So earlier this week I asked my Facebook fanpage what information posts they’d like to see up in the blog, and we surprisingly got a tie between this and my previous decor post. However, most of the people who wanted to know about the timeline were other photographers. So welcome, photographers! If this can help you organize the day a bit better for your brides, good! I think the general public would very much benefit from people having a more firm grasp and realization of realistic wedding timelines. :)

There are just about a MILLION different ways to organize a wedding timeline. I think just about every wedding we do is slightly different, but two rules consistently apply:

1. You must prepare for a buffer of time for just about every activity on the timeline.

Really. Trust me. One of the first things I ask when helping my brides prepare their timeline is “How generally on time are you?” For instance, I am always notoriously early, and my sister has always been notoriously late (sorry, Laura). But even when brides tell me that they’re always early and on time, their wedding is almost never on time. Why? Because of your wedding party and family. :D Because everyone has that one family member or wedding party member who is always late… and there’s just no getting around it.

Or, you can be ALWAYS on time (like me) and accidentally forget your car keys on the 13th floor of the hotel (like me) and have someone have to run up and get them and suddenly what was on time has turned into twenty minutes late (horray!).

I think we’ve only had two weddings that had a timeline and were actually able to stick to it and be on time. Two. And that’s completely fine… IF you have a buffer of time scheduled around each activity. So that if things do start running behind (and they will), you can end up actually on time instead of late. Or you can use that time to take a breather and relax, or start things early.

2.  Try to take into account the time of day and how it will affect your pictures.

This is not always possible, but I try to make it possible whenever I can. When you have your wedding indoors, this applies less as your photographer can pretty much always find a shady spot to take pictures outside. However, keep in mind that if you want pictures in a large open area that takes in a lot of the background, you might want to wait to take those pictures until the sun goes down a bit.

When you have your wedding outside, time of day REALLY applies because you do NOT want an outdoor wedding at high noon in the middle of an open-area with no shade. How the light falls and when/where it falls it important to pictures. If you must get married in a very bright time of day, it’s important to get married in an area covered in shade for the comfort of you and your guests, and for well-exposed pictures with no high-noon shadows under your eyes. If you have the option to choose when you get married and you’re getting married in a large open area with no shade, it’s going to be best to do it in the early evening.

Also, make sure that you don’t assume evening is 5pm. ;) In June and July, sunset doesn’t come until 9pm, so getting married in a bright, open space still isn’t a good idea and you’ll still need shade. Ask your photographer if you aren’t sure what time the sun sets (or Google for sunset times and look up your city and state) and they’ll be able to guide you into what they think is best depending on the light.

There are also several variances which will affect how you organize your timeline:

1. First look vs. no first look

2. Traveling to venues vs. staying in one place

3. Time of ceremony (coupled with time of day)

4. Whether or not you want bridal party and family pictures beforehand

All of this stuff plays in big time with how you set everything up… and there are so many variables that it’s not possible to list them all out here, but here are a few examples of a typical timeline that we’ve set up.

THE NO-FIRST LOOK // TRADITIONAL BRIDE // TIMELINE OF AWESOME: (**Note: This timeline isn’t revolving around a specific time of day and assumes that the ceremony and reception venues are the same place)

1:00pm – Hair finishes up on the last bridesmaid and photographer arrives

1:20pm – Hair starts on the bride

2:30pm – Bride’s hair appointment wraps up and start of makeup (**Please check with your hair and makeup people for more accurate times)

3:20pm – Bride makeup wrap up // Bride puts on dress // Guys finally throw on their suits and walk out the door

3:30pm – Bride is now completely ready // Bridesmaids and family members find bouquets, gather purses, get their stuff together (**Note: This is usually the time when people start running late because for some reason everyone misplaces their lipstick)

3:45pm – Drive from hotel to ceremony location and stash everything you brought with you somewhere (put away purses, etc) // Guys typically have already arrived

4:00pm – Start pre-ceremony pictures of Bride+Bridesmaids

4:20pm – Pre-ceremony pictures of Groom+Groomsmen (**Now, you may be thinking… “Why would this take twenty minutes?” It takes twenty minutes because you have to bring out the bride who is wearing a giant gown and typically accompanied by 6 girls who keep losing their lipstick and other stuff. You get them out there, take the pictures, then you have to take them all back downstairs until the bride is safely hidden. Then you bring the guys up… take pictures… bring them back down. The pictures themselves never actually take that long, but it’s the wrangling and herding that take for-e-ver and is completely based on how fast your people move and how often they misplace their lipstick).

4:40pm – Ushering begins // Groomsmen usher or hang out // Brides and bridesmaids hang out

5:00pm – Ceremony starts

5:30pm – Ceremony ends and bridal party and family begin walking to picture location

5:45pm – Family pictures start (**This is the second part of the day that invariably leads to epic lateness because family members see other family members that they haven’t seen in a long time and start to talk to them. It’s pretty chaotic. Try to keep your family members focused or put blinders on them if possible. We gave them 15 minutes to get into position because typically someone gets lost or distracted. Once everyone is in place, we tend to do a 15 minute session with immediate family only – parents, grandparents, siblings, bride and groom. If other family members want pictures, we encourage them to wait until the reception when we can do a lot of informal pictures and group pictures). // Cocktail hour starts

6:00pm – Bridal party pictures of everyone together (**Takes about 20 minutes depending on how large your bridal party is and what locations we need to get to)

6:20pm – Newlywed pictures start

6:50pm – Bridal party lines up to enter the reception

7:00pm – Reception starts

11:00pm – Reception ends (**DJ, band, or planner will typically handle the reception timeline)

Now… if you’ll notice, that’s a pretty tight timeline. There’s no room for downtime. We’ve built in a couple of 10-15 minute buffers, but if you’ll notice, we’re assuming that the ceremony and the reception are being held in the same location for this timeline. That’s starting to be the case more often than not because it’s logistically easier. If you play out this scenario minute by minute, you’ll also notice that the cocktail hour is one hour and fifteen minutes long, which is slightly longer than normal… but sometimes that’s required depending on how easily distracted your family is and/or how large of a bridal party you have.

Our biggest intention with this timeline is to leave at least 20-30 minutes for newlywed pictures. We do that because they’re the most important pictures of the day, and that’s the amount of time required to get a variety of locations and quality shots.

THE FIRST LOOK // MODERN BRIDE // TIMELINE OF AWESOME: (**Note: This timeline isn’t revolving around a specific time of day and assumes that the ceremony and reception venues are the same place)

1:00pm – Hair finishes up on the last bridesmaid and photographer arrives

1:20pm – Hair starts on the bride

2:30pm – Bride’s hair appointment wraps up and start of makeup (**Please check with your hair and makeup people for more accurate times)

3:20pm – Bride makeup wrap up // Bride puts on dress // Guys finally throw on their suits and walk out the door

3:35pm – Bride is now completely ready // Bridesmaids and family members find bouquets, gather purses, get their stuff together (**Note: This is usually the time when people start running late because for some reason everyone misplaces their lipstick)

4:o0pm – Wedding party drive and arrive separately to the venue

4:20pm – Bride and groom arrive for first look

4:35pm – Bridal party arrives for bridal party pictures (everyone together + separate portraits of bride+bridesmaids, etc).

5:00pm – Family starts

5:15pm – Bride and groom “newlywed” pictures

5:45pm – Guys start ushering

6:00pm – Ceremony Starts

6:30pm – Ceremony Ends // Reception Starts

11:00pm – Reception ends (**DJ, band, or planner will typically handle the reception timeline)

Notice that this timeline saves much more time than the traditional timeline in a variety of ways:

1. The bridal party takes less time because you’re not having to photograph girls and guys separately because the groom has already seen the bride

2. The bride and groom have more time for pictures alone

3.  There’s more buffer time for lateness

4. There’s a longer reception

5. The fact that there’s a longer reception allow for you to more easily have your wedding at two separate locations (separate ceremony and separate reception)

6. It saves money if you don’t want to have a cocktail hour OR you can actually enjoy your cocktail hour – either way is great.

