ceremony + reception: Doris Duke Center, Duke Gardens, Durham NC
coordinator: Karen Clark, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
florist: Amazing Floral Events, Durham NC
caterer: Catering Works, Raleigh NC
dj: Mike Morse
Click to continue reading “Inez + Jonathan | Durham, North Carolina”
ceremony + reception: Barker House, Edenton NC
catering: Montero’s, Elizabeth City NC
florist: Dozier’s Florist, Hertford NC
tent/chair rental: Party and Equipment Rentals, Edenton NC
rehearsal dinner catering: Captain Bob’s, Hertford NC
rehearsal dinner bluegrass band: David Hedrick
reception music: Jay Harold
ceremony music: The Trent River Chamber Players
Click to continue reading “Loren + Adam | Edenton, North Carolina”
ceremony + reception: Mountain Magnolia Inn, Hot Springs NC
band: The Common Saints
flowers: Brown’s Floral
cake, desserts: West End Bakery, Asheville Cake Company
Click to continue reading “Nicole + Alex | Hot Springs, North Carolina”
Finally! A wedding in my backyard!!! After all these months of driving no less than four hours for almost every wedding of the year, I finally had one that I could get to in under fifteen minutes! I didn’t know what to do with myself all morning!!
So, you may remember Danielle and Trey from their engagement session and her bridal. I got to spend a lot of time with these guys this year, and I’m really psyched about that, they’re just cool, easygoing, fun people.
After having perfect weather for their engagement, and a beautiful but windy day for the bridal session, OF COURSE the weather turned for the absolute worst on their wedding day. It was like 50 degrees and rainy all day long, just miserable. Naturally, Danielle and Trey weren’t even phased by it. If I remember correctly, Danielle shrugged and said, “so it’s raining. I’m still getting married!” She rocks.
The ceremony was at my all-time favorite Wilmington church, Saint Mary’s Parish in downtown Wilmington. This is one of the most beautiful churches in Wilmington, I wish I could work there at least once a month. It’s so much fun to photograph.
The reception was at the Coastline Convention Center, and was catered and coordinated by Occasions Catering. It was a *crazy* fun reception, tons of dancing (Trey likes to “dance like Beyonce”, which was a treat in itself), drinking, laughing, good food… four hours of straight partying, the way a Wilmington wedding should be! 
Danielle and Trey win the Low Maintenance Couple of the Year award, for being so laid back and easygoing about *everything*. They were so easy to work with, and I really loved being able to be around them so much this year.
Blaire and Michael got married at St Mary’s Chapel in Charlotte NC. The chapel is SO cute, I’d never been there before… it’s sort of nestled right in the middle of all these off ramps and traffic, but you forget its urban setting when you’re there… it’s a great spot, I definitely recommend.
The ceremony was uniquely sentimental, with the pastor and his wife translating a beautiful song into ASL (american sign language). The entire service was both spoken and signed, which was a new experience for me. The wedding party was a delightful mix of characters that were clearly very close to the couple, and it was so nice to be a part of this day with them.
The reception was held at Pewter Rose Bistro, which is one of those restaurants you wish was in your town. The decor, the service, the food, everything was impeccable. Blaire and Michael had this lovely dinner party, where their family and friends couldn’t seem to stop toasting them. Their families were experts at making you feel like you really belong… it’s no mystery where Blaire and Michael get their charitable passions from! I wish I could go into more detail, but all I would end up saying, over and over, is that this wedding was truly one of the sweetest, most sentimental, most moving weddings I’ve ever photographed. I’m so glad Blaire found me!
I had never been to the Outer Banks before this wedding. Genelle told me that it was beautiful up there – I had no idea. Driving up to Corolla (at the northern tip of the Outer Banks, almost in Virginia) is like driving to the edge of the world. It’s so remote and wild, untouched… I haven’t been so taken aback by an area’s natural beauty since I went back home to Maui to shoot Cat and Shawn’s elopement. I *definitely* recommend a vacation to the northern Outer Banks… and, bonus, Genelle is a realtor and can hook you up with a beach house for your trip! 
I don’t know how to adequately describe this day in words. You almost had to be there. For Michael and me, the day started way too early in the morning, when we headed up the coast from Wilmington. Along the way, we stopped at a NAPA so Michael could change my brakes in the parking lot (they were grinding something awful, and it was making me nervous)! Thirty minutes after changing my brakes, Michael was dressed in his wedding clothes looking all spiffy. I don’t know if I looked spiffy, but probably not. Anyway, we got to the Corolla Chapel and it was just chaos. Bridesmaids running around in heels and towels, unity candle holders breaking and being superglued back together, curling irons and mascara… just chaos. In the middle of it all was Genelle, just as calm and collected as she could be.
So, they got married in the quaint chapel (that my GPS didn’t *actually* know was down a dirt road, so I’m amazed I got there on time!), and they had a FOUR WHEEL DRIVE BEACH BUS waiting to take them to the beach for pictures. Dude, it was a Monster Bus. We got on the monster bus and drove down to the beach. Which is also a state highway. Not kidding – the beach “road” we were on is a state highway, it’s the only way to get to a housing development at the northern tip of the island. I can’t really explain how awesome it was to be on this bus, driving between these enormous dunes and the ocean, wondering what we would see next.
The dunes up there are massive. They go on as far as you can see, it’s nothing like the dunes we have down here in Wilmington. I could have stayed on that beach forever, if the tide wasn’t coming in and if the wedding party didn’t want to get to the reception.
After the portraits, we headed back to the reception which was at the Currituck Country Club. It was as fun as you would imagine – lots of dancing and drinking and picture taking, great food, great band, great weather – everything was perfect. I think it was exactly the wedding Genelle and Forrest had in mind, and I’m so glad that we could be a part of that!
