Category: Weddings

Jessi+Alec // Durham, NC Elopement

It was a pleasure to meet and work with these guys on an elopement-style session! Jessi and Alec got married at the courthouse and celebrated with family later in the week, but they wanted photos in all their garb downtown prior to the festivities, and we were happy to oblige. They are such a sweet couple, and into all things science. They met at an observatory (I believe Alec proclaimed himself the King of the Observatory at one point, which is a truly amazing and wonderful title) and have been having outdoorsy and sciencey adventures together ever since. They also like good music and movies and can ride a rented bike downtown like nobody’s business. It’s not easy to get on one of those things wearing a significant amount of tulle or a suit, but they managed quite well. We hit up all their favorite local spots in Durham (shout out to Viceroy for being nice enough to let us take a few inside!) and got to know this awesome pair. Congratulations to Jessi+Alec!

Tory+Adam // Duke Lemur Center Wedding

This is, proudly, the second bridesmaid of our beloved past client Carly that we’ve had the pleasure of photographing! Carly seems to permeate most things we do, and we’re totally okay with that because we love her. Carly’s mom even was accidentally present at a consult we had with Tory and her mom! So everything’s like a small little circle of Carly and we love it. We’re so glad that we were introduced to Tory, who is a kind, hilarious, creative soul who loves lemurs. Her sister-in-law Sara works at the Duke Lemur Center, and they just started recently doing weddings there, so it was a perfect fit! You guys, we learned a lot about lemurs. They live in Madagascar and are the only primates there. There are so many species of lemurs that they’ve all developed distinct traits – from the color of their coat and eyes, to different things they eat, to different ways of behaving in order to all survive together. Plus, did you know John Cleese likes lemurs? He’s a frequent visitor to the Duke Lemur Center (because why not?). Tory and I have a mutual love for Monty Python so this was an extra exciting bonus for her venue choice.

On the morning of the wedding, I hadn’t yet met Adam, and I asked Tory what he was like. She said, “Oh, he’s so friendly. He will make friends with anyone!” and I totally agree. Adam is an absolutely delightful human being. He’s incredibly friendly with a big smile and a great laugh, and everyone had really great, endearing stories to tell about both him and Tory all day. Tory’s brother officiated the wedding, adding several adorable stories of his own (including a lot about Tory’s love for all things chart, graph, and data-related, so when later in the night I found a huge graph detailing her father’s sense of humor I was not surprised to learn she had made it). The reception was held in Tory’s parents’ house, which is an incredible midcentury modern work of art… complete with a lemur Christmas tree. Everything was personalized and perfect.

We did discover on the day of the wedding that Adam is mildly (like 5%) afraid of lemurs. None of us knew this (including Adam) until we directly approached said lemurs. And I have to say, while they’re incredibly adorable, I think something about their intense beady eyed stare and quick movements does make them a tad intimidating (the lemurs, not Tory and Adam). We were lucky enough to have access to part of the center where the lemurs roam free in the forest, and were immediately approached by a lemur named Nacho and his friend. I don’t remember the friend’s name because Nacho just really stuck with me because I really like nachos. Tory’s excitement is evidenced in her face in these pictures, while Adam stands a bit behind her, usually gripping her shoulders, like he might use her as a shield if a lemur got too close. I don’t blame him, as I used a telephoto to photograph them… just in case.

Date: July 14, 2018
Ceremony Venue: Duke Lemur Center // Durham, NC
Reception Venue: Private Residence // Durham, NC
First Dance Song: “Painting by Chagal” – Weepies cover performed by Tory’s Aunt Victoria Clark, cousin Thomas Luke Guest, and accompanied by cousin Kyle Anderson
How You Met: As reluctant attendees of a fundraiser in Boston
Honeymoon: Cycling through Ireland and Scotland
Officiant: Banks Clark (Tory’s brother)
DJ: DJ Jay Mik
Florist: Tory!
Cake: Monuts
Caterer: Durham Catering
Hair/Makeup: Tiffany at Arrow Salon
Coordinator: Nancy Kelly
Ceremony Treat: Locopops

