This is another wedding that I photographed for Elise Beall Photography over the summer! Ashley and Kyle also hired me to do their Chapel Hill engagement session at UNC this spring. I LOVE this couple. They are silly and irreverent and sarcastic, and they’re always up for just about anything. Kyle has this incredible wit about him, he sort of belongs in a Woody Allen film. And Ashley is almost slapstick goofy, with a wonderful throaty laugh and this incredibly infectious smile that reaches every bit of her body.

You can read more details about this wedding over at the original post on Elise’s blog. Meanwhile, here are my favorite images from the wedding (which probably match almost exactly Elise’s favorites!)

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There is simply no way to describe this session, or these two wonderful people, and illustrate properly how much I admire and adore them. Or how incredible this session was to shoot, edit, and be a part of. Or what a creative force Casey is. Or how sweet, intelligent, and mature Joseph is. Or how much I want my Ellie to meet Joseph and fall in love (um, in a few years I mean). In other words – this session was perfect, these people are perfect, and I’m indescribably lucky to have met and worked with them. And I hope to be doing much more of this in the future. (Bonus: they actually live nearby, and Casey’s a photo FIEND, so I think my wish will come true)

Enjoy these. I think these images are the best family portrait work I’ve done to date. I’m STUPID proud of this session. Like, I am still riding on the high from this edit.

You know how good it feels when another photographer – a real, working, talented photographer – calls and asks you to photograph her family? It feels good. Real good. Validating and awesome, and even after a decade of doing this I got a little nervous about this session. I mean, check out Rae’s website! She does a LOT of family and kid work. Really good stuff. It’s always hard not to compare your own work to the next guy, especially when you’re about to work FOR them!

So Rae lives up north with her family, and the rest of the family members came in from Asheville and Charlotte and I think as far north as Vermont? Somewhere in New England anyway! They were spending Labor Day weekend at Wrightsville Beach for a short family get-together and birthday celebration. They could not have inadvertently picked a worse time to visit – it was the coldest, dreariest, ugliest Labor Day weekend I’ve ever seen in Wilmington.

I arrived at their beach house before the sunrise, and I’m not sure what the temperature was on the beach but it felt like 40 degrees. With wind. And chill. And grey skies. Misery. We did what we could on the beach, and I wasn’t real confident that we could do much more, but Rae noticed some good light on the back deck of the house – and that’s where we found the best images that we made that morning.

I’m really happy she pointed out the new location to me, because I am thrilled with the images we got. I hope these folks come back to the area next year (and that we have better weather!)… they’re the kind of people I want to work with over and over again. Easygoing, witty, and HAPPY.

It’s like 8 degrees with wind in this picture. That’s a gross exaggeration, but still.

Those tears you see in her gorgeous eyes? Tears of cold. She wasn’t even crying or fussing, but her eyes gave away how miserable the weather was out there. (Note: we kept the outside stuff to a bare minimum!)

coordinator: Karen Clark | Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Videography: Life Stage Films (check out their wedding highlights video!)

I can’t even begin to describe the awesome that was this wedding. Inez had a vision, and hired Karen of Something Borrowed Something Blue out of Raleigh to put her amazing vision into action. It was Moroccan meets African American meets Hebrew with an eclectic mix of Southern Culture and modern music. What a night!

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 bridal portrait. 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, 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. 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 . 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 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 . 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!