got an adorable thank you card in the mail the other day from amanda and christopher, whose beautiful wedding you might remember from june (if you don’t, you should check it out – it was fab!). i have the best clients ever and their support and cute thank-yous like this keep me going. thank you, amanda and chris. this means a lot to me. :)

the groomsmen were outrageously awesome. they were posing geniuses as well.

we took a lot of pictures before the ceremony. this saves tons of time! we busted out geoff’s old school left-handed golf clubs too. ;)

this is what happens when you have a super cool, smooth-posing, cooperative bridal party. working with the bridal party is one of the most nervewracking parts of my day. mostly because it’s a large group of people to herd around and usually they’re super annoyed with you because it’s hot out and you’re the only thing standing between them and the alcohol and air conditioning. not these guys, though. all of them were SUPER nice and were all about taking more pictures. we got a ton of bridal party shots…all outrageously smoothly posed. you guys rocked this out, bridal party!

FAVORITE!

ALSO MY FAVORITE!

one of the coolest cakes i’ve ever seen. simple, but the flowered decoration was so unique and the colors were fantastic.

adoooorable kids present at this wedding as well. this is kenneth’s daughter and valerie’s son, now siblings, and also the flower girl and ring bearer. they were rocking it out.

hello super awesome LED room lights!

flower girl knew the words to ever song they played and danced like this the whole time. i was cracking up. prepare to see her on MTV in about 15 years.

i hope you love these pictures as much as i do, valerie and kenneth, because you’re about to be heavily used in some CSP advertising. your wedding rocked! congratulations!

here’s to you, mom! having super buff arms and being totally awesome since 1950. happy birthday, mom. :) i love you!

they’re a downtown kind of couple, which i can totally relate to,  and aaron proposed to heidi downtown, so we spent last thursday afternoon bouncing around various locations and getting some funky city shots. their wedding is at the raleigh rose garden in april 2011, so we bounced over to the rose garden after we finished with downtown to get some shots for her mom. :) i had a ridiculously hard time narrowing down these images for the blog because they’re both gorgeous and the city was awesome and it was a super shoot, but here are some of the faves!

so without further ado, meet heidi and aaron. :)

oh yeah, and their dogs! :) lola and waggy mae, respectively:

after their wedding at the rose garden, their reception will be at the sheraton, where i hope to convince them to go outside for some night shots down fayetteville. :)

it was really hard to get them to not smile or laugh, which had me smiling and laughing, which in turn made it more difficult for them to not smile or laugh. :) but we got some “serious face” shots in there anyway! :D

the following picture was their idea because this couple was the definition of a fun couple. :)

and, ladies and gentlemen, i present to you…the best family portrait EVER.

thought this was cute! they’ll be married on the lawn in front of them. this is like the pre-wedding planning shot. “where will we put the chairs?” :)

she is gorgeous and will make a totally beautiful bride. i can’t wait!

yay!! i had a blast running around with them and am so looking forward to their wedding next year! make sure you check back for them in 2011. :) good luck with the planning, you two!

meet wendy!

wendy is a raleigh model who is way great and way fun and way cute and we had a terrific time shooting. we went to shelley lake because i had this field in mind…this awesome, awesome field. i knew it was a long way to walk, but i was sure i knew exactly where it was. and after walking for about 15-20 minutes, we were all like, “okay, screw the field. we have no idea where it is.” ::sigh:: someday i will go back and find the field. but we made due without the field and got some stellar shots. thanks for putting up with us, wendy! :D

favvvvorrritttteee. poor wendy’s retinas suffered for this picture, but she pulled through, and i think it was worth it. :)

meet alice! she is a lovely woman who owns her own business doing writing and marketing for software companies. she was in need of a few new headshots and, while we were at it, a few pictures of her and her husband and their adorable cat jed. :)

they had a beautiful butterfly bush in their front yard with enormous butterflies…we’re talking about the size of my hand.

and i just about melted when i met this little guy. he was super cute and nice and half-willing to have his picture taken. ;)

sportsmedia, or SMT, celebrated its 20th anniversary last week by hosting a casino night. geoff works at sportsmedia (they make the yellow lines and scoring for sunday night football, xgames, NBA TV, MLB network, etc), and i was photographing the evening’s event for his office. it was a pretty cool idea for an office party! they rented tuxedos for all the guys that work there and hired a party company to come set up and deal casino games. the more “money” you won, the more times your name went into a drawing to win one of three ipads. it was neat!

