November 8, 2014

A 1920s-themed Wedding

Ahhh, our first 1920s-themed wedding! This may sound strange, but the 1920s are actually my favorite decade should I choose to go back in time. I think it’s the fact that women had short hair and their dresses had a lot of fringe. Plus it seemed like they threw some pretty awesome parties. Basically, I picture the entire decade like that scene from The Shining in the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel (I’m sure that’s totally accurate, right?). Anyway, Amanda and Patrick’s wedding was ’20s themed and it was awesome. They had their guests dressed up which was incredibly impressive because they actually listened and came up with the most amazing things. There were lots of feathers, black and white, fringe, wing-tipped shoes, pin stripes, those long cigarette holder things, kids dressed like newsboys, and a guy who brought a violin case with a plastic automatic weapon inside. They danced the Charleston and plays 1920s music and Patrick’s grandfather wore a fake mustache. I’m not sure we could ask for more than that. It was the best ever.

Amanda and Patrick are some pretty sweet people who we like a lot. When we first met for their consult, Amanda brought her old high school copy of Resident Evil (the book!) for me to read. I was totally going to steal it and read it anyway if they didn’t book us, but they did, so I gave it back when I was done reading it. Not many people have the dedication to read the actual book for Resident Evil, so I was quite impressed with Amanda (plus I liked her red hair), but then we found out that Patrick’s a real life actual rocket scientist and so he won the first-impression-impressiveness-contest, but we came away loving them both equally despite Amanda’s lack of degrees in rocket scientism. They are super nice, and Amanda gave me a ginger beer on her wedding day and introduced me to all of the adorable dogs in the family… and there were cool string lights and a piano and salt and vinegar chips and caramel apple bites! I’m gonna live mentally in this wedding forever. We’ll miss you, Amanda and Patrick!! Amanda, you should still send emails when you’re bored.

Date: October 12, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Garden on Millbrook // Raleigh, NC

First Dance Song: “Transatlanticism” – Death Cab for Cutie

Amanda’s Occupation: Drafter at an engineering firm

Patrick’s Occupation: Aerospace engineer at NASA

How You Met: High school art class

Interesting Fact: Have two cute mutts, paint in oils and play music together for fun, have been together 8 years before getting married

Honeymoon Destination: St. Croix

say nice things

November 6, 2014

At Home with Dena+Richard // A Family Session

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Fall is our favorite. And it’s even more our favorite when we walk up to a house to photograph a family session and a six-year-old werewolf answers the door. Meet Dena (mom), Richard (dad), Abi (Pocahontas), and Jacob (werewolf)! They spent their day-in-the-life family session carving pumpkins, doing dance routines in the living room, splashing in puddles, and exercising some serious restraint in not cuddling their cat Snickers too hard.

The first thing we noticed is that everyone was American except dad who had an awesome British accent. So naturally we asked how he found himself to be living in North Carolina with a werewolf and a Pocahontas and it turns out that him and Dena were pen pals when they were young! Legit pen pals! Anyone who’s probably borderline thirty and older remembers this… but you used to be like, “Oh hey, I wonder what it would be like to exchange letters with kids in other parts of the world and hear about their culture and country. Let me get involved in a group that exchanges addresses with other kids!” At the time this was completely normal and safe, but it turns out that you learned less about culture and countries and more just about how middle school actually sucks no matter what part of the world you live in. But anyway, that’s how they met, and eventually when they were in college they actually met in real life, and now they both live in NC with their kids and cat and this one other cat that isn’t actually theirs but comes around a lot. They like the Counting Crows surprisingly as much as we do (a rare breed).

Abi and Jacob are seriously good, polite, well-behaved children who actually seem to enjoy each other’s company despite being relatively close in age and a boy and girl (the only sign of dissent was a large poster hanging from Abi’s bedroom door that said “Unless Emergency DO NOT come in NOTICE NOW” that she informed me was directed at her brother). At one point Abi was using a suction-cup bow and arrow set while Jacob got out his rubber-band gun, and nobody aimed their weapon at the other’s head, which I found incredibly impressive. So A+ parenting, Dena and Richard! We enjoy your crew immensely.

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November 5, 2014

Annie+James // Wedding at Shady Wagon Farm

October is, in my humble opinion, the best time for weddings. The light is always amaaaazing and the weather is always perfect and people seem generally more comfortable and relaxed. It’s also my birthday month (yay!!) and we had the good fortune of getting to spend it with this crew. :) When I got to Annie’s hotel room, she presented me with a beautifully wrapped birthday present of adorable ceramic measuring cup whales for spending my birthday weekend with them! LITTLE WHALES!!! We couldn’t be luckier. I was super pleasantly surprised that they a.) remembered my birthday and b.) bought me something, but it turns out that their kindness and generosity seem to be very well known (for obviously good reason).

They’re also have a great sense of humor and a good bit of geekiness to them in the best way possible. James is a bit of a Star Wars nut, much like Geoff, who was led into Geoff’s office/dungeon during our initial consult to see just how many Boba Fett figurines Geoff has (we’re pretty sure they booked us because they were impressed with his collection). He also requested that their harpist learn to play the Imperial March and Cantina Song for their ceremony (she did – it was amazing). It was one of James’s only requests. ;) In addition to them being super sweet and fun, their wedding party totally adopted us and took us under their wing for the night (and they had some of the best dance moves we’ve ever seen). We were super lucky to be at Annie and James’s wedding, and we are thankful to have met such fantastic people!