Downtown Raleigh Farmer’s Market

I’m still out and about photographing commercial work for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance! I blog some of it here and there when I get the chance, but I always love blogging the opening day of the Downtown Raleigh Farmer’s Market because it’s always so colorful (even when it’s overcast like last week!) and happy. :) I love photographing this event for them, and I love it even more when I come home with some gluten-free chocolate cake and chipotle lime goat cheese. :D Oh, and when I see cute dogs. Can’t forget the cute dogs.

To learn more about the vendors and the Farmer’s Market, visit their website here. It’s open every Wednesday in City Plaza from 10am-2pm.

Amanda+Derek in Downtown Raleigh

It has been  while since we’ve shot an engagement session in downtown Raleigh, and we were excited to return to our roots this spring with Amanda and Derek! We were lucky enough to meet them last fall and book them for their wedding this upcoming September and are having a blast getting to know them in between. :) They met at UNC several years ago but only started dating as they were both moving out. ;) Then they lived in separate places for a while until they both settled down together in Raleigh (hence the photos downtown) where they watch a lot of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. They’ve considered getting a dog, but have determined that it’s a little much right now, so we’re working on convincing them to get cats.

Derek also works on a fantastic poster print company he’s founded called Blue is the Land. It started out with him making posters for their house of places that they’ve lived (Amanda’s from Winston-Salem and Derek’s from Schenectady, NY, but they lived together in Chapel Hill and Raleigh after that) and also places they’ve traveled (they go to NYC frequently and were engaged there). Since then, it’s grown quite a bit and now features all sorts of cities! You can even request them. :) They’re super well designed and feature a bunch of the neighborhoods in the cities in a nifty way that we hadn’t seen before but are also pretty sleek and modern at the same time (I swear I don’t work for his company, I just like his design work). You should check it out! Maybe after you view these pictures of him and Amanda being very cute.  May I present to you: the face, the image, the spirit of… Derelicte!

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