Stephanie+Matt Get Married at Marbles Kids Museum

I (Carolyn) would like to take a moment to puff up my chest a second here and claim responsibility for putting these two together. I really didn’t… I guess… but I kind of did! So I’m claiming it. I first met Stephanie in super early 2012 when she hired me to take portraits of her for her website. We don’t usually take work like this, but I kinda fell in love with her humor and attitude and took her on, we took awesome pictures, the end. Only it wasn’t the end! She also used those pictures on her online dating profile… and Matt saw them. :) SO I’M TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS, RIGHT!? Right!! :)

Matt saw them, also met her, and also presumably fell in love with her humor and attitude. Only instead of taking her on for a portrait session, he proposed, they got married at Marbles, and here we were a little while later shooting their wedding. :) There was a brief period of getting ready, a brief ceremony, brief portraits, then a whole lotta reception with… wait for it… wait for it… breakfast for dinner. This, my dear readers, was the best thing I’ve ever heard of in terms of food at a reception. The even better part is that there were celiacs in her family so there were gluten-free pancakes for us!! Gluten-free pancakes with freakin’ Reese’s Pieces in them! And bacon! And omelets! And cranberry juice! I never write about (or blog pictures of) the food at weddings but I had to for this one because this was the best thing I’d ever seen and some of you pondering what to eat for next year should probably take notes because who doesn’t love breakfast? Evil people, that’s who.

Anyway – we were so honored to be asked to do this wedding. It’s really cool when you photograph someone and they keep bringing you back. :) We met Matt at the wedding and LOVED HIM. Almost as much as the Reese’s Pieces in our gluten-free pancakes. Well, maybe more. ;) He treats Stephanie like gold and you can see that he really loves her. They’re adorable together and we had an awesome time at their wedding. Congratulations, you two, and don’t forget what pictures started all this. ;) :P

Date: June 8, 2013

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

First Dance Song: “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” – Frank Sinatra

How You Met: Online at OKCupid.com

Interesting Bride Fact: Fierce competitor and once ROBBED of $20 by the Plinko machine at Frankie’s!

Interesting Groom Fact: Foremost expert of the heel-toe downshift, which the bride finds utterly sexy in action.

Honeymoon Destination: Cruise boating to Alaska! Then living it up on the Columbia Gorge!

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Ingrid Weber Sagula | DJ – Ken Holmes | Florist – Purple Poppy | Cake – Blue Moon | Caterer – Rocky Top Hospitality | Hair/Makeup – Makeup For Your Day

Melanie+Nicole Get Married in North Carolina

Our first e-mail from Melanie said, “Two girls getting married in Durham seek cool, laid-back, easy-going, ridiculously talented photographers to capture every detail of this illegal venture on June 7, 2013 at Duke Gardens. Two wedding dresses, two mothers of the bride, two step dads, one dad, two maids of honor, zero bridesmaids and one awesome party. We met at a white trash party, Nicole took Mel’s stitches out after ACL surgery and impressively told the surgeon “I got this.” A year later Mel saw Nicole doing Soulja Boy moves on the dance floor and knew she needed to get to know this girl better. So she did. We are celebrating the fifth anniversary of our first date on 12/12/12. Mel asked Nicole to marry her on Labor Day and gave her a ring. A month later Nicole asked Mel to marry her back and gave HER a ring. Because you can do cool stuff like that when you are two girls.” For reference – Melanie is in the pink dress, Nicole is in the ivory dress.

We loved them instantly. Then they came over to our house and Nicole wore this sweater. At that moment, we may or may not have begged them to let us shoot their wedding. They agreed. Then all went out to see Jurassic Park in 3D. They screamed really loud when the velociraptor attacked. Then we photographed their “gay and awesome” wedding ceremony (our first gay wedding!). And then went out two days later to see Iron Man (not in 3D… and no screaming this time). We found out that the paths behind our houses connect so they’re going to be seeing a lot more of us (provided they like their pictures) so that we can visit their elderly cat named Syd (see below) whom Carolyn befriended at the wedding.