VARIABLE VARIABLES OF AWESOME THAT EARN YOU SUPER COOL BONUS POINTS WITH YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER:

These are things that you can do that will save you a LOT of time and will also help you get better pictures and less stress for everyone involved. They’re not required to have stellar pictures, but it’ll make things easier on yourself.

1. Having your ceremony and reception in one place (Don’t start throwing a pity party for yourself if your stuff is all over the world. You can still organize it so that it’s logistically sane, it just might take a little more effort and planning…i.e. calculating in the driving and parking time and loading stuff into car time).

2. Getting ready with your future spouse (This is my favorite. No stress. No arriving-at-different-times-through-different-entrances-walkie-talkie-spy-style. Just getting ready with your best friend and therefore having adorable pictures).

3. Having a first look (Seriously, that timeline is soooo much less stressful. But again – don’t throw a pity party for yourself if you choose not to do it).

4. Occupy family members and friends that aren’t in the formal pictures (Make sure that family and friends who aren’t listed to be in the formal pictures are somewhere else. If not, they will make suggestions on posing and they will tell you who should be added to the picture… thus adding on a bajillion minutes and forcing you to have your pictures taken with people you haven’t seen in 20+ years).

As you can see, timeline planning is not easy. :) It’s best to work with and contact your photographer to see how they can help you set it up. It typically takes me a few hours to sort out the knots and kinks that are typically in a timeline that someone hands me to set it up in a way that’s workable and allows for a little extra buffer. Despite this buffer, we have had approximately two weddings who have been on time and stuck to the original timeline. :) Sometimes things end up being on time, but certain portions had to be cut short (bride and groom pictures are unfortunately on most couple’s chopping block first because they don’t want to anger or upset family members or friends).

For those photographers out there wondering why it’s set up in 10 hour increments, Geoff and I do ten hour day weddings. I know some of you do unlimited hours, and some of you do 5 hours, others 8. We decided on ten hours because we feel like that’s a long day with plenty of time to get everything done, but also that’s the max amount that I can physically do a day (carrying around pounds and pounds of equipment and being on your feet all day is pretty hard on your back when you’re small statured). When we did unlimited hours, we had a few people request 16 hour days… and that I just can’t do physically. :)

Thoughts? Questions? Discussions?

Recently I’ve had the honor of becoming part of the Handmade Wedding Blog’s writing team! I do guest blog posts once a month to inform brides about a chosen topic. :) It feels good to spread the knowledge in the wedding world! They’re published on the first Wednesday of each month. I’ve already written one about how to choose your photographer… and this week’s wedding post is about eco-friendly wedding exits (and their non-eco-friendly counterparts to avoid). Check it out!

Hey guys! Long time no blog. ;) We’ve been spending January getting all of our ducks in a row for the oncoming wedding season, but we’re all set now and anxious to blog! I polled some fans on my Facebook fan page this morning (http://www.facebook.com/carolynscottphotography) about what informative post they’d like to see regarding weddings, and it was tied between how to make your wedding more personal and how to organize your timeline. So today we tackle personalizing your wedding, and later this week we’ll deal with the timeline. :)

There is an endless sea of ways to personalize your wedding. Since everyone is different and unique, each wedding subtly reflects the personalities of the couples we meet. But sometimes people don’t know where to start… or aren’t quite sure how to personalize their wedding when so many weddings they see contain the same elements. So I’m here to show you a few different ideas that real couples of mine have used brilliantly in the past and hopefully you can glean some inspiration from them!

SPICING UP YOUR INVITATIONS:

Invitations don’t have to be formal or plain anymore unless you’d prefer it. Here’s some funky stationary we’ve seen as of late that really reflect the personalities of the couple:

Above: (Left) Katie+Blake’s one page program for their wedding ceremony, outlining the evening and thanking family, friends, and vendors

Below: Abby+Grisha’s handmade wedding invitations. The envelopes were made from a book of maps around the world. The envelope shown below was kept by Abby because it was made using the map of their honeymoon destination.

HANGING UP YOUR FAMILY PHOTOS:

Photos of the family are great to have around a wedding. It gives family and friends a talking point and something to look at while they’re milling around. We’ve seen pictures of family members in frames, in scrapbooks, hanging from trees, and on clotheslines. And who doesn’t love a baby picture of the bride and groom? :)

UTILIZING YOUR HOME:

What better, EASIER, and more personal thing to do than utilize your home for your wedding? Weddings at home are the chillest of the chill. Everyone’s in one spot. There’s no driving around to various locations. And usually Fido can be incorporated. Plus, it saves a ton of money. If you already have your venue picked out, why not get ready at home? It usually makes for a much more appealing space for pictures than a hotel room and can frequently have more light. PLUS there are some funky and cool places to take shoe shots and other pictures. :)

Above: Getting ready portraits taken in Morgan’s home allowed for some funky dress and shoe shots, along with portraits of Big Snack the cat.

Below: Melissa+ Chris held their wedding at a friend’s farm that they were living on at the time. Friends helped in the kitchen by preparing all of the food for the feast and the cakes.

Above: Jenna+Josh get married in the backyard and creatively use their carport as a first dance space.

Below: (Left) Kelsey+Adam have an informal reception on their back porch. (Right) Melissa+Chris’s back yard farm reception.

GUEST INTERACTION: HOW TO ACHIEVE IT AND WHY IT’S GOOD

There’s going to be a time during your wedding day when the guests are kind of bored (mostly it’s because we’re taking pictures of you). Cocktail hours are fine and good, but the best weddings I’ve seen with the happiest guests have involved some sort of craft project to keep them entertained during the lulls in the timeline. This gets the guests interacting, interested, and less likely to leave your reception early. Plus you get some incredibly amusing pictures and keepsakes… all while sticking to the theme of creating a personal wedding based around you as a couple.

Above: In lieu of a DJ-spun dance reception, Melanie+Eric opted for a trivia game which was much more up their alley. Their friends hosted it (Right) and the guests wrote down their answers to trivia about Melanie+Eric’s relationship (Left). It caused a lot of laughs and kept the guests entertained.

Below: The guest book at Melanie+Eric’s wedding also kept the guests entertained by having them fill out a form. It was double-sized and created by Melanie on her computer. They printed out the sheets, hole-punched them, put them in a binder, and provided the guests with tons of colored markers to fill in their answers. This simple idea kept the guests constantly entertained… as well as myself, who kept returning to the guest book to check out the new answers (which were always hilarious).

Above: At their Christmas-themed wedding, Gwen+Nick had guests decorate ornaments to put on their Christmas tree. A themed wedding is an INCREDIBLY easy way to add your personality to ANY wedding as well as make it easier to limit your decoration options if you’re too overwhelmed. Ours was Halloween themed. :)

Below: Shannon+Phil made a makeshift Photobooth that kept their guests entertained throughout the night as well as served as a guest book! Providing guests with a Polaroid camera, film, gluesticks, a scrapbook, silly props, and a black curtain, guests went back repeatedly to take goofy pictures and pasted them into the scrapbook with accompanying messages.

Above: Caitlin+Christopher kept their slew of out-of-town guests occupied by providing a world atlas as their guest book, with each guest signing next to their own of travel.

Below: Various games can provide entertainment for a lull in the timeline for guests, as well as provide fun interaction for those guests of yours who don’t enjoy dancing.

ALTER YOUR ALTAR:

Churches, indoor, and outdoor spaces alike can all use some sprucing up sometimes. Just because it’s a plain space now doesn’t mean it has to be for your wedding day. Check out these ideas other couples used to spice up their space in a personal way!

Above: (Left) Married at Marbles, Lindsey+Jonathan were faced with having a background that was literally a giant black projection screen. Trying to figure out how to decorate it, Jonathan came up with the idea of projecting their favorite painting onto the screen, creating a beautiful and personal projection behind them. (Right) A salvaged fireplace mantle and two vintage doors were repainted and reused as a background to an indoor wedding.

Below: (Top Right) Liz+Chris were married with two young trees to mark their altar space. The trees were then taken and planted at their new home, adding a beautiful and personal touch to their wedding. (Bottom Right) Special cloth that had been in the family for generations was used to decorate this huppa adorning the ceremony.