geoff gambling… he ended with a little over $59,000! that would’ve more than paid for our wedding, honeymoon, and a down payment on a house….if it wasn’t monopoly money. :(

the owner of SMT and a few of the workers have a band (augmented reality) and they played at the end of the night. gotta love guitar shots!

the owner’s mom was there being adorable and gambling with the best of them!

as she was about to pull the final raffle winner out of the bowl she said, “watch, i bet i’ll pull my name!” and sure enough, she did!

our friend travis, modeling how suspenders are perfect for doing that old-timey-thumb-holding-suspenders-thing.

i am pleased to announce the winner of the end-of-summer contest for a free session and 50 prints! thank you to everyone who entered! this was such an enjoyable experience for me and i really loved reading what you thought about the photographs. i hope to do more contests like this in the future, so please stay tuned!

and the winner is….. (drum roll, please!)

DERICA JUSTICE!

derica said, ” This is a hard choice! I love them all, but since I have to choose, I pick #2. It is a great shot of the groom and shows the romance & love their special day was filled with!”

on the second round of drawing a winner, i was going to be surprised if someone from the newsletter didn’t win since they have their chances doubled. sure enough, derica is on the newsletter list, so it just goes to show the advantages of getting put in the pot twice and signing up for the newsletter! :)

derica owns bon bini print and design and did our super fabulous halloween wedding invitations (will post some pictures of those later), and i’m sure we’ll have a great time coming up with a neat shoot!

thank you, everyone!

in order to thank the readers of my newsletter and blog, i wanted to give back at the end of this summer and give away one free session of any kind with fifty free 4×6 session prints to one lucky participant. it’s a value of $450. :)

details: below i have posted a blog entry that features my top ten favorites pictures from this year. they’re numbered but in no particular order as it was hard enough to choose ten. :) just comment below on which photograph is your favorite out of the ten listed and why. viola! your name is entered into a program that will pick a random name.

IF you’re on the newsletter reader list, however, your name will be entered twice. write somewhere in the comments that you’re a reader and i’ll check with my list to confirm it.

simple as that! i’ll announce the winner on FRIDAY, AUGUST 13TH via the blog and you’ll receive a free session, an online viewing gallery, and fifty 4×6 prints. you can use this session for anything: senior pics, engagement, pets, family, etc. whatever you want.

rules: you must be within 30 miles of raleigh, nc or pittsburgh, pa to win the session. OR you can also win if you’ll be in raleigh, nc or pittsburgh, pa in the sometime near future. pittsburgh is slightly harder to orchestrate, but if you win, we’ll find a way to get the pictures somehow. :) comments are always welcome from all over the globe, but you either have to live around here or be coming here soon. sorry, uzbekistan!

so again, here are the steps:

1.) live within 30 miles of raleigh or pittsburgh OR be traveling there in the near future.

2.) leave a comment with the number of your favorite photograph below and why.

3.) get your name entered into a drawing to win the free session and prints (name entered twice if you’re on the newsletter mailing list).

4.) winner announced via blog on friday, august 13th!

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

#8:

#9:

#10:

so that’s it! have fun commenting and good luck!

renee and daniel were married on july 31, 2010 at north raleigh presbyterian church. awesome church, by the way. has great grounds and a modern feel about it.

i was loving this ring. i like the circular design on the petite band. i have been getting some brides and grooms with awesome rings lately!

renee wore ballet flats… second bride in a row! such a great idea. i was also loving the bridesmaid attire, flowers, and shoes. tan pumps + sage green = WIN.

they are both too cute. :( they’ve dated for five years and were so comfortable and cute around each other. there were a lot of tears at the ceremony and the reception. adorable!

the below shot is my favorite ever. expect this in the portfolio soon.

the wedding reception was held at one eleven place in cary. great venue! very classy. they did an excellent job arranging everything and being super nice and organized.  and renee and daniel had a candy bar! YES! and just when i got excited about that, i saw that the candy bar was lime green and purple! BIGGER YES!

all of their first dance pictures involved them laughing cutely the entire time. :)

i want this little girl’s hair!

the expression of a bouquet toss winner vs. the expressions of surprised defeat in the background:

best. garter. toss. ever. i have never seen a group of guys so enthused. usually they stand there with their arms at their sides and step aside when the garter comes towards them. :) these guys were all about it. i love the guy in the front trying to hold back the rest of the crew like, “don’t worry, dudes, i got this.”