Alyssa+Ben // Montego Bay, Jamaica Wedding

WHAT IS BETTER THAN A LITTLE WEDDING IN JAMAICA?! A little wedding in Jamaica surrounded by some wonderful peeps who treat you like one of their own on an all-inclusive resort that regularly brings you pina coladas, that’s what. Alyssa and Ben are truly the best, and Alyssa is one of the few people that I can regularly text in all caps about everything, knowing that she’ll also text me back in all caps. I think all of our wedding e-mails also ended in about 50+ emojis. At first they started out tropical-themed, but then they degraded over time into completely random emojis for no reason since we had already used up all the tropical ones. Their senses of humor are already quite apparent to a lot of you who’ve seen their sneak peeks online but words still can’t accurately describe Alyssa and Ben and their entire group of people. They are wonderfully kind and thoughtful and everything good, but I appreciate their ridiculous humor the most. They played Toto through a fanny pack speaker system on a regular basis the entire week we were there (also Weezer covering Toto for good measure). All the bridesmaids got matching temporary butt tattoos, applied only after a thorough inspection of each individual to assess what the “best cheek” was and a group vote. There was some sort of “FWA FWA FWA” alarm noise that they’d all make in unison really loudly and for no discernible reason that I could understand but I appreciated nonetheless.

When we land these sorts of gigs everyone always asks how we did it, so here’s a small back story. Alyssa and Ben were connected and reconnected with us through Matt+Jamie who had their wedding in New York last year. I mistakenly identified Alyssa as a bridesmaid and kept asking her to do things for me (which she did because she’s nice), and I had actually gone to high school with Ben and Matt (they were a couple years younger than me). It was super nice to see Ben and Matt again, and I had thoroughly befriended Alyssa when I realized that her and Ben were together! We discussed nose piercings for a good while that evening, and then we got an e-mail asking us to go to Jamaica several months later. So, fellow wedding photographers, always ask wedding guests for help and then discuss nose piercings with them and also have gone to high school with their partners, and you’ll be in Jamaica in no time.

We went on tropical excursions! We jumped off probably unsafe cliffs into what was definitely unsafe pools of crystal blue waters! We climbed up 100% unsafe limestone rock waterfalls with like 5,000 other tourists! We sang the Fern Gully bat song. We listened to more Bob Marley than I would’ve ever thought humanly possible. We went snorkeling! At some point I was in some sort of on-resort night club dancing to that “boots with the fur” song wearing leggings with a composition notebook print. We searched high and low for carved wooden cats off-resort, only to be greeted by AN ENTIRE LOBBY FULL OF CARVED WOODEN CATS at the resort when we returned (Geoff would only let me take home two cats… a real shame… but they both got flagged at the airport). We kayaked! We waved our arms around some sort of glowing algae in a lagoon! We got stung by a lot of tiny microscopic jellyfish! We ate the best jerk chicken cooked by some dude wearing a chef’s hat who sat every day at the end of the beach with a giant grill! The adventures were endless and wonderful.

Alyssa and Ben – we love love love love you. Thank you for taking us on a trip of a lifetime and trusting us and going out to stand on sketchy rocks with us forever and ever amen. Keep texting us in all caps.

**GO PRO PHOTOS**


**REGULAR PHOTOS ON AN ACTUAL CAMERA**

Date: June 29, 2018
Ceremony + Reception Venue: Sunscape Cove, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Ben’s Occupation: Mechanical Engineer
Alyssa’s Occupation: Commercial Insurance Sales
How You Met: FACEBOOK — whaaaaat???
Interesting Fact: We both had animals named after Disney Movies before we even met…..then we continued with 2 cats and named them Rajah and Abu, like my favorite Disney movie Aladdin.
Honeymoon: BOCA RATON, FL — Aunt and Uncle are going to England for 2 weeks and we get the HOUSE FOR A WEEK!