ADDING A PERSONAL TOUCH TO YOUR RECEPTION SPACE:

So you’ve rented a hall… and now you’re not quite sure what to do with it. Ask yourself: if it were your home and you were having a party, how would you decorate it? After all, a wedding is pretty much just a giant (more meaningful) party. :) Consider what the couples below did in order to spruce up their reception in a way that suited their tastes and changed the space for a better (and more personal) way.

Above: (Left) Adding uplighting to any space instantly brings your wedding colors into your reception and creates a club-like vibe. (Right) This school gymnasium was beautifully turned into a stunning reception space simply by adding curtains, uplighting, and classy decoration that highlight the couple’s personalities.

Below: (1) A couple writes their name in chalk on a wall in their reception space. (2) A couple adds lanterns and drapery to the ceiling to create a more intimate space. (3) Another example of uplighting a reception to bring in the wedding colors. (4) A couple uses wildflowers from a local farm to tie in their views of supporting local farmers with their wedding. (5). Colorful lanterns are hung inside a reception tent to liven up the atmosphere.

HEY MR. DJ: I WANT A BAND

I’ve met a few couples that just aren’t into modern or mainstream music. Bringing their own personality to their party instead of partaking in the norm, they chose to hire various bands (ranging from an oldies band to a mountain jugband to an indie-country band) that reflect their tastes.

DISSING THE STANDARD CAKE FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE… THEM:

A few of our couples ::gasp!:: haven’t liked cake. :) A few more of them went to try their wedding cake… and couldn’t choose just one. Instead of squeezing themselves into the model wedding cake idea, they chose to bring to the table what suited them best… and highlighted their personality.

SHOWCASING YOUR PERSONALITY AT YOUR WEDDING: I DID IT MY WAY

Here are some hodgepodge images of things that couples have done to make themselves stand out from the crowd. I tend to attract couples who don’t take themselves incredibly seriously (thankfully!) and tend to highlight that playful nature at their weddings. Their weddings end up fun, relaxed, and just fit the couple to an absolute “t”. Let’s look at things they did that might spark some creativity of your own. :)

Above: Martha+Justin, who both have jobs in the science field, incorporated their jobs into their wedding by using a standard Computation Book and turning it into their guest book, complete with pictures of themselves marked with funny lab notes. :)

Below: Sarah+Jimmy’s centerpieces were double sided on every table: one side included one goal they had set aside for themselves as a couple to accomplish each year, and the flip side was a quote about love that was significant to them.

Above: Continuing with Sarah+Jimmy’s wedding, the couple’s wedding favors were bags of coffee from the breakfast place where they ate the day they were engaged. A perfect way to personalize your wedding favors!

Below: (1) The groom was a fireman, so this personalized fireman’s hat was brought in as unique decor for their wedding. (2) Another vintage door was hand painted using regular paint, chalkboard paint, and chalk and set aside as decor. (3) A mini-replica of the couple’s house was used as a card holder. (4) Sweet tea home-brewed by the couple was given away as a favor at a backyard wedding. (5) Taffy, a candy native to the bride’s New Jersey shore, was the personal favor at this wedding.

Above Six Squares: (1) This nature-loving couple opted for the Unity Volcano instead of a Unity Candle at their offbeat ceremony (yes, with baking soda and vinegar like middle school… it was beyond awesome). (2) Taylor+Chris made their guests mix CDs of their favorite songs packaged in cute initial packaging for their favors. (3) A sword passed down through generations and used to cut many wedding cakes is used at Liz+Chris’s wedding. (4) Rosemary, an herb important to the couple and meant for remembrance is placed on the napkins of all of the guests. (5) In lieu of standard favors, this couple presented their guests with a small plantable succulent. (6) Table numbers were identified in this clever way at the wedding of two math professors.

Above: In addition to creating fun and personal decor, don’t forget to let your own personality shine through. :) Weddings can be stressful, but if you relax and allow yourself to be, well, you (like this bride did), you can turn your regular first look into something hilarious and unforgettable.

Below: Pie was served instead of cake at this wedding. Also, in lieu of having a standard receiving line or greeting guests at their tables, the couple decided to don aprons and scoop ice cream onto the plate of every guest who came through their line. It was an adorable and quirky version of a traditional guest greeting… and was very much in line with their personalities.

Above: These seemingly random items all had meaning for the couple and were gathered over several years. Funny and cute sayings were added using Scrabble tiles (the “Nice Tie” saying was placed at the table facing the bride’s dad… who paid more for his tie than his whole suit, much to the amusement of his family).

Below: The scientists strike again! Using test tubes taken from their lab (they weren’t used!), the couple filled them with M&Ms and tags. Their centerpieces incorporated wildflowers and the groom’s personal collection of books about space and science.

I hope that this blog post was able to strike up some ideas on how to incorporate your personalities into your wedding! Please feel free to list further suggestions (I definitely didn’t cover them all!) or start a discussion based on decor. I love learning about ways to take things that are inexpensive and personal to create an awesome wedding vibe!

This was our very last wedding of 2011 held on December 17th. :) The day after, I flew to Pittsburgh to be home with my family for the holidays, and Gwen and Nick were patient and kind enough to be cool with me editing them when I got back in January. We could not have ended the year on a better note. Gwen, as you may recall from her engagement session, was a teaching co-worker of mine when I taught 2nd grade. She still teaches alongside my other teacher co-workers Jen (who was a bridesmaid in the wedding) and Sara (who did Gwen’s lovely makeup). It was so wonderful to see all of them again and to photograph Gwen and Nick’s family and friends on their wedding day. :) They’re such a sweet and loving couple… and December was the perfect month for them to get married as it’s an important month in their faith as well as a time when Gwen gets a little time off from work. ;) They combined adorable Christmas elements into their wedding… and I nearly cracked up when Gwen told me she was having her guests decorate ornaments for a tree while they were getting their pictures taken to occupy them (it was a very teacher-like craft assignment and amazing!).

Gwen looked beautiful and stunning, as always and Nick and his groomsmen looked awesome in their grey suits (I’m a sucker for grey suits and they photograph so well). Their ceremony took place in the church where they met. Their reception had a Cheerwine toast, a cheesecake bar, and a toilet papered getaway car that almost caught fire from their sparkler exit. ;) It was a beautiful day and I was happy to be there with them. Hope the pictures were worth the wait, guys. xo.

First Dance Song: “You and Me” – Lifehouse

Bride’s Occupation: 4th Grade Teacher

Groom’s Occupation: Software Developer

How You Met: Through our Sunday School class at Providence Baptist Church

Interesting Bride Fact: Competed in the NCAA DIII National Championship game in senior year of college

Interesting Groom Fact: Was the state champion in the floor routine as a 12 year old

Honeymoon Destination: Cruise to the Western Caribbean out of Tampa, FL

Date: December 17, 2011

Ceremony Venue: Providence Baptist Church // Raleigh, NC

Reception Venue: Cobblestone Hall // Raleigh, NC

DJ: Uniq Events

Florist: Harris Teeter

Cake: Melody Sawyer (friend)

Cheesecakes: The Twisted Fork

Hair: Kim Braddy

Makeup: Sara Haan // Makeup For Your Day

Coordinator: April Collier

A lot of you know I used to be a teacher. When you’re a teacher, you have a class of about 25-30 kids a year (plus their parents). You have initial meetings with them before the first day of school, then you batten down the hatches and go through the year with occasional consults in between. At the end of the year, you say farewell and hope they’ll stop by your class again as they get older.

Photography is not unlike that. I have about 30 couples (for weddings) a year (plus their parents…haha). I have initial consults with them, and then we batten down the hatches and go through the wedding planning, wedding photographing, wedding editing process. At the end of the year I bid them farewell and hope that I’ll see hear from them again down the road, either for a session or for coffee. :) Then I look at the list of the names on my Class of 2012 and think about all that we’re excited for.

So goodbye, Class of 2011! Each and every one of you were fabulous. We went to some incredible places and photographed some of our loveliest weddings yet. Better still, we made a lot of close friends out of some of our clients this year… which is probably the thing that I treasure most out of this job. We’re sooo excited to see what next year brings. Here are our favorites from the Class of 2011 (one picture from each portrait and wedding session we did).

