Baxter Gets His Picture Taken

Every once in a while I get something completely different than weddings and last week it was Baxter. :) Baxter’s mom and dad (Rachel and Andy) found me through a fundraiser event that I participated in for a local shelter called 2 Paws Up where I donated a session for them to help them raise money for their organization. They rescue animals from high-kill shelters in North Carolina and put them up for adoption. :) His parents were in attendance at the fundraiser, won the prize, and contacted me shortly after to set up Baxter’s session.

Baxter is a Shar Pei most likely mixed with some sort of Pit or hound… no one’s really sure. All we know is that Baxter is adorable, and Baxter likes squirrels. He likes squirrels so much that he’s a certified flight-risk, thus landing us in his neighbor’s fenced in back yard for the session so that Baxter didn’t escape into the wild beyond, injuring all fluffy-tailed squirrels in his path. He was quite content to chase around his ball and his stuffed animals and hang out with his beloved humans. I’m pretty much in love with this little dude.

Jennifer+Patrick Have a Wedding in Charlotte

This wedding had the 5 key components to any great wedding: a beautiful bride in a fluffy dress, a groom who is 6’7 who told you that you sounded taller on the phone, the cutest ring bearer in the entire land, a totally kick butt reception venue in the city, and dogs in bow ties named Calvin and Hobbes. The wedding wasn’t pitched to us quite like that… it was more like, “Hey, come shoot our wedding in Charlotte!” and we were all, “Okay!” and then when we met them and got there we knew it would totally rule. And rule it did.

Really, though, this reception venue is my type of venue. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place so awesomely colorful or awesome. Please bring us back, Charlotte. We like it there.  You are always nice to us and contain the state’s only Ikea. And to Jen and Patrick – we love you both very much and had the BEST time. Thanks for putting up with us following you around and making cheesy jokes. We’ll come visit you, ok?

 Date: November 3, 2012

First Song: “You Are The Best Thing” – Ray LaMontagne

Jennifer’s Occupation: Advertising for Lowe’s Home Improvement

Patrick’s Occupation: Project Engineer for Crowder Construction

How You Met: We actually knew each other wayyyy back in high school.  I was dating one of his friends, and we all hung out together.  Fast froward about 10 years later and we were both living in a tiny town in NC (Kernersville) but didn’t know we both lived there.  UNTIL I saw on Facebook (of all places!), that he lived in Kernersville.  And since I didn’t know a single other person who lived there, I reached out to him and asked him what the hell he was doing living in Kernersville!  We had dinner a few days later and then were pretty much inseperable after that!  With a lack of exciting things to do in that small town that we loved SO much, we spent several nights in the Kville bowling alley drinking $1 drafts and having fierce bowling competitions.

Interesting Bride Fact: Jennifer loves to make things and crafted about 95% of the decorations for the wedding (with some help, of course!).  She’s also fluent in German, a language she learned in 3rd grade while attending a German Immersion School in Charlotte.

Interesting Groom Fact: Patrick is 6’7

Honeymoon Location: Mexico

Ceremony Location: Covenant Presbyterian Church // Charlotte, NC

Reception Location: The Extravaganza Depot // Charlotte, NC

DJ: Spintastic Sounds

Florist: Party Blooms

Cake: Simply Delicious Cakes by Whit

Caterer: Family Catering

Hair: La Bella Hair

Makeup: Jessica Bagwell

 

Meaghan+TJ are engaged and like autumn

Meaghan and TJ just moved up from Charleston where there wasn’t too much seasonal change, so they were pretty excited to do their engagement pictures in Raleigh in the fall with the leaves and the prettiness and so on. And the leaves were looking GREAT!! And then Sandy came through and blew a bunch of them away. :) But no fear! There were still some left in this forest! So we grabbed their props and walked down the lane and took pictures with the trees. We also, bizarrely enough, stumbled upon some sort of army training exercise where a bunch of guys in camo with artillery were sneaking around the woods that surrounded us. We really wanted them to pop up a few feet away in the background of the pictures, but alas, it was not to be. So we made our own fun by talking about silly stuff and being generally goofy and them being obviously cute and we found the NC State horses who were pretty photogenic but not as much as Meaghan and TJ. :)