Ohhh, today is such a happy blog post! Not that any of them are unhappy, but this one is just plain cute. :)
Meet the men of the hour: fraternal twins Will (on left) and Ryan (on right). How adorable are they!? Just the sweetest things! They will be turning one year old in early June, so these are their first year portraits. :) We took a bunch with super cool mom and dad, too! Mom is the incredibly talented force behind Mae Armstrong Designs; she does custom invitations, stationary, and all sorts of really incredibly crafty projects. I am pretty much addicted to her Facebook fan page feed already as I envy anyone who can sew and has the ability to turn an old shirt into an awesome skirt. Really! And, if anyone is thinking Dad looks familiar, he’s the evening Sports Anchor on ABC11! How do I get such cool clients?!
Will and Ryan aren’t crafting or reading news prompters yet, but rest assured they are destined for greatness… but we’ll have to wait until they can walk first. For now, they’ll just sit around the NC State Arboretum looking really really cute:
Will: “Why am I sitting in this ivy?”
Ryan: “Who, me?”
This picture absolutely cracks me up. So – for those of you to do child portraits – you know that you’ll spend most of the session making goofy faces and sounds and pretty much standing on your head. Will and Ryan could see through my antics and the below picture shows them questioning the particular circus show I was performing at the time.
Ryan modeling his Blue Steel face.
True story: The bear below is none other than Snuggles. Yes, like from the dryer sheet commercials. When I was 5 years old my family took me to some Family Day type thing at the park, but you could enter your name into a contest to win prizes. However, the prizes were totally random (maybe they weren’t… I need my mom to help fill in some of these details), but long story short – I won… a hammer. Yes, the city officials gave a 5 year old a hammer as a door prize. Needless to say, I cried. A lot. Because what I had really wanted was Snuggles… and because what was I going to do with a hammer. So the officials gave in and traded the hammer out for Snuggles, and happily home I went. 20 years later, Snuggles now lives with us in North Carolina and has been re-purposed as a hand puppet for small children I photograph. He’s happy with his new job, and the kids love him. Way to go, Snuggles!
Vogue it, boys!
Aren’t these little gentlemen the cutest? You boys will look back on this twenty-some years later and your girlfriends will LOVE these! :D
Reverend Kayelily Middleton was the ceremony officiant and did a beautiful job. She was very calm, serene, and tied this ceremony’s Hindu and Christian aspects together perfectly. Reshma’s family is of the Hindu faith, while Darren’s is Christian, so they decided on a fusion wedding ceremony incorporating parts of each other’s traditions. Reshma’s daughter (now Darren’s lovely daughter as well!) served as the beautiful flowergirl. :)
Reshma was walked down the aisle by both her father, (Dr!) Babu and her brother, (Dr!) Sheel. Not a bad deal at all! ;)
The couple had a unity candle and performed the Mangal Phera – circling around the holy fire symbolizing the walk of life. They walked clockwise around the circular table four times with Reshma leading the first three, and Darren leading the last.
They then performed the Saptapati – the seven steps of marriage vows. The couple would speak their vows while taking small steps around the table.
Last, Darren ties a sacred necklace around the bride’s neck. This is known as the Mangal Sutra. The necklace symbolizes a married woman.
They did incorporate the “you may kiss the bride” into the ceremony. Her mother Meena, who is hilarious and adorable and also lived in Pittsburgh (!), leaned over during the rehearsal to tell me, “They are doing the kissing thing. We told them it was okay, but with weddings in our culture we normally say no… no kissing!” :) This, as well as a unity sand ceremony they performed with Selena, was part of the incorporation of a traditional Christian ceremony along with several prayers from both the Christian faith and the Hindu faith.
So for those of you who’ve been to the Streets of Southpoint, where Maggiano’s is located in Durham, it’s basically an upscale outdoor mall type of area. So what better background to shoot with than the Anthropologie wall?! :)
Me: Reshma, wait! I like this mural on the wall!
She is so so so so pretty. :)
LADIES – DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE FLUFFY DRESSES. THEY MAKE FOR BEAUTIFUL PICTURES. Her dress was gooorgeous. And this ring shot, although very simple, is probably my favorite one to date.
The father-daughter dance was very emotional. I typically do not cry at weddings. When I’m happy, I’m happy – not crying. But this got me a little choked up and I think made all girls in the room miss their dads.
Tim, the DJ, did a great job during the ceremony and the reception. DJs are surprisingly one of the people the photographer interacts with the most at the wedding, and it’s always fun when you get along and can work in sync!