As an added bonus, we’ve decided to show some outtakes of ourselves from some of our portraits and weddings. We take a lot of pictures. And, let’s face it, these are our weekends and weekdays too… so documenting your shindig is essentially documenting our lives… no matter how disheveled we look. ;) And trust us, we look pretty disheveled in some of these. But typically these are after a 10 hour work day with occasionally no food but lots of caffeine, so I’d say we’re looking pretty okay considering! ;) :P I find the evolution of my hairstyle and Geoff’s beard particularly amusing.

Happy, happy new year everyone…. here’s to a healthy, happy, and safe 2012 for all our families, friends, clients, and blog stalkers!

You know you’ve known someone for a long time when one of your past experiences with them involves going to see Oasis in concert.

Morgan was a few grades older than me, but close friends with my sister. It turns out that she was also close friends with Geoff’s sister at the same time in some weird Twilight Zone-y way. Anyway, I used to see a lot of Morgan until I got to the point where I would stop pestering my sister to hang out with her and her friends. :P They graduated, I graduated, etc (in closer proximity to Morgan’s younger sister Randi), and our relationship turned into Facebook friends, as so many relationships do these days. When she asked me to shoot the wedding of her and her fiance Jim back in Pittsburgh and about 10 minutes away from our hometown, I was very excited… excited to see her and her family again, and excited to meet Jim, because I was pretty sure he’d be pretty cool.

And of course he is (and I welcome another groom who has GREAT hair and excellent music taste), and of course they are, and of course their family and friends are. In fact, it was one of the coolest assemblies of people we’ve met in a long time. There were cats involved, an old family house, Tom’s wedding shoes, alleyways to shoot in that I’d never thought to visit even though I grew up ten minutes away, lots of Hall and Oates and Phil Collins, a videographer who used to be my band teacher, a Glen’s custard visit (a Springdale staple), and… perhaps best of all… a totally decked out Steelers bar who yelled at our newlyweds from across the street: “Hey, yinz guys come over here and we’ll give you a drink!” Of course, the drinks actually were accompanied by the owners and local bar residents blasting The Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling” while playing along via jugband (i.e. banging whisks against beer bottles) in celebration of Morgan and Jim’s soon-to-be marriage. I’m not sure what could have been better, but upon wading through and editing their pictures later, I’ve determined that nothing could have been better.

First Dance Song: “Something” – The Beatles

Bride’s Occupation: Pricing Coordinator – GNC Corporate Headquarters

Groom’s Occupation: Project Administrator  - Siemens Energy // Soccer Coach

How You Met: Well, we were born in the same hospital 2 days apart and were in the nursery together – our families even visited with one another (her Mom and his Aunt were bffs in high school).  But we don’t really remember that.  25 years later our mutual friends unknowingly reunited/introduced us.

Interesting Bride Fact: 100% certified crazy cat lady, and avid bookworm

Interesting Groom Fact: Has an extremely extensive record collection, shuns most modern technology, and hopes to one day open a used book store so that he can go to work barefoot every day.

Date: November 19, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Springdale Veterans Association // Springdale, PA

Officiant: District Magistrate Carolyn Bengal

DJ: Craig Brown // DJ Goodtimes

Florist: Springdale Floral

Cake: Oakmont Bakery

Caterer: Patti Luffy // Ranieri Catering

Hair/Makeup: Ashlee Pici Seger // Ashley DeMasi Hair Salon

Videographer: Brian Querry // Querry Music Productions

Jen and Rob met when Rob was playing in bands during the period of Jen’s life when she “used to go see a lot of death metal shows in Fayetteville.” She said this to me while wearing a beautifully layered wedding gown with a veil on. :) I literally lol’ed… just because at that point in her wedding day, I really couldn’t see Jen going to see death metal bands in Fayetteville. She’s so genuinely sweet and has a quiet speaking voice and is so nice to everyone around her that it’s hard to imagine her headbanging away. But here Jen and Rob were on their wedding day at Caffe Luna in downtown Raleigh surrounded by friends, family, and most importantly – their newborn son Rob Jr… whom they affectionately refer to as R2 and whom I affectionately refer to as RDJ (both his initials and a homage from myself to the great Robert Downey Jr.). Jen got an R2D2 groom/son cake that she surprised them with and that Geoff wanted to steal. You’ll see in addition to RDJ the plethora of adorable children who were present at this wedding, and the beautiful and wonderful bridal party that accompanied our metalhead newlyweds. 

Date: November 13, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Caffe Luna // Raleigh, NC

DJ: Mike Morse

Florist: Fresh Affairs // Lyn Graves

Wedding Cake: Cake Dreams by Sally

Groom’s Cake: Cinda’s Creative Cakes

Officiant: Rev. Robin Renteria

Hair/Makeup: Images by Denise

Taylor, Chris, Geoff, and myself were all put in touch by Geoff’s sister Samantha. Taylor and Sam were roommates at IUP near Pittsburgh several years ago. Taylor had since moved to North Carolina, met the wonderful man who was to become her husband, and they were engaged. Facebook relayed this information to Sam who recommended Taylor look me up. ;) Thanks, Facebook! We were so happy to meet them and work with them through their engagement and on their beautiful wedding day. Ironically, they were married on our wedding anniversary… and there aren’t two other people we’d be happier to share our date with! :)

Taylor wore cute red shoes and met her future husband behind an old door in the country club where they held hands without seeing each other before the ceremony. Taylor burst into tears of genuine happiness… and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so excited to be married. Their ceremony included a Chinese hand movement that I want to include but am pretty sure I’ll botch the order (Taylor and Chris – will you please include this in the comment section?). This wedding had an incredibly cute grandma that you’ll see featured several times. It also featured a hilarious Twilight reference by a guest. Enjoy Taylor’s super beautiful face and Chris’s handsomeness in their lovely wedding.

First Dance Song: “Just the Way You Are” – Billy Joel

Bride’s Occupation: Administrative Assistant

Groom’s Occupation: System Administrator

How You Met: Match.com

Interesting Bride Fact: Taylor is a walking Match.com advertisement. At least five of her peers have tried it. Two have had success!! :)

Interesting Groom Fact: His favorite place in the world is Yosemite!

Honeymoon Destination: Dominican Republic

Date: October 23, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: MacGregor Downs Country Club // Cary, NC

DJ: Elite EJ Services // Corey McLamb

Florist: Every Bloomin’ Thing

Cake: Cinda’s Creative Cakes

Officiant: Rev. Barbara Lodge

Hair/Makeup: Amber Choplin

Greg is called “Grisha” by Abby, her family, and subsequently Geoff and myself, and will therefore be known as Grisha for the rest of this post. The reason this post is so very long is that it’s kind of an engagement session+wedding rolled into one. They wanted to use their engagement session as a first look + wedding pictures instead of doing their newlywed photos on the day of. Unfortunately, we got about five minutes into it when the rain set in. And we’re talking monsoon style rain tapering off into a steady pour. We decided to move them to their wedding day, and we got in about 1.5 hours worth of pictures on their friend’s farm. Abby wore a vintage 1960s dress with a feather hair fascinator that she made. Her earrings were also handmade by Abby and Grisha…made from the plastic ring-sizer kit that Grisha bought when he was trying to figure out her ring size.

Their invitations were also handmade…courtesy of their printer and an atlas they bought. They printed the invitations and folded various sections of the atlas maps for envelopes. They kept the Newfoundland envelope. It’s where they plan on going for their honeymoon. Abby’s mom collected all of the materials for their centerpieces from every place imaginable. She’s been collecting since before they were engaged. “It gotten a lot worse since the engagement happened,” said Abby. I was told that I should probably receive a tetanus shot before photographing the wedding. Grisha’s mother sewed the chuppah and the poles were made from bamboo from the farm where we took their pictures. The cocktail hour was held before the wedding much to the delight of the guests. There was no aisle in the ceremony so I photographed Abby and her father walking to the Top of the Hill from the Carolina Inn. Grisha’s thumbprint is on the inside of Abby’s ring. Instead of a receiving line, the couple opted to serve ice cream to all their guests. There could not be two kinder people on the planet.

