Laurie+Dwight’s Wedding at the Graylyn Estate in Winston-Salem

Laurie and Dwight live in West Virginia, so the first time we Skype-met with them, they held up their obese tuxedo cat… and we held up our obese tuxedo cat… and it was love at first Skype. They’ve gone on to be great clients of ours and we were so thrilled to be able to join them at their wedding at Graylyn Estate in Winston-Salem last weekend! Graylyn is a massive conference center that basically serves as a company meeting retreat. It’s giant and seemingly endless and I think you could take pictures anywhere inside and outside and they’d be awesome. Their reception was held on top of a pool. Yes. On top. They put down a wooden floor with steel support beams on top of their indoor pool in the summertime and leave it up for wedding season, then take it down afterward so the guests can swim (it takes them four hours to take the floor back up). The whole place is pretty fascinating and is kind of a combination of some European castle and the Shining’s Overlook Hotel.

Our fantastic couple is kind of from all over the place (there was an animated map at their rehearsal dinner that illustrated their various points of habitation and I lost track after a little bit). I do know that they met in San Francisco after meeting online. I also know that Laurie is a dentist who then, after becoming an exclusive couple, practiced cavity fillings on Dwight (it was more legit than it sounds, don’t worry). They have a beautiful and supportive network of family and friends who love them (and nicely poke fun at them), and two cats who are excited to have their parents legitimately unionized. We’re kind of jealous and a little bitter that Laurie and Dwight neglected to book us a flight with them so we could go back to St. John, but we wish them a happy and safe experience while they’re there and we’ll only give them the stink eye a little bit when they get back and are tanner than the rest of us.

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Date: May 3, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Graylyn Estate // Winston-Salem, NC

First Dance Song: “This Guy’s in Love with You” – Herb Alpert

Laurie’s Occupation: General and Family Dentist

Dwight’s Occupation: Regional Business Manager at Genetech (Bio-Tech Company)

How You Met: OK Cupid Online Dating in San Francisco

Interesting Facts about Laurie and Dwight: Moved from San Francisco to Morgantown, West Virginia.  Live with two cats named after cheeses (Brie and Stilton).  Laurie played college tennis at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA.  Dwight was a federally registered refugee from Hurricane Katrina.

Honeymoon Destination: Caneel Bay Resort in St. John, USVI

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Lisa Schwartz UUFWS | DJ – A&A DJ | Florist – Artfully Arranged | Cake – Cake and All Things Yummy | Caterer – Graylyn | Hair/Makeup – Trend Setters | Videographer – Lightwater Productions | Coordinator – Erin McLean Events | Transportation – Black Tie Limousine

Nikki+Max Marry at Museum of Life and Science

Nikki and Max! Also known to everyone as Mackey and Nix or Mickey and Nick or a variety of other combinations. I’m pretty sure I arranged their names into my own version quite a few times despite clearly knowing who they are, and so did their officiant, Geoff, and possibly a few other people. I’m not sure why their names were so combinable, but I’m pretty sure they’d be the best celebrity couple ever. Like Nix, or maybe Mixxey. Or maybe Nax or Ikkiax.. or. Hmm.

Anyway, this was our first opportunity to photograph a wedding at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham and I have to say it quickly became one of our favorite venues. Awesome outdoor space, awesome indoor space, a ton of shooting variety, random sculptures of wolves with wings and bug eyes, and a whole lot of creepy crawlers that entertained the guests to no end (in particular was the giant orb spider who didn’t have an enclosure but rather lived on a tree inside the museum and just happened to stay there because that’s where they feed him. That’s right. He technically has free reign. Don’t set down your drink).

We had an awesome time getting to know Nikki and Max in real life outside their Instagram accounts that we’ve been stalking for some time. Geoff also had the distinct pleasure of meeting their cat Mickey (who is kind of like their celebrity combo name but the shelter had already named him when they got him so not really). I was a bit jealous because I had been waiting to meet Mickey for SO LONG and Geoff always gets the “getting ready” animals, so I just had to live vicariously through him through the pictures of Mickey trying to eat their snacks and unwrap their presents. A huge congratulations and thank you to our lovely couple, Nikki and Max!

Date: April 26, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Museum of Life and Science // Durham, NC

First Dance Song: “Unchained Melody” – Righteous Brothers

Nikki’s Occupation: Neuroscience Graduate Student

Max’s Occupation: Health and Public Policy research fellow

How You Met: Nikki TA’ed a class Max was taking

Honeymoon Destination: Cambodia and Vietnam

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Lori Burgwyn, owner of Franklin St. Yoga Center | DJ – Damien Mass | Florist – Saunders | Cake – Daisy Cakes | Caterer – Green Planet Catering | Hair – Caitie Rumbles | Makeup – BareMinerals | Coordinator – Kelly @ Museum of Life and Science

Erin+Nick // Married in Raleigh.

This is the second time this month that we’ve have a portrait session in wedding garb! We love doing shoots like this, so we were excited when Erin contacted us. She and Nick were married in October, but wanted to have some more wedding pictures in their much loved city of Raleigh before taking the plunge and moving to their new city of Durham (which we’ve promised them they’ll love just as much!), and, more importantly, they wanted photos in their wedding outfits with their beloved dog Beaux.

You guys, just take a look at Beaux. He joined us in the second half of the session at a park near their house and I almost died from the cuteness. I think everyone else almost died from exhaustion after hearing me say, “It’s Beaux time!” over and over again as an ode to the Bojangle’s commercials and this adorable Corgi in front of me (sorry guys). He wore a bow tie and ran surprisingly fast for being so low to the ground. And while I can’t say he enjoyed having his picture taken, he did tolerate it once he quickly learned that it will get him bacon treats.

Now, I don’t want to make this session with these two lovely people entirely about Beaux (even though I kind of do because he’s so cute). But Erin and Nick are adorable too! Erin wore her lovely lace wedding dress and Nick wore his grandfather’s tux from the 1930s which is in amazingly immaculate condition. Nick is really into plants (he’s a landscape architect) and specifically urban foliage so we had a good time watching him geek out over plants growing beside some pipes and bricks in the Warehouse District. We can’t wait for these guys to explore the urban foliage and awesomeness that is Durham when they move! And you guys… we are so excited for Beaux to live in Durham too.