i’ll give you three guesses for the song in the next two pictures and the first two guesses don’t count. :)

AWESOME. thanks renee and daniel! we had a great time and wish you two all the luck even though you won’t need it because you’re adorable together. :)

the kids made vegetable puppets after the veggie puppet show and it was just about the cutest thing i’ve ever seen. who doesn’t want to put googly eyes and straw hats on vegetables?!

this was one of the chefs from the busy bee cafe preparing some of the samples. diggin’ his salt tattoo on his left arm. paired with his picture is the samples of yellow tomato soup that the mint handed out.

also – don’t worry. most conferences with our mayor don’t end up like this. i think.

the band american aquarium played at this farmers market and was awesome. i already liked them, but then they did a cover of thunder road and i was totally won over.

farmer’s market ends at the end of october for the year, so make sure if you’re out and about on a wednesday downtown that you stop by and visit them!

so happy birthday today to my wonderful sister laura!! she is the best sister anyone could have. :)

copyrights must go to carolyn scott photography’s mom on this one, but she doesn’t have a watermark, so i just took the credit instead. ;) thanks, mom!

now let’s back up: beth and pete were married at penn ken (the pennsylvania state university at new kensington for those who don’t know the local slang) in our hometown near pittsburgh, pennsylvania on july 10th. this was my first wedding in pittsburgh and we had so much fun. when i first found out i was shooting it, i was dually excited because 1.) i was going to fly up a week before and hang out with my family before the wedding and 2.) because pete, the groom, has been my friend since middle school. :) we were both in marching band together (man, i am revealing way too much of my past here), and pete primarily wore corduroy pants and nirvana t-shirts and i think my hair was either blue or pink at the time. it’s crazy to think that he’s married, i’m engaged, we dress like adults and we’re both fairly responsible! ;)

i had heard of beth numerous times from pete and his friends over the years and everyone had really awesome things to say about her, so i was very excited to meet her. we had our consult over christmas when we were all back in pittsburgh for a while and i was happy to see that she is just as amazing as everyone says she is! this wedding was going to be good times.

and of course it was!

now, i’ve taken pictures of some cool tattoos on hairstylists throughout my wedding career, but i like this one the best simply because it’s a girl with a mom tattoo which i found cute/hilarious/awesome.

i’m loving these shoes because they’re flat. she was comfortable all day and had them on all night. that’s how you do it!

i love beth. the “serious face” on the right was very hard for her to make because she’s constantly smiling and laughing (see picture on left). she was one of the happiest, chilled, most laid back brides i’ve had and it was contagious.

i love it when geoff can get pictures of the guys and i can get the girls. we don’t do it all the time… if the locations are too far apart it involves too much driving between the two of us and it’s risky in case one of us needs the other for something unexpected. but when we do, it’s hilarious to see the contrast between the girls being all beautified and getting ready compared to what the GUYS are doing. the last wedding where we were able to get the gents getting ready, we ended up with the girls putting on makeup and lacing up dresses while the guys played with the settings on the adjustable bed. here we can note the combination of cigarettes, mountain dew, and a flask. ;)

i love this ring shot… and this shot of pete’s dad’s awesome old camera. he had a few really neat old film cameras that he was showing me while we talked photography. he used to do weddings back in the day! always nice to meet other people with cool cameras.

the wedding ceremony was held inside the forum theatre at penn ken where pete and beth met. :) very cute! the wedding ceremony was presided over by donald kinosz, the mayor of lower burrell and father one of our other middle school band friends, casey kinosz. it was like an early burrell high school reunion! go bucs!

of course, those of you who live/have lived around here know that if you get married at penn state, you need the all-important  traditional photograph of the newlywed couple with the lion. it was hard for all of us to keep a straight face during this.

so everyone who’s worked with me knows that i like to take pictures of the bride and groom alone while everyone else (family, friends, etc.) have either gone to the reception or are somewhere out of sight. it’s very distracting to not only myself but to the couple as well. and it gives some great time for the couple to have a few minutes to breathe and relax. so in this case, everyone went on the reception and took pete and beth’s car. :) now i had flew in from raleigh so my car wasn’t with me, but i was staying with my parents in pittsburgh and was driving their car all over the place, so here’s the best part – we drove them to their wedding reception in…my mom’s subaru forester. :D i believe pete said to beth at one point, “this is your wedding ride, baby!” hahaha. it was amazing and my mom was later very excited that her car was used as official wedding transportation.