I recently started asking some questions to my couples for the blog. Sometimes they answer, sometimes they don’t. Here are Abby and Grisha’s:

First Dance Song [Carolyn's Answer]: None. After breaking the glass, Abby and Grisha’s guests erupted into spontaneous cheering and dancing, much to the plan of the newlyweds (hence the cocktail hour before the wedding).

Bride’s Occupation: Research assistant, currently applying to medical school, but will probably be applying again next year. So it goes.

Groom’s Occupation: Self-employed fleet GPS tracking device installer.

How You Met: Elevator! At Russian Language Summer Program at Middlebury College.

Interesting Bride Fact [Carolyn's Answer]: Abby didn’t answer this, so I’ll use this opportunity to tell everyone that we creepily have the same purse, only in different colors. We both got it from Etsy from different sellers, but it’s the same purse. She also has other cute purses with birds. I used to have cute purses with birds until I literally wore a hole through the straps. We’re kind of purse soulmates.

Interesting Groom Fact: Grisha vermicomposts – yes that’s right, there’s a bin of worms in our apartment that he feeds our fruits and vegetables and shredded paper to.

Honeymoon Destination: Newfoundland, Canada (the whole thing! Not just St. Johns or Gros Morne National Park) – but not until summer 2012 and only if I get into medical school.

Date: October 22, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery // Chapel Hill, NC

Band: GMISH

Florist: Abby+Grisha made their flowers and boutonnieres using flowers from the Carrboro Farmers Market the morning of their wedding.

Pie: Top of the Hill

Officiant: Robin Renteria

Hair/Makeup: Destenee

Day-Of Coordinator: Not Your Grandmother’s Wedding // Chrissy Brady

Photobooth: Five Star Amusements // Bob Haggarty

It was so, so cold when Geoff and I shot Katie and Blake’s engagement session in February in Raleigh. At the time, Blake had moved from Houston, Texas to be stationed in Fort Bragg as he took classes to become a medic in the military. Katie stayed behind at her accounting job in Texas, both of them waiting to see where Blake would be stationed later this year. They planned their wedding to be in Katy, Texas… just a little outside of Houston. I was under the strict understanding that no, they did not need a wedding photographer, they just needed their engagement portraits done for Save the Dates. So we did them. And found out shortly thereafter that we’d be coming to Texas for their wedding. ;) I’m not sure a photographer can receive a higher compliment than when “No, we don’t need you for your wedding” turns into, “Can you we fly you to Texas?”.

Literally everyone at their wedding treated us like family. It was my birthday and they got me a card with a cat on it (how did you know?!). We felt so utterly appreciated in a job that can be occasionally a tad thankless that I called my parents from Texas gushing, “Everyone’s just so nice!!” Katie and Blake are now married and have moved to Nashville where Blake is stationed in nearby Kentucky. I was sad they didn’t end up in North Carolina, but maybe someday. ;) I hope you enjoy their wedding pictures as much as I do… and thank you so much, Katie and Blake, for everything you’ve done for us and giving us this amazing opportunity. Congratulations again x2000 and we hope we soon you again soon. :)

Date: October 7th, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Tuscany Villa // Katy, Texas

Officiant: Rev. Rebecca Wilson

Flowers: Dream Bouquet

DJ: LG Entertainers

Cake: Edible Designs by Jessie

Cupcakes: Crave Cupcakes

So I am making a new commitment to the CSP blog that I’ve been finding kinda distracting. The commitment is to stop talking quite so much, and let the pictures tell more of the story than me. I often interrupt the flow of the pictures to explain something, and even I find that pretty distracting, so I’m going to stop that. :) I also am not a huge fan of super long intros… and realize that most people want to just get to the pictures! Let’s see how well I can follow this. :( It’s hard for me to stop talking. :) In order to cut on the long intros, I am also moving the vendor info to the bottom of the page much like the end credits in a movie.

Nicole was our lovely bride and Frank was our handsome groom on this beautiful early fall day. Fabulous weather and a beautiful wedding.  Nicole does drug research while Frank has a MD and is pursuing a career in child psychiatry.  We’re very thankful to have witnessed the marriage of two lovely individuals. Congratulations, Nicole and Frank!

Date: October 1st

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Governor’s Club // Chapel Hill, NC

DJ: Mark McNally of Joe Bunn DJ Company

Florist: Tre Bella

Cake: Sugarland

Coordinator: Lisa Johnson at Governor’s Club

Back to the ‘Burgh for a fantastic farm wedding of two fellow Burrell High School alumni, Nancy and Casey. ;) They were both a grade above me, but I’ve known Casey since I was in 6th grade and we were both in marching band. In fact, I remember talking to him on ICQ… that’s how old we go back. High-fives to all of you reading who know what ICQ is, and even more high-fives to those of you who remember using it. ;) I’ve known his parents for just as long as they’d help out on all sorts of band functions, and his dad is the mayor of my hometown. Last year at the wedding of our fellow marching band alumni, Pete, Casey’s dad was the officiant. Photography life comes full circle yet again! :)

I knew Nancy in high school to smile and wave, but I’ve gotten to know her a lot better over the wedding, and she is just as sweet and beautiful as can be. Nancy and Casey live in North Dakota now where she is the manager at Enterprise and Casey is the Operations Specialist at Grand Forks International Airport. They planned their wedding in Pittsburgh to be closer to family and friends. We had a fantastic time seeing them and their farm wedding was gorgeous. This venue is kind of insane, and I had no idea a place like this existed about twenty minutes outside of my parent’s house. I was in photographer heaven due to the amount of cats. :) Sorry for the excessive pictures of cats and dogs, guys. ;)

Date: September 24, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Lingrow Farm // Leechburg, PA

DJ: Frank Sarno

Florist: Leechburg Floral

Cake: Fenogliettos’s Wedding Cakes

Caterer: Gardas Restaurant

Hair/Makeup: Phillip Pelusi

Coordinator: Linda Alworth, Lingrow Farm

Our super lovely bride below and the handsome gents above. :)

Below: the best man got a little creative with photoshop, and the best series of girls taking shots ever.

Nancy’s dad – you are the best. I usually take one picture from the wedding and put it on my Facebook, and I very seriously considered this series because it is ridiculous.

Above: the best man made up for his photoshop stunt by purchasing fireworks for Casey and setting them off on the farm. Below: Buddy, the farm dog, joins the dance floor and barks along to “Who Let the Dogs Out?” No joke. I asked the owner, “Does he do this all the time?” to which she responded, “Only if he likes the song.”

Congratulations, Nancy and Casey! We wish you many years of happiness and warm temperatures in North Dakota! :D Thank you so much for having us photograph your wedding. We hope you looove them!

Jenna and Josh’s wedding was one of those super chill, relaxed, southern, backyard weddings that makes a northern girl like myself want to say “ya’ll.” There was BBQ, a little friendly dog, the cutest flower girl in the world, and homemade sweet tea that Jenna and Josh bottled themselves. They were married in front of huge North Carolina pines in Stem in the backyard of Josh’s parents’. Then they ate, danced, and played cornhole on the gorgeous property until the stars came out (and then they danced some more in the car port).

Jenna and Josh have been wonderful clients this whole year – having me do their engagement photos and pictures of the adorable Jack and Lola (their dogs) – and I was happy to see their wedding finally arrive. Josh works in the narcotics department for the police, and Jenna is a 911 operator. Together, they are a super sweet and nice couple with equally super sweet and nice family and friends. Enjoy their southern wedding!

Date: September 10th, 2011

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Private Residence

Officiant: Pastor Ronnie Bradford

Cake: Judy Kendrick

DJ: Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment

Florist: Lisa’s House of Flowers

Decor: Lorna+Fran Perry and Rhonda+Bobby Walters

They had a lovely little space between two trees where they attached a large rope and had pictures hung up with clotheslines across it. There is nothing better than seeing little kid pictures of people who you didn’t know when they were a little kid. :) These cracked me up! Little adorable Jenna and Josh grew into very beautiful Jenna and handsome Josh. :) Loving Little Jenna’s hair clip and Little Josh’s rad Ninja Turtle sweater!

