Kathy+Andrew Get Married at the Stockroom in Raleigh

Kathy and Andrew are the best. We had only met Kathy for our consult about their wedding as Andrew had already moved to Chicago (Kathy was following him shortly… not in a creepy following way, but more of a fiancé-following way). We adored Kathy, and likewise adored Andrew when he introduced himself to us at their rehearsal not because he knew who we were, but because “I saw a beard and thought I was familiar with all the beards associated with this wedding.”

They had a wedding full of awesome places and ridiculous pictures… the girls scrambled to get ready while the guys got ready for about 5 seconds and then watched SNL Celebrity Jeopardy videos. We had no control over the bridal party who operated like one big mind of crazy (but crazy in a funny-good way). “Okay, guys, now we’re going to take a picture across the street!” (nobody follows, I turn around). “Oh, okay, you’re playing basketball now. We’ll go with that then.” We loved them. They were all awesome. They also had a groomsmen named Geoff who also had a beard.

We also loved them because they ended their night with an afterparty at Neptunes playing pingpong. Because who doesn’t love a bride and groom playing pingpong at midnight on a Sunday downtown? Guys, we hope you like these pictures so that we can come stay with you in Chicago without any weirdness.

Date: November 11, 2012

First Song: “You’re My Best Friend” – Queen

Kathy’s Occupation: Marketing

Andrew’s Occupation: Architecture

How You Met: On the interwebs (Match.com)

Interesting Bride Fact: I will try anything once, including flying trapeze (fabulous), a juice cleanse (terrible idea), and moving to Chicago (so far so good!).

Interesting Groom Fact: Sang in an a cappella group in college (Grains of Time). Still sings in the shower.

Honeymoon Location: France! We’re going in 2013 and plan to wear berets and overindulge on wine, cheese, and baguettes.

Ceremony and Reception Location: The Stockroom // Raleigh, NC

Officiant: Rev. Lynne Campbell

DJ: Ipod

Florist: DIY

Cake: Tizzerts // Charlotte, NC

Caterer: Side Street Restaurant

Hair: Jessica Edelblute

Makeup: Esther Wallace

Gabby + Mike + Evan + Olive + Max

Remember these guys from last year?! They’re back, and I couldn’t be happier to document them again exactly one year later in the same spot with Gabby (mom), Mike (dad), and Max (dog) looking pretty much the same but the kids a lot taller and with longer hair and a newfound love for plastic dinosaurs (this is why they’re my clients). All four of them had on cute shoes. Max didn’t have on cute shoes, but he had a cool skull and crossbones leash. Gabby and I determined that we both bought the same jeans at Old Navy because they’re supposed to be clam-digger height on normal humans but they’re regular jean length on us, and we’re really happy about that because we don’t have to hem them. Their ever-faithful and awesome neighbor ChaCha came with us to wrangle Max and help block out light with her sweater and tell me about gluten-free things. We all romped around the woods, made a bunch of ridiculous faces, and ran around until Olive puked. Then we removed the puked on sweater and continued. All in a day’s work.

Perry + Shawn + Huckleberry + Finnigan + Lexie

Objectives: to photograph the amazingly talented and gorgeous Perry Vaile of Perry Vaile Photography alongside her handsome husband Shawn. Also, to photograph the slightly elusive and slightly adorably-crosseyed cat Lexie. Also, to photograph the previous racing dogs learning how to be precious house dogs Huckleberry and Finnigan. This was the mission I accepted at their house. The second mission was to go to Perry’s neighbor’s farm down the road and photograph them there… where there happened to be the most adorable miniature donkeys ever.  Now, I’m not sure that “ever” really describes it as I’m fairly certain that miniature donkeys ANYWHERE would be the cutest ever, but, you know what I mean. So the house mission combined with the farm mission was total cuteness overload and WAY too much cute to photograph in 2 hours… so just know that I tried, Perry, but your family is way, way too cute… and thus this was only a glimpse into its cuteness.

I was super honored to be chosen by Perry to photograph her family this year as she is a WONDERFUL photographer and I was crazy nervous a bit like this. She and Shawn were so amazingly sweet to me and made me feel perfectly comfortable though… and I’m so happy to have worked on this for them!