and an awesome wedding reception ensued:

one of my favorite pictures taken ever! neat. :)

cute moment between the adorable ring bearer and beth:

and the kids at this wedding reception totally stole the show:

congratulations, beth and pete! we had an amazing time and were glad that we had the opportunity to come to pittsburgh to be with you on your wedding! we love you both!

on a mission at a recent wedding. looks determined.

back when i met tamyra and darius in the fall, i started looking forward to their wedding. they were so fun, outgoing, and creative at the consult that i knew their wedding would be a blast, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! i started looking forward to it even more when i did their engagement session and had an amazing amount of fun. note: i love engagement sessions for this fact: i really feel like i already know you by your wedding day and you don’t feel awkward anymore having me follow you around with a camera. :)

so they’re a genuinely super nice couple who are hilarious and loving at the same time…perfect to photograph. i knew their wedding day would be simultaneously full of love and shenanigans at the same time…which it was. :)

we’ll start with some getting ready shots!

geoff’s view:

my view:

seriously…women would kill for these eyebrows:

tamyra is READY! love that look of determination.

think she liked the bouquet? :)

seriously…not a more chill, laid back, but also hilarious group of guys can be found. not only were all of the groomsmen super nice, pleasant, and easy to work with, they also struck unusual poses for me throughout the day and kept me on my toes.

CSP on the big screen! :) their church had two screens projecting the slideshow from their engagement session with yours truly while the guests walked in until the ceremony started. super cute!! i know i was impressed. :) pictured here below with the super colorful and beautiful bouquet!

the colors for their wedding were pink, orange, green, and black and it ROCKED! and i was asked to wear green which is great, because i’m usually dressed in all black…and bold colors shake things up a bit. :)

check out that alter!! so cool. what a neat way to personalize your ceremony.

not only did they use gelled yellow and pink stage lights for their alter, they lit their reception with them. on top of THAT, their reception was in the gym of the school next door which was just really neat, period. and i’ve got to hand it to demitrius of creative touch designs who did their flowers, decorations, and so much more for putting together a totally kick-butt wedding. i seriously felt like i walked into some sort of hollywood party for their reception.

really, though, i loved these guys!

neat groom’s ring!

i’ve been getting a lot of amazing garter toss sequences lately, but this one is amazing. darius launches it and wait for it…wait for it…

and caught! by the little dude totally not even seen in the original garter tossing picture. the little man came out of nowhere and totally snatched it. LOVE the look on his face below…where you can tell he knows he did something totally cool, but isn’t quite sure what it was.

caught a few of tamyra and darius waiting for the limo at the end of the day. :)

favorite!! she’s gorgeous. :)

congratulations, you two! we loved it loved it loved it!

hermine likes: treats, twist ties, her cat tree.

hermine dislikes: vet trips, big cameras.

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!!!!

hermine became a little terrified after a few shots, so we went outside and took some photographs of the proud parents for a while until little hermine came outside to join us. :)

i love the two below, but mainly the classic cat pose to the right. such a good kitty silhouette!

i love photographing pets! wish i got more of these sessions. they’re incredibly relaxing compared to weddings! ;)

melissa and i met when we used to teach elementary school in creedmoor, nc. she taught first grade, i taught second. we loved kids, but ended up despising teaching in the public school system and eventually we both quit around the same time to pursue different paths. i went into photography and melissa, very much in tune with nature, farming, and her religion, moved to virginia to begin an intentional community on a farm in the mountains near lynchburg. she was starting this new life with her friends from the area and her boyfriend, chris. they both attended classes to further their education on their ideal community and longed for a day when they could begin the journey together for good, as they were frequently separated by state and county lines.

last weekend, they began their full life together and geoff and i traveled to virginia to photograph their wedding. :)

like i said, they are very earthy and do-it-yourself, not to mention incredibly creative, lovely people. the pictures below will vouch for their total awesomeness and the love and support of their family and friends. they did the entire wedding themselves, using only their friends and family to make everything. it was truly amazing and shows just how much you can accomplish when you enlist the help of people you know.

melissa, being the super crafty previous-elementary-school-teacher that she is, did a ton of the details. she also made her own wedding dress because she is an amazing seamstress who makes a ton of her own clothes, of which i’ve been perpetually jealous.