Congratulations, Jenna+Josh! We hope you had a wonderful honeymoon and wish you nothing but the best with your new family (yourselves and the dogs… which, obviously, were already family… but, well, you know what we mean). ;)

We weren’t really supposed to shoot this wedding initially, but we were sure glad it happened that way. :)

I did Lori and Hassan’s engagement pictures in January, which, at this point, seems like eternities ago. Her engagement session inquiry email to me stated, “We’re planning a destination wedding and will most likely pick a local photographer there for the big day.” That’s totally cool and happens a lot. So I went about taking engagement pictures for them in downtown Raleigh on the coldest winter morning ever! I remember shaking, I remember Wrigley, their adorable dog, shaking, but them being very good sports. Well, low and behold, they received their engagement pictures back and decided to book Geoff and me for their Outer Banks wedding. We were super excited, thankful, and honored.

Since their engagement, I’ve photographed their dog and Lori’s bridal portraits and feel like I know them quite well. I wasn’t nervous, they weren’t nervous, and the whole wedding was smooth sailing at the Outer Banks. Well, we were slightly nervous the week before when Hurricane Irene hit the coast and flooded their reception venue under 4 feet of water. But the town of Manteo did a fantastic job of cleaning up, and 108 Budleigh looked brand new. :) It was heart wrenching to see the damage done to some of the areas on the drive in (both structure damage and crop damage).  But all in all, Roanoke Island fared quite well… much better than expected… and the houses had little to no outside damage. Thankfully, it was all very beautiful on their wedding weekend and everyone was thankful. Lori and Hassan enjoyed their beautiful Outer Banks wedding and we were so happy to be there with them to celebrate.

Date: September 4th, 2011

Ceremony Venue: St. Andrews by the Sea Episcopal Church // Nags Head, NC

Reception Venue: 108 Budleigh // Manteo, NC

Officiant: Rev. Phillip Glick

Day-of Coordinator: Karen Kelly, Coastal Event Coordinators

Cake: Linda Bradley

DJ: Don Vaquera, Soundwavz Entertainment

Catering: Lisa Ortega, Ortega’z Grill

Florist: Monica Witt

The newspapers from before Irene hit were still in the newspaper display case.

Thanks to Geoff for second-shooter, as usual. ;) He took a bunch of these photos, including the candid on the right that made me laugh when I saw it… Lori’s dad is fixing his suit jacket I’m pretty sure… but it kind of looks like he’s ready to knock Hassan out. ;)

There are no pictures from the wedding ceremony as St. Andrews by the Church does not permit photography except for the bride entering and exiting. Here is our incredibly lovely bride and handsome groom exiting their ceremony. :)

Lori and Hassan requested their newlywed pictures to be at the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse in Manteo near 108 Budleigh, their wedding reception. It’s an adorable little lighthouse that looks like a cottage stuck out on a pier. Very cute!

I have been waiting to do groomsmen cigar pictures for a long time. Yessss.

The next day Geoff and I hit the beach for a short period and hiked up Jockey’s Ridge (last picture). I love out of town weddings as it kind of feels like I’m on vacation, even though I’m working. :) Barely noticeable is a Toy Story band-aid on Geoff’s hand in the picture below… proof of him being bit by the hotel’s pet Cockatoo in the lobby. It was kind of hilarious except that there was a decent amount of blood. But not so much that a Toy Story band-aid couldn’t fix it. ;)

Thank you, Lori and Hassan, for bringing us out to the coast with you! Thank you, too, to the wonderful, polite, and super nice bridal party and family. You were all so great to work with!

How much do we love Martha and Justin? Let me count the ways:

1. They took us to Chicago for their engagement session.

2. Martha likes to send me links about glow-in-the-dark cats.

3. They agreed to a Back to the Future themed wedding… but somehow that fell through.

4. They are smart: Justin is an astrophysicist and Martha is some sort of developmental biologist who holds some sort of job studying fish hearts (sorry, Martha, for butchering your official title… all I can remember are fish hearts).

5. They wanted to have their final consult over pizza… and any couple that wants to have a consult over pizza is a-okay with me (gluten-free for me, of course).

There are lots of other ways, but we all know I’m bad with math and science, so I’m going to stop at 5 because that’s a reasonable number. May we now present to you Martha and Justin’s wedding! It was full of sciencey goodness, rolling heads, blue shoes, and lots of salsa dancing. Read on, friends!

Date: September 3rd, 2011

Ceremony Venue: Immaculate Conception // Durham, NC

Reception Venue: Kirby Horton Hall at Duke Gardens // Durham, NC

Day of Coordinators: C and D Events

Catering: Durham Catering

Non-Bouquet Florist: Dan and Ethel Vogel

Bouquet Florist: Flowers on Broad Street

Transportation: Jason Clark

Cake: Daisy Cakes

Hair/Makeup: Posh the Salon // Durham, NC

DJ: Cortland Williams

How pretty is our Martha? I loved her hair and veil. It fits her spunky personality perfectly. She’s beautiful! Also, digging the blue wedding shoes.

Their wedding centerpieces were fantastic. They laid pieces of different fabrics down the tables as runners, but the fabric was patterned and gave the tables a sort of antique-y feel. They coupled these with wild flowers in mason jars and old-timey science books. Yes, there was Solaris and Space Odyssey. It was an adorable and very tasteful way to incorporate their love of science. :) Later (a few pictures down), you’ll see their computation guest book and the little tubes that Martha took from her lab to fill with M&Ms as favors, haha. Brilliant!

Martha’s wedding ring is a sapphire and we loved Justin’s tie!

The stories behind the pictures below: Martha and Justin had a regular first dance, but they also had a choreographed dance. You see, Martha and her family are super good salsa dancers. Martha’s family frequently make fun of Justin for his white-boy dance moves, so Martha’s been teaching him. I’d say he’s doing quite well.

While it ended in tragedy, it was the best cake cutting ever while it lasted. Note Martha’s head in the middle tipping a little too far to the right… then it’s gone. Martha came up to me afterward and said, “So what does that mean?” and I said, “Good luck?” :) Justin was very concerned.

Geoff and I excessively documented the little boy below throughout the afternoon, as neither one of us can resist a kid playing a Gameboy in the middle of a wedding. The following are pictures of this adorable ring bearer being completely in the zone while everyone dances away around him.

Loved the streamer exit, Martha’s dad’s exit, and Geoff’s awesome picture below to the right. :)

We love you, Martha and Justin! I’d say good luck and that we’d hope to see you in the future but we have a pizza date in the near future… and I hope that you both find jobs in Raleigh and get used to the total lack of public transportation so that Justin doesn’t get too sad and convince you both to move back to Chicago. It’s warm here! And we like you guys a lot!

Everyone’s favorite baseball enthusiasts tie the knot! Caitlin and Christopher, law school students at the University of Virginia, held their wedding here in Raleigh where Caitlin’s family resides. They met at the University of Georgia, and in a weird, Twilight Zone spin on events, are good friends with one of the groomsmen at our last wedding in Asheville. Normally we only see repeat guests at weddings that come from referrals, but these two couples didn’t know each other until they met at the wedding of the groomsman, Beau, a few weeks ago. At that point Sarah called and said, “We met another one of your couples!” So we thought that was cool, and we shot Sarah’s wedding, and then as we’re rolling up to Caitlin and Christopher’s wedding, Geoff says, “That’s Beau!” and it was… and it was all very deja vu strangeness. I guess it just proves that our clients are cool and run in cool circles with other cool people who have equally awesome taste in photographs. ;)

Anyyyway, this wedding was a beautiful late morning wedding and we had a great time shooting it! I must say, it was one of the most active dance parties we have ever seen… especially for an afternoon reception. Also, it was definitely hands-down the most active group of people over 70 I have ever seen as well. The grandparents were totally jamming out. It was pretty amazing. Caitlin and Christopher are total sweethearts who are beautiful inside and out. :)

Date: August 13, 2011

Ceremony Venue: Sacred Heart Cathedral // Raleigh, NC

Reception Venue: North Ridge Country Club // Raleigh, NC

Officiant: Father Sal Busichio

DJ: Tim Hazell, TJDJ

Florist: Suzanne Page, JaGG Classic Wholesale

Cake/Food: North Ridge Country Club

Caitlin’s grandmother made these little floral arrangements below in tiny watering cans for their wedding after-party at the house, and I just thought it was the cutest idea ever. It would make adorable centerpieces for a spring wedding outside. Way to go, grandma! Also, the above picture is one of my favorites of the day. :) It makes me smile!