Besides it being the first gay wedding we’ve photographed, it was also the biggest wedding heist we’ve EVER seen pulled off in the history of our career. I’d use this blog to lecture all of you ladies out there who are afraid of the rain on your wedding day, but I’m kind of sure that the pictures speak for themselves. Red/orange radar from a tropical storm and two brides who didn’t care at all but who were determined to take pictures outdoors come hell or high water (quite literally very high). We were soaked (and changed our clothes before the ceremony; Carolyn blow-dried her shoes in their bathroom) but the girls stayed relatively dry thanks to umbrellas… and this should prove to ALL of you that it’s better to dance in the rain than to have indoor pictures. Anyway – it was wet. The ground was flooded. Duke Gardens wouldn’t put out chairs because they would destroy the extremely saturated grass. But Melanie and Nicole are like the honey badgers of the bride world and had their wedding outside anyway with standing guests. The sun came out one hour prior to ceremony time. It was amazing and totally unreal. Their pictures after the ceremony at Duke Gardens are a sunny day. One of their guests asked us the evening before what’s the craziest thing we’ve ever seen at a wedding – and now we have an answer. :)

Date: June 7, 2013

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Duke Gardens // Durham, NC

First Dance Song: “I Remember” – Whitley

Melanie’s Occupation: Healthcare Market Consultant

Nicole’s Occupation: Physician Assistant

How You Met: A sequence of events that included a white trash party, stitches, and dancing the Soulja Boy.

Interesting Melanie Fact: Had ancestors on the Mayflower, can be spotted as an extra in the movie Whip It, and can’t fold a fitted sheet to save her life.

Interesting Nicole Fact: Swam with sharks and touched the Pope, though not at the same time.

Honeymoon Destination: Italy next year! We hope.

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Antoinette Polito (friend) | DJ – All the Right Grooves | Florist – Melanie and Nicole and Whole Foods :-) | Cake – Durham Catering Co | Caterer – Durham Catering Co | Hair/Makeup – Angela Goldman, owner, A Go-Go Salon | Coordinator – Nicole Conder, Premier Party Planning

Meagan+Jonathan’s Wedding at Barclay Villa

Meagan and Jonathan had their wedding at Barclay Villa in Angier, NC. We had been hearing a lot about this venue for a few years but hadn’t had the opportunity to shoot there until now. But basically it’s a giant castle-house that the owners built to have weddings and is very Game of Thrones… without all the bad stuff. The DJ told me that he once had a Renaissance Fair wedding there where the bride and groom asked him to wear a Jester hat. Amazing.

I knew Meagan from a long series of e-mails over a long period of time and from her bridal portraits, but Geoff and I didn’t meet Jonathan until the wedding weekend. Knowing how sweet and lovely Meagan is, we knew that Jonathan would probably be nice, and he certainly was SUPER nice, as were all of his really nice but semi-rowdy with photobombing-tendencies groomsmen (I say that with love, gentlemen). Meagan and Jonathan were married by Meagan’s aunt which was really cool (we’ve been seeing a lot of family members marrying our couples lately!) and Meagan wore the first ring given to her grandmother by her late grandfather down the aisle.

The bridesmaids spent the morning/afternoon getting their hair and makeup done while the groomsmen spent the morning/afternoon playing pool and offering cigarettes to the lion statues out front in their Adidas sneakers. This is pretty typical (without the sneakers). In the evening they partied down and we were sat at a table of their very nice friends and had a lot of fun. Meagan and Jonathan were promptly sent on their honeymoon on a early flight the next day and are still there, so we’ll wish them congratulations and love from the States until they come back home!

Date: June 1, 2013

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Barclay Villa // Angier, NC

First Dance Song: “These Arms of Mine” – Otis Redding

Meagan’s Occupation: Recently graduated – still job hunting

Jonathan’s Occupation: Student/server

How You Met: Our freshman year in high school

Interesting Bride Fact: Meagan refuses to use any type of wooden utensil (knife, spoon, cutting board, popsicle stick) or to touch or stand on wooden objects if they’re wet. She can’t stand the feel of it.

Interesting Groom Fact: Jonathan is the only left handed person on either side of his family.

Honeymoon Destination: St. Maarten

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Janie Taylor | DJ – Island Sound and Video | Florist – Jeffrey’s Florist | Cake – Simply Cakes | Caterer – Barclay Villa | Hair and Makeup – Britt Murphy, Radiance Salon and Day Spa | Vidoegrapher – DJ Island Sound and Video | Coordinator – Cathy Honeycutt of Barclay Villa