melissa and chris received a cabin in the woods for their wedding present. can you get a better wedding present than that!? i found this book sitting on the bookshelf in the house on the farm and found it fitting for a shot. :)

no farm wedding is complete without chickens. you have no idea how excited i was when i found out that there would be a chicken coop on the ceremony grounds!

all the girls making food for the wedding in the kitchen. no AC here, folks! they were more used to it than i was, so i was pretty much running around sweating buckets. :)

i’m loving the use of mason jars in weddings recently. i’ve always loved the look of them. to the right is the back of melissa’s dress with the tiny buttons. :)

melissa’s little sister sam working on her hair. they are both equally adorable and incredibly alike. i pretty much felt like i already knew sam and they both have the same laugh. sisters are great!

her dad bought her this necklace for the wedding and i found this book sitting on the nightstand. and as melissa is truly a “daughter of the land”, i figured i’d put dad’s necklace by it for a shot. :) i love it – one of my favorites of the day.

and here is dad, putting the necklace on his girl!

obviously i don’t have to sit here and tell you how gorgeous melissa is and how i’d probably just follow her around all day with a camera and take pictures of her if she’d let me, but i’ll tell you anyway: she is gorgeous.

and what an adorable groom we have!! the look on chris’s face to the right is so cute!

annnnd beam of sunlight from out of nowhere shining on the wedding ceremony GO!!! thank youuuu, nature. :) pulling through yet again.

yes, those are candles in the trees you’re seeing. :) they were married in the early evening and, after the ceremony, guests cleared out the chairs and replaced them with tables. the entire reception was in the same spot at the ceremony and lit entirely by moonlight and candles in the trees. it was absolutely beauuuuutiful.

melissa and her sister holding hands. :)

i was even more excited to hear about the rusty truck than i was about the chickens. i never apply vintage-y effects to anything, but i did in this portrait because i thought it fit.

and the following, ladies and gentlemen, is the result of giving your photographer lots of time to walk around with just the two of you to take photographs at your wedding. it’s totally, totally worth the twenty minutes or so it takes. i am so in love with every one of these.

i absolutely LOVE THIS! and it was all melissa’s idea. :) they wanted to recreate american gothic and so we did our own spin on it. their expressions are dead on and it’s just about the greatest thing i’ve ever seen. and then, to kick off the reception, was the appalachian folk trio. yesss!

and then it proceeded to get dark very, very quickly in the mountains and the woods. :) but we still got our groove on with the folk trio!

congratulations, melissa and chris. i love you both very much and was so, so happy to be there with you on your wedding. :) hope to see you in october, friends!

*like it? leave some love in the comments!

here’s geoff messing around with the backup cam on saturday’s wedding, and here’s my resulting injury from sunday’s wedding. :) grossssss. i spot at least 6 different colors, what about you? :P

they were married in the old stone chapel in wake forest which is the coolest little church! tons of stained glass and an old-timey stone look to the front, but seriously great diffused lighting inside which is a photographer’s dream! yay!

awesome stained glass and a piece of amanda’s veil.

getting the best man ready for his close-up. :)

amanda looked wonderful! and wait, do these shoes look familiar?

i was scoping out my competition. they looked very professional. the little dude on the left took pictures all day. move over, geoff, i think i found myself a new assistant! ;)

seriously, if you’re looking for a church to get married in, the old stone chapel is awesome. and balcony shots are near and dear to this photog’s heart, so you’ll get bonus points!

the reception was held at anderson point park cottage in raleigh. it is also so adorable! inside it’s almost all hardwood and has such a cottage-y feel, hence the name i guess! ;) it’s a little house in the middle of anderson point park and pretty secluded. it’s great for a really intimate space with close family and friends.

their cake was made by ambrosia cake creations, which reminds me that i need to contact the owner to get a vendor interview with them, because this cake was AMAZING! not only was the topper adorable, but the flowers had such crazy incredibly detail. i hear it tasted delicious, but alas i am still plagued by my gluten free/dairy free diet and couldn’t eat it. :( bummer, as a huge photographer perk is wedding cake.

amanda and chris were so great during this shoot out in the 100+ degree heat and humidity in the middle of a field at high noon. i felt like i was going to die, so i can only imagine wearing a formal dress and a tux felt like!

by far my favorite of the day… sooo cute.

i love this picture, too…really dark, but the window cast some pretty cool colors and i was able to get it just how i wanted it. :)

congratulations, amanda and chris! we had a great time and wish you the absolute best!