Virginia+Carson // Engaged // Durham, NC

This was our very, very last shoot of 2014 and we have to say that it was a very good year. Soon we’ll be posting our year-in-review posts, but we had to put this up first to officially end our year right. :) We couldn’t have asked for two better people to round out the last twelve months with! Also, we’re kind of oddly similar. Apparently Carson just recently shaved his beard, or else it might be difficult to tell us all physically apart. My sister saw the sneak peek I posted of them right after the session, and had a strong negative reaction when she thought some other guy was kissing me (right before the holidays, no less!) and wondered what I had done with Geoff, until she realized that was not, in fact, me in the picture.

Virginia and Carson recently got engaged, and they also recently moved to Durham. Virginia accepted a position as a librarian at Duke and Carson is in law school, and Durham happened to be a great location for the both of them to do their adult job stuff. So they moved into an adorable house with their furry friends: cats Spike and Pickles, and Brittany Spaniel named QuiQui (who is, obviously, European). Virginia really wanted to have engagement photos, but she really didn’t want to have them actually taken, but she promised us she wouldn’t roll her eyes through the whole session, so we showed up at their house and went to work. And throughout the entire thing, both in their home and out on 9th street in the cold, Virginia didn’t roll her eyes once! In fact, her and Carson were just plain adorable. They cooked in their kitchen (mmm, cheese spread), played guitar for us on their porch (they are talented musicians and singers!), and were generally very receptive to cuddling on their couch with QuiQui and also posing by strange vans in alleyways. We had an awesome time getting to know them both, and we’re so happy to have been able to finish our year with this really cute duo.

Team ChrisKris Gets Married

Team ChrisKris is back! This time there was no pizza, but there was a wedding instead! There was also lots of talk about Krispy Kreme (the best man has an app on his phone that alerts him whenever the donuts are hot), and lots of smack-talk between Chris and Kristen about who’s better at Call of Duty (I’m not getting involved in this debate). Between the donuts and video game smack-talk, there were also some Lego Movie references (thanks for getting “Everything is Awesome” stuck in my head again, Chris), and the general agreement between everyone present that Daryl is the best character in the Walking Dead. If you can’t already tell, it’s like Chris and Kristen are Geoff and I’s life partners… except in reality they’re each other’s life partners instead of ours, and they live in Charlotte so it’s hard to see them. But in spirit, it’s nice to know that there’s another couple out there spending their evenings reading and/or arguing about video games. We like them!

We also like their families (because everyone was hilarious) and their friends (because everyone was hilarious). When you’re having a smaller, intimate wedding, it helps when your people are nice and funny (and willing to hop over construction barriers without complaining). There was a hot chocolate bar (with Batman cups!) and a lot of books and purple accents and amaaaazing food and a lot of really entertaining dancing (Chris’s dad, we’re talking to you). Everyone was so entertaining and fabulous that, if we can think of a way to just start quietly and slyly showing up at this group’s family functions, we totally will. But for now we’ll have to settle on seeing them when we can and loving them all from afar.

Everything is awesome… everything is cool when you’re part of a team…!

Date: December 13, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Brakefield at Riverwalk // Rock Hill, South Carolina

First Dance Song: “Living for the Love of You” – Isley Brothers

Kristen’s Occupation: Eternal Student

Chris’s Occupation: IT

How You Met: College

Interesting Bride Fact: Lives in the south, hates grits.

Interesting Groom Fact: Had never seen the Neverending Story before meeting Kristen.

Honeymoon Destination: Minimoon – Asheville. Honeymoon – Hawaii!

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Rebecca Nagy | DJ – DJ Shogun | Florist – April’s Floral Expressions | Cake – Polka Dot Bake Shop | Caterer – Family Catering Services | Hair – Hiliary Wilson of Salon No Mirror Needed | Makeup – Joy of Flawless Makeup Art | Videographer – HoneyDew Films | Coordinator – Ivy Honeycutt of The Silk Veil Events

Courtney+Kyle+Patti+Roy // At home.

We do a lot of important stuff like photographing weddings and babies and engagements and all that good, happy stuff that usually signifies beginnings rather than endings. This shoot was a little different. Courtney, whom we met a friend’s wedding a couple years ago, contacted us because her parents were selling Courtney and her brother Kyle’s childhood home. They were pretty bummed out about it, but with the kids gone (Courtney) or going away (Kyle), it was time for Patti and Roy to downsize. Courtney wasn’t going without a fight, though, and hired us to photograph her and her family hanging out inside their house one last time before the family moves in January. We felt incredibly honored to do this type of shoot as we knew how important it was for the family, and it was kind of our first shoot that signified an ending. Of course, it’s a beginning too with Kyle going off to college and the parents moving into a new house, but it was the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another, and for some reason it made me feel the significance of our job probably more than I ever have previously. We were really happy to do this for them.

Of course, the fact that the family is super awesome, hilarious, and fun didn’t hurt much either. They made us food (yum!) and welcomed us in with open arms and Vanilla Coke. We ran around their gorgeous house and yard and had a great time. Courtney and Kyle showed us how they climbed on the roof as kids, how they play board games and pool and hang out in the kitchen, how they fish and play baseball, and how they decorate the tree planted in their grandpa’s memory for Christmas. The cats hid from us, but… we tried. :) We loved doing this type of shoot, and we hope that we were able to capture their awesome family doing what they love in a space that they grew up in and called home.