Christopher is a sweetheart and had just the best, genuinely excited reaction upon seeing the lovely Caitlin. :)

It started raining during the ceremony, so we improvised and did the first half of their pictures inside. :)

Beau! Our mutual wedding client friend. :)

This was a very energetic exit… I feel like the noisemakers had something to do with that. ;) We hadn’t seen this type of exit before, and it was great! I kinda wanted a noisemaker, but it would’ve distracted me, so it’s probably for the best. Congratulations, Caitlin and Christopher! Best of luck in Virginia and please keep in touch! :D

This was one of those weddings where you went to sleep afterward feeling like you were at a wedding of a friend. Sarah and Jimmy, our favorite Algebra teacher and rock climbing instructor, and owner of the ever-popular Clive, were married at the end of July in Asheville, NC in a beautiful ceremony in the most ridiculously gorgeous church and reception hall. We were welcomed into their family wholeheartedly for the weekend and enjoyed every minute of it.

Geoff and I hadn’t made it out to Asheville yet since we moved to North Carolina, and it is every bit as awesome as everyone says it is. We had a super time as illustrated by this way too long blog post. We’re so grateful for Sarah and Jimmy for bringing us out there! (Strangely enough, our other Asheville wedding in October is at the same reception venue… and we are totally stoked because the location couldn’t be better). Our lovely couple currently lives in Charlotte, NC, but are originally from Georgia where they went to school at UGA… so this was a mini-destination wedding for all involved. :)

We started out the weekend photographing Sarah and Jimmy’s rehearsal dinner, so a few from that lovely evening and then we’ll dive right into the wedding. I have a hard time leaving all of my wedding comments at the top here… and I realize that spoils the flow of the pictures, but there are some things that need commented on with the picture. ;)

Date: July 30th, 2011

Hotel: The Crowne Resort Plaza // Asheville, NC

Rehearsal Dinner Venue: The Sunset Terrace at the Grove Park Inn // Asheville, NC

Ceremony Venue: Grace Episcopal Church // Asheville, NC

Reception Venue: The Crest Center and Pavilion // Asheville, NC

Officiant: Lee Mason // College pastor of the bride and groom

Band: The Business

Florist: Blossoms at Biltmore Park

Cake: Earthfare

Hair and Makeup: Leau de Vie Salon

Here are some of the pictures from their rehearsal dinner at the Grove Park Inn… a beautiful building on top of the world’s steepest hill ever. I was slightly, slightly concerned about the Mazda’s capabilities climbing it.

After the lovely and intimate rehearsal dinner, we got some beauty sleep and woke the next day to brave downtown Asheville to make our way to the Leau de Vi salon for hair and makeup. Of course, Asheville was holding the Bel Chere festival that weekend, and every street that we needed to get to was blocked off. :)

Our beautiful, beautiful bride Sarah and her adorable little Etsy hair flowers. :)

Sarah got ready at the Sunset Cottage at the Crest Pavilion… a cute little house on the property that the girls stayed in the night before the wedding.

Obviously being really, really ridiculously good-looking was a requirement of this wedding party. Absolutely gorgeous (and so nice!) ladies and super handsome and friendly gentlemen. :)

After the beautiful ceremony presided over by their college pastor, Sarah and Jimmy and crew headed to the Crest Pavilion on top of another really steep hill. It is so pretty up there… and, while we avoided the rain, it was thundering during our newlywed pictures and we could see the rain in the distance. It was pretty awesome. Their decorations for the rehearsal was so cute and beautifully handmade. Their tablecards had quotes about relationships on one side, and the goals for their first year of marriage written on the other. It was really interesting to read them and such a great idea to create newlywed goals like that!

Oh hey, downtown Asheville! Funny seeing you here.

Sarah and Jimmy are such sweet people and just gorgeous, easy to photograph, and super nice and willing and laugh at all my silly nonsense. :)

Raining in the Blue Ridge Mountains…

Let’s just take a moment here and observe the awesome array and selection of sweet bow ties at this wedding, shall we?

The Business, a band local to Asheville, played the reception and they ROCKED! What a great group of guys…super fun, great music, and an excellent show. They are highly recommended if you’re looking for a band in the area. They played all sorts of stuff and the crowd loved them. We love you, the Business. :)

Sarah and Jimmy – thank you so so much for having us and inviting us to be a part of your wedding. We hope we did it justice – you are lovely people and we wish you the best of luck in all your adventures. Please keep in touch with us!

Everyone’s favorite math professors have tied the knot! :) Lindsey and Jonathan are two of the most pleasant people we’ve had the pleasure of working with. Totally laid back, kind, generous, and all with a great sense of humor. Their wedding party and families were the same way and made for one heck of a Sunday night party!! I had been looking forward to shooting a wedding at Marbles ever since I was a nanny. The space is incredible… and even more incredible if you like bright colors like myself. :) It’s also awesome if you feel like acting like you’re twelve, which I also enjoy. It’s also great if you have a super bride and groom who don’t object to you kicking little kids out of a play ambulance so you can take their pictures in it. I don’t like to be totally goofy all the time – I’d like to think my photographs are mostly lovey and sweet without being overly dramatic, but Lindsey and Jonathan knew what they were getting in for when we had our consult… and my overwhelming desire to put them on pirate ships and inside fake underwater caves won out in the end and this is what you get. ;)

Date: July 17th, 2011

Ceremony+Reception Venue: Marbles Kids Museum // Raleigh, NC

Officiant: Rev. Woody Massey

Caterer: Green Planet Catering

DJ: Just Music! // Ross Merle

Hotel: Raleigh Marriott City Center

Get Away Vehicle: Raleigh Rickshaw

Let me just say that Lindsey is one of the sweetest brides and people on the planet. Just very very nice and good and sweet and lovely. Jonathan’s okay too I guess. ;)

Both Lindsey and Jonathan play on an adult soccer league and are both very…very into soccer. Both the guys and the girls were watching the Women’s World Cup while they were getting ready. ;)

Props to the little girl and the mom who we (politely) kicked out of the ambulance for this. ;) Although I can’t say for sure whether or not Jonathan is going to make it since his ace bandage isn’t wrapped terribly tight and his IV fluids seemed to have run out a while ago.

Before the wedding ceremony the couple and I had met a few times because I wasn’t able to attend their rehearsal due to another wedding the day before. Their ceremony was held in the Zanzibar room, and, having shot there before, I knew it’s a hard room to shoot in w/ the overhead light. It’s not really florescent, not really tungsten, and it’s almost track so you get those shadows over the eyes. It’s tough. So the three of us were devising a plan to make it look better when we met in the room and were flicking on and off lights. It turned out that we needed the light or it would’ve been seriously dark, but in doing so we found a black board behind where they were planning on having the ceremony. Initially I thought this was a really big chalkboard and was super excited, but Jonathan realized it was a projection screen (I’m so smart!). He then devised an ingenious plan of projecting one of their favorite van Gogh paintings behind them during the ceremony to spruce it up… and it was adorable! It turned out great and really livened up the space. High-fives for creative couples!

I loved their little flash/place cards on their tables. :) Math professor details! Also, what better place for ring shots than a kids museum?

Lindsey and Jonathan had an ice cream bar instead of cake, which I thoroughly enjoyed since I’m allergic to cake (gluten). :)

Lindsey and Jonathan, you are one of the sweetest couples ever. We wish you the best of luck teaching in West Virginia – and you’ll only be an hour away from the ‘Burgh, so we better see you again when we go home for stuff because if not, we will track you down anyway. Congratulations!!!