Tamera was such a cute bride. She never stopped smiling! When she saw Jay for the first time, I thought she would explode with happiness. Just so, so cute!!! Their ceremony was on the beach at North Topsail, and the reception was at the Topsail Assembly Building (Missile Museum). Surf City Florist provided the floral arrangements, and Jay’s mom did the catering. Jay’s mom… you rock. That was some of the best wedding food I have ever had!
I’ve had a lot of jumping wedding parties lately, and I’m not totally sure why… but it makes for fun pictures!
This little girl let me take her picture, and then said (very wisely), “Now you’ll have something to remember me by.” She was right, I wont’ forget her!
the wedding party
What a delightfully nutty group this was! We spent about two hours together, photographing every combination of groups and kids we could come up with.
Some of the younger kids weren’t 100% into the session, so I let them get behind the lens to see what I could see. I think they got some of the best shots of the day!
Alice Ann and Henry got married at the Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, one of my favorite NC towns. This was one of the most detail-rich weddings I’ve seen all year (look at those gorgeous flowers by Bless Your Heart in Boone, NC). Every table had a unique floral arrangement, there were little “small mountain town” details hidden throughout the reception tent, it was just a photographer’s dream.
Aside from the freak rainstorm that delayed the ceremony by about a half hour, the day went perfectly. Michael and I had an incredible time working with you guys, congratulations!!!
I was not kidding about these incredible details:
Leigh and Cliff. Oh my gosh. Back when I shot their wedding, I didn’t know what a blog was. But I do have their album design online, so you can see how absolutely wonderful their wedding was. Truly one of my most memorable of ALL time, and that’s really saying a lot. Leigh and Cliff have been awesome clients through the years. I’ve gotten so many great referrals from them, always incredible couples with wonderful weddings. Anyway, yeah, these guys are so great.
They had a baby boy, Grier, and I’d been dying to shoot a family session with them (but they live on the other side of the state, so getting together when all our schedules meshed wasn’t easy). We finally had a shot at it when Cliff’s family rented a beach house at Emerald Isle this summer. I got to see everyone again, and we spent a couple hours together on the beach trying to get Grier happy . The trick was water balloons, so they feature in a few of the pictures.
Hopefully I’ll get to see these folks every year, and watch Grier (and his cousin who should be arriving in the next few months!) grow up. Grier is only going to get cuter and more devilish, and I can’t wait to see what the upcoming arrival is like! Anyway, if it isn’t already clear: great family, great memories. The best part of my job is this.
Locations:
Old Brunswick Town
Orton Plantation Gardens
Southport Waterfront
Isn’t she adorable? Meg and Tallon were married on June 28, 2008 in Darlington, SC. Their wedding photos will be posted soon!
I dunno. They’re almost too freaking good looking, don’t you think?
They’re also fun, energetic, and have fantastic wit. AND they’re getting married in Wilmington. I’m not kidding, I actually get to shoot a wedding within 100 miles of my house!!! It’s kind of weird, I’ll probably drive to Raleigh and back the morning of their wedding for old time’s sake.
They don’t get married until October 18th, so I have to sit on my hands and wait to post her kickass bridal session until then. I hate that.
Here, take a look at these two kids and try not to be jealous.
Erin and Bill had this sort of picture-perfect Chapel Hill (go Heels) wedding day. I met Erin (for the first time!) at Salon 135 (fabulous salon, I highly recommend) where she and her girls were getting their hair done. Then we walked to University Presbyterian Church, where a college friend of Erin’s airbrushed her makeup for her. I’m always fascinated by the airbrushed makeup. Anyway, the reception was at the Carolina Inn, probably the most perfect Chapel Hill venue ever, and of course we stopped at the Old Well for pictures between locations.
Best story from the day: Erin and Bill had been going back and forth about whether to do any sort of limo or other special transportation from the church to the Carolina Inn. They had some ideas in mind, but couldn’t find vendors who could accommodate them. Erin really wanted a Carolina Blue antique car with a driver, but (believe it or not) they’re apparently in short demand. So one day, they happen to see the Perfect Car in a parking lot of a (grocery store? I can’t remember, but it was someplace fairly mundane). Erin left a note on the windshield saying she’d like to rent the car for her wedding, and the owner, who’d never used his car for that purpose before, agreed! You could not have had a more appropriate car for a Tar Heels wedding.
Jesica and Brad. You might remember them from their Holy Hotness Engagement Session.
They got married on the 30th of December at Barclay Villa in Angiers, NC. It’s like a castle in the middle of nowhere. Really different, and just a gorgeous setting for a winter wedding.
But whatever – Jesica and Brad are not only ridiculously good looking, they’re unbelievably sweet people. Like, way sweet. With sweetness. This wedding was adorable – Jesica was adorable, her family (many from Peru) were adorable, it was this crazy mixture of cultures and languages, Brad was 100% darling, I cannot say enough about how amazing and sweet and wonderful these people are. The tragedy is, they live in Florida – so I don’t get to hang out and drink beer with them. I so would, because these are my kinda people.
So, are you sick of hearing about how awesome they are yet? Ha. Now you get to see how beautiful they are. Don’t hate – they’re as down to earth as they are aesthetically pleasing.
Cool detail
Brad
I love this – look at all the hands working on little Jesica!
The note that Brad sent before the ceremony.
One of my favorite photos of all time – Ring Bearer and Flower Girl
The Kiss
Newlyweds!
First Dance
Pool Sharks
Pretty pretty pretty cake
From the balcony
Eager hands reaching for the coveted bouquet…
And right back to Holy Hotness.
Congratulations, Jesica and Brad! Call me!!!