride on January 4, 2012:

Click through to see what I mean about Cynthia’s incredible writing, the exhaustive interviewing and quoting process, and how at the end of the story, you just KNOW Martha. Like, you KNOW that woman, down to her toes.

Thank you, Cynthia, for being such an awesome blogger, and for seeing something special in my work .

I’ll be back again real soon with more feature news!

But I’m still missing something.

I WANT TO SHOOT A DESERT WEDDING.  You know, something in Santa Fe or Tucson… with sweeping vistas, impossible sunsets, canyons and red rocks and cacti.  There’s just something about a wedding in the desert southwest, you know?  Every time I see one on a bridal blog… and they’re rather rare to find… I get all gooey.  Man do I ever want one of those.

So here’s a plea.  Someone out there must be planning a wedding in the desert southwest, right?  Something outdoors, with incredible views and nothing but dry desert air and that unique light to work with.  Something right out of my dreams.  Right?

Where are you?  You need to call me.  Let’s make a deal!  If we’re available for your date, and have the days around your wedding date clear, Mike and I will come out and shoot your wedding for the cost of travel.  That’s two round trip tickets, lodging*, a rental car, and our meals**.  Doesn’t that sound like a plan?

It sounds like a DAMN good plan to me.

* in the same hotel as your guests; please don’t stick us in a rent-by-the-hour roadside motel!  (yes, it’s been done before.  sigh)
** like, good meals – not all McDonald’s and stuff.  

…part three.  We made it, y’all!  This is the last post I’m writing about this engagement session.  I know, I know, I went a little overboard.  Couldn’t help myself , I’m crazy about this shoot and this couple.

So, right… we left Greenfield Lake, and headed down toward Wrightsville Beach.  On the way to Mercer’s, we stopped in a gorgeous little neighborhood on the island…

Probably the most idyllic, most perfect neighborhood in all of Wilmington.  No offense to Wilmington neighborhoods that aren’t this one.

Then the beach!  We went straight to Johnny Mercer’s Pier, because (a) ample parking; (b) cool concrete pier; (c) arcade and hot dogs; (d) umm… maybe there is no (d).

A few shots under and near the pier…

Then up to the arcade!  It’s… well, not much of an arcade.  In my memory it was much bigger, better lit, and more fun than this.  But we still passed the time while hot dogs cooked for us.

When we walked out onto the pier, it was freezing.  Probably not “freezing”, but it had to be in the 40′s.  (note: it was probably 62 degrees.  We’re wimps down here)

Katie brought hats

At the very end of our session, I wanted to grab a few shots of Katie’s ring.  Then, on the way back downtown, we saw the most gorgeous sunset… and I had to grab a few shots of it, just to round out our day in pictures.

There you go.  Epic E-Shoot 2012, v1.0.  Let’s see if I can match or beat this one this year!!!  Thanks for sticking with me through all three parts of this.  I know it was a lot of work, but wasn’t it fun?

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So, we spent a little while in the grassy part of the park, but I’d had my eye on the creepy old housey looking thing off to the other side of the entry road… and the marshy tall grasses the creepy housey thing fronted.  Marshy tall grass!  Creepy housey thing!  It’s like Modern Engagement Session 101, right there in front of us!  Could I resist?

…No.  I could not resist:

The whole “nature” thing got me all inspired, so I suggested that we run over to Greenfield Lake to see what we could find.  Note: every single image taken at Greenfield Lake below?  I was either standing or kneeling in goose poop.  Every. Single. One.  I am starting to think there’s no *ground* at Greenfield.  It’s just goose poop.

Come on.  It’s almost too warm and fuzzy, right?

Continue on to part three…

Since these posts are gonna be so image-heavy, I’m going to give you a tiny break on all the word stuff. Suffice it to say, Katie and Matt are incredible, they’re fun and photogenic and can keep smiling and laughing three hours into a photo session (which isn’t easy, I promise). They’re also really tall and athletic, and kind of make everyone happy wherever they go. Yeah, they’re that couple.

We started out at the Dixie Grill downtown… a Wilmington landmark, and Katie and Matt’s old standby… they ate at the Dixie apparently more than any other restaurant, and it was the top spot they came up with that really held meaning for them as a couple.

Then we just sort of wandered around in the alleys, and down on Water Street and the riverwalk…

Right around here is when the light started changing, and I was all “we need to get to some nature!!!”  So, we hopped in the car and headed over the bridge to the Battleship Park… stay tuned for Part Two!