Let me preface this blog post by saying that this was a commitment ceremony rather than a wedding, but “Raleigh Commitment Ceremony Photographer” is kind of a mouthful, so the header says it’s a wedding. :) But a terrific commitment ceremony it was. Just absolutely beautiful. Geoff and I had never photographed anything at Snipes Farm Retreat before, but I can soundly say that it’s my new favorite venue hands down. There isn’t an photogenic area within a mile of the property. Just gorgeous and absolutely perfect for our environmentally-conscious couple, Melanie and Eric. And, to be honest, I ran home after the rehearsal and called Geoff to tell him we totally should’ve had our Halloween-themed wedding here, had we known it existed. It would’ve been perfect! But alas. Anyway, we were super happy and thrilled to shoot here. Roger, the owner, couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating, and their celebration was stellar. Living in Boston, Melanie and Eric came back down to North Carolina (where they first met in undergrad at UNC) to have their ceremony with close family, friends, and adorable details. I apologize in advance for this super long blog post, but I really couldn’t choose. :)

Date: July 16th, 2011

Ceremony+Reception Venue: Snipes Farm Retreat // Chapel Hill

Officiant: Rev. Robin Renteria

Florist: Bluebird Meadows (Alice)

Videographer: Rachel Julkowski

Caterer: Vilmala’s Curryblossom Cafe

Pies: Scratch (Phoebe Lawless)

Popsicles: Locopops

Dress: Chrissy Wai-Ching

Bluebird Meadows farm did a ridiculously awesome job of the flowers, and Melanie and Eric chose succulent plants to give for their favors (ours are growing on our deck!).

I could not possibly love this photo more, and I’m predicting that my mom could not love this photo less. ;) But hey, I’m a little offbeat, Melanie and Eric are a little offbeat, and together  we all decided that this would be hilarious and/or kinda weird and/or adorable. Or maybe all at the same time. :) When you find a fake cow skull at your venue, you gotta use it, right?

Above: the chocolate chip cookie mix in mason jar favors! Below: the beautiful pies from the bakery of Phoebe Lawless, complete with the tiny clay turtle and octopus as pie toppers. :)

Melanie wore a beautiful handmade purple dress with a tiny succulent plant in her hair, which was so very her and so very them. Best hair ever! Eric wore the vest/tie combo, which, I gotta say, is a great option for guys getting married in the South in the summertime. It looks nice but is much cooler than the full suit.

For those who follow the CSP business page on Facebook, you know I’ve been talking about this for a very long time… and here it is… and it did not disappoint. The Unity Volcano!!! Handmade by Melanie’s talented sister Audrey, the Unity Volcano was seriously epic. I just about died when I saw it. Tiny hand-painted wooden dinosaurs and palm trees, as well as Dora, Melanie’s super fat cat, stood guard over the seriously awesome volcano and waited patiently for the ceremony. :)

Rev. Robin Renteria officiated the beautiful ceremony with grace. What a wonderful woman! This was our first time working with her, and we absolutely adore her!

They chose to pass their rings around in a tiny glass bottle for people to bless or give good wishes to. It’s was a beautiful part of the ceremony.

And here it is… the unveiling of the Unity Volcano. :D

GOOD TIMES. We predict this will spawn multiple copycat Unity Volcanoes which will launch Audrey’s awesome Unity Volcano making career.

After the ceremony, our newly united couple walked down to the lake and had a couple minutes of private time, which is seriously highly recommended. They didn’t even want me with them, which is good. Sometimes couples need that breather in their day.

Best. Guestbook idea. Ever. Melanie made these herself and printed them out after not finding a guest book she liked. They were two-sided and whole punched and fit into a photo album binder. They asked questions such as wishes/advice for the couple, where they should travel, predictions for the future, and you draw pictures of yourself. It kept everyone thoroughly occupied and had me cracking me. Every hour or so I went back and checked on it to read the new ones. So funny.

Above: Drawing of myself and Geoff, done by yours truly. Also, predictions for Melanie and Erick in the future: Robots. And, one of my favorites of the evening: “Don’t be afraid to talk with an accent – it keeps things fresh.” Below: In lieu of a DJ, the couple had multiple games scattered throughout the farm. Everyone had a great time enjoying them and it was totally different and relaxing. And, thankfully, I went home without the Cha Cha Slide stuck in my head.

Fidelma, who brought the rings after the ring passing ceremony up to the front by the volcano, was jokingly being called Gollum by everyone, transporting the rings to Mt. Doom, our Unity Volcano. So, naturally, we had to re-create it. Fidelma, wherever you are, if you have a Facebook account, you need to make this your profile picture for the rest of your life. Also, thanks for being the best sport ever!

And yes, ring shots with Jenga! Geoff’s dream ring shot come true.

This scale is just sitting outside the venue, which to me was a total sign we should’ve had our wedding here. But it’s totally old! I freaked out when I saw it and everyone who didn’t know we’re from Pittsburgh looked at me kinda weird. Pittsburgh has always ended with an ‘h’ except for the time period of 1890-1911, when it briefly dropped the ‘h’. So this scale is old. And awesome!

In lieu of a first dance, they held a Melanie and Eric trivia game! It was hilarious and the answers were off the wall. Grading it was amusing to say the least.

Hey local Triangle peeps! Did you know Locopops can come to your wedding!? They apparently totally can! And had I known this, I would’ve been all over it for our wedding last year! Yet another failure on our wedding that this day brought to light. However, we had fun eating them. Melanie and Eric had pies, brownies, chocolate chip cookie mix, and Locopops… to which Geoff delightfully proclaimed to me, “They have all their dessert bases covered!”

This is my first wedding to end with Chinese Wish Lanterns instead of sparklers, and I must say they are gorgeous! You must be a decent amount away from any other land or airport due to the fire and the flying and the flaming things made of paper going high into the sky, but it’s pretty!

Congratulations, Melanie and Eric! We hope you had a great trip to the mountains and love the pictures upon your return. :) Have a lovely life in Boston and we hope you visit us someday again in the south!

This was a total breath of fresh air wedding! Lindsay and Zac, who were married at a new venue in Greensboro called Adam’s Place (a private property that’s been recently renovated to accommodate outdoor ceremonies and receptions), held a stunning wedding. What was so great was that they chose all bright, vibrant colors instead of a single color or two, and it just had such a happy feel about it. :) I met these two only very recently, but in the short time we’ve known each other it’s clear that they are amazing people with a wonderful group of supportive family and friends. We had a great time working with their wonderful bridesmaids and groomsmen as well! The ceremony was held outdoors and it was hot… and I mean hot. As in, both Geoff’s camera and my camera overheated during the ceremony (no, neither stopped taking pictures, thank goodness, but the red warning light was totally on and the LCD screen was blank for about five minutes). There were a few moments where I was prepared to black out. Maybe it’s because I’m from the north, as no one in the wedding party (even Lindsay with her heavy and gorgeous dress) broke a sweat. But the ceremony was beautiful and lead to an even more beautiful reception. Let me tell you – outdoor receptions in the evening in NC are just beyond beautiful (when the weather’s nice, of course). The lighting was perfect and they danced on the patio. It was super low stress and everyone was so nice. Lindsay and Zac took off at the end of the night and headed to Jamaica for their honeymoon. Enjoy their adorably detailed wedding!

Date: July 9th, 2011

Ceremony+Reception Venue: Adam’s Place // Greensboro, NC

Officiant: Rev. Rodney Wright

Florist: Roxie’s Florist

Ceremony and Reception Decor + Floral Arrangements: ABBA Design

Coordinator: Tonya Anderson

DJ: Nick Anderson

Is this not the happiest looking wedding ever!? So happy. :) I love the inside of this tent!

Lindsay and Zac left at the end of the night to their guests throwing white petals out of these little rainbow tubes. :) A cute idea!

Digging the seer-sucker suits on these dudes. Nice to see something a little different. All the guys rocked the look.

A wedding dragonfly! Add it to the list of CSP wedding animals. ;)

The ring bearer is so. ridiculously. adorable. Look at that belt.

Another couple of golfers! They had tees (above) as some of their favors and brought along a golf ball for the ring shot. I apologize for the excessive amount of ring shots that follow, but it was a really good location for ring shots. ;) And you all know how I love them.

Lindsay is sooo stunning and gorgeous and all things beautiful. Love the hair, love the dress. Very different and pretty. :)

Thank you so much to Lindsay and Zac for having us and to their families for being extra supportive and awesome. :) We loved your wedding and hope you had a great time in Jamaica!