Jen and her dress and her son and her dog

Jen used to be a wedding client of ours, and while I suppose she is still a client in that she’s still hiring us for stuff, I now consider her to be a great friend. We’ve spent the past couple of months as walking buddies once a week, although we need to get back into that once we got out of the swing of it during our out-of-state weddings. :) But it’s been wonderful getting to know her and calling her a dear friend. I’ve also had the awesome pleasure of getting to see her son Rob Jr. grow from a newborn with jet black hair to a 10 month old little boy who can say “kitty” with strawberry blonde hair. Jen and I joke (but I really mean it) that we’ll now have to start watching what we talk about in front of him… as well as I need to start watching my sailor mouth a bit. ;) Wouldn’t want to pass that on to this dear little boy!

This session was all about Jen, her awesome wedding dress that she still cherishes and loves, her sweet RDJ (Robert D. Jr), and her sweet Black Lab named G. She wanted pictures with them all at Ayr Mount in Hillsborough, where they all frequent quite often with Jen’s husband Rob. We had a wonderful time and Jen looked gorgeous… not to mention the RIDICULOUSLY CUTE outfit that she put on RDJ. Seriously, Jen, you could make millions off of that baby if you chose to (I know you wouldn’t, but I’m just saying, he’s adorable). His girlfriend is going to flip over these when he’s like, 24. ;)

 

Bethany and Kevin Get Married in Raleigh, NC

The weather finally cooled down (kind of!) for Bethany and Kevin’s mid-July wedding in Raleigh! Bethany is the sister of Gwen, who was my former co-worker and our wedding client from last December. :) She is equally as sweet and beautiful as her sister and we were so excited to work with her and Kevin. We were also really excited to see the two adorable flower girls that were part of Gwen’s wedding as well. This time they actually threw the flowers instead of hiding their face behind their hands the whole time. ;)

Kevin and Bethany are fantastic together. They also met through their family’s church (like Gwen and Nick) and did a lot of double dating with Gwen and Nick along the way. Those two also helped prepare Kevin’s proposal to Bethany, so the two couples have been a very important part of each other’s lives. It was beautiful to see the families come together and to be part of their wedding! I also got to see a lot of the teacher friends that I had when I taught, and it’s always nice to have a reunion. :) In small world news: Bethany had three of my past students in her 5th grade class this past year! Congratulations Bethany and Kevin! You two are beautiful together and we wish you all the best!

First Dance Song: ”Out of My League” by Stephen Speaks

Bethany’s Occupation: 5th Grade Teacher

Kevin’s Occupation: Electrical Engineer

How You Met: Singles Ministry at Providence Baptist Church

Interesting Fact About Bethany: She worked at Camp Barnabas, a camp for children and adults, for 8 years

Interesting Fact About Kevin: Used to be a school janitor

Honeymoon Destination: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Date: July 14, 2012

Ceremony  Venue: Providence Baptist Church // Raleigh, NC

Reception Venue: The Royal Banquet // Raleigh, NC

Officiant: Pastor David Horner

DJ: Uniq Entertainment

Florist: Harris Teeter

Cake: Tricia’s Darlin’ Designs

Caterer: Moe’s Southwest Grill

Hair/Makeup: Kim Braddy

 

Amanda+Sean Have a Wedding at Stonebridge Farm Nursery in Pittsburgh, PA

We have been loving our outdoor weddings lately even with this incredible heat. Amanda and Sean’s wedding, while not quite 112 degrees like our wedding in North Carolina the weekend before, was about as equally hot given the fact that it was in the low 100’s but all outdoors. Geoff and I brought a cooler full of Gatorade and stashed it away near the edge of the woods. :) Thankfully, the groomsmen weren’t wearing jackets and Amanda’s dress was light, so everyone partied away in the super unprecedented Pennsylvania heat.

Weddings that take place all in one venue are awesome, but they’re even more awesome when they’re at a farm or a greenhouse or a nursery or a venue that (dun dun dunnnn!) combines all of that together into one venue of wedding goodness. We had been looking forward to this wedding since Amanda and Sean contacted us last year. We’d been looking forward to working with them again (they’re both so super sweet and ridiculously cute). We’d been looking forward to meeting their dog named Goose (first dog that we’ve ever known named Goose). We’d been looking forward to shooting at Stonebridge (bring on the 20 different awesomely tempting places to take ring shots). We’d even been looking forward to the salt stains that we knew would be terribly apparent on both of us when we saw the forecast was in the hundreds (well, not really, but we were still excited). And their wedding didn’t disappoint. There was Amanda looking gorgeous and Sean looking handsome. There was Goose not wanting to get his picture taken but looking cute anyway. There were ring shots on tomatoes. There were even sunglasses as favors (best favors ever for an outdoor wedding in the sun). There were little kids piling said sunglasses on top of their heads, butterflies, wonderfully kind wedding guests, centerpieces with paper signs proclaiming the names of important streets in Amanda and Sean’s relationship, and yes… lots of sweating. And we loved it.

First Dance Song: ”Steady As We Go” – Dave Matthews Band

Amanda’s Occupation: Benefits Analyst/Real Estate Agent

Sean’s Occupation: Engineer

How You Met: Knew each other from high school, but started dating while in college after a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Pittsburgh (and a little help from old school AIM (AOL’s Instant Messenger))

Interesting Fact About Amanda: Has a strange liking for even numbers and named her dog Goose… who doesn’t love Top Gun?

Interesting Fact About Sean: Can sing like Axl Rose and is obsessed with Tommy Barrasso

Honeymoon Destination: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Date: July 7, 2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Stonebridge Farm Nursery // Pittsburgh, PA

DJ: Zip and Pat Jankowski

Florist: Stacey Powers

Cake: Cakes by Tammy

Caterer: Catering by Gregory

Hair/Makeup: Hair by Shag Hair Salon // Makeup by Julia Norton and Katy Kenny

Officiant: Sandra Monahan