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: