Mom’s Southern Tour.

I’m lucky enough to make my own schedule (yay!) and Geoff is lucky enough to work from the road or at home. So we didn’t schedule any shoots or weddings for the month of March, and instead Geoff, my sister Laura, and myself took my mom on a two week road trip for her retirement! I’ll now field the following frequently asked questions:

#1 – But where was your dad?! Yes, this is the number one frequently asked question, and I believe our dad is flattered by how many of you are wondering about his whereabouts. Our dad was working because he’s not yet retired himself, and is saving his vacation days for the prized annual family beach trip.

#2 – Where did you go? We visited Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Natchez, and Asheville. We drove over 3,000 miles in my 2008 Mazda3 and listened to approximately 3,000 miles worth of Counting Crows. It only rained once. We saw alligators, cats, many cemeteries, ghost tours, the Mardi Gras Indians, and a surprising amount of hoop skirts.

#3 – Natchez? Natchez is a little town in Mississippi that has been calling to my mother via a southern cocktails book I got for her birthday several years ago and we’ve all just come to accept it and decided to take her there. She particularly wanted to tour a bunch of old houses, so that’s exactly what we did.

#4 – Did you have fun? We did indeed have all of the fun! We stayed in a bunch of Air BnBs and nobody was murdered. We drove all over the south but managed not to have any roadkill accidents, car accidents, or tickets of any kind! It was a bit cold, but otherwise everything went extremely well and we are all alive to tell the tale. Our mom got to see all sorts of great things that we love about living down here, and we got to eat a bunch of salted caramel donuts from HiVolt again. We took a ton more pictures of various other activities we did, but we used our cell phones for a lot of it (I usually don’t feel like lugging the big boy camera around if I don’t have to or else I feel an obsessive need to document because normally I’m paid to do that, so then I have a harder time living in the present moment… so sometimes cell phone pictures are a great relief for me). :)

#5 – Best part? We loved touring the Mercer Williams house in Savannah (house from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) where there are several resident cats. If you look closely underneath the roped off antique furniture, you can spot cat toys that have been batted under there and not yet retrieved.

#6 – Second best part? Seeing John Goodman walking his golden retriever.

#7 – Worst part? Slumped across a table in my pajamas holding back hungry tears while eating instant grits and a gluten-free Girl Scout cookie at 12:30am for “dinner” when Domino’s failed to deliver what should’ve been an 11:30pm pizza after an all-day drive to New Orleans from Savannah.

#8 – Second worst part? Driving through Atlanta’s i-85. Normally Geoff does this because he’s braver than I am, and I close my eyes and pretend it’s not happening. But Geoff had some work to do, so he sat on his laptop and I white-knuckled through it in fear.

#9 – Best food? Eating at the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans!

#10 – MVP? Our mom, of course! We love you and are so happy we got to take this trip with you!

Jessie+Phill // The Pharmacy Museum and Race & Religious. New Orleans, LA.

We feel like if there’s one city in the whole U.S. that really sums up our soullllls, it would be New Orleans (we have bats in our logo for crying out loud). And we also feel like if there’s one group of people in the whole world who we really and truly adore, it would be Australians (there aren’t kangaroos in our logo yet but we’re working on it). And if there’s one country in the world that we may have to move to because of election results, it would be Canada (rebrand idea: bats carrying kangaroos who are holding maple syrup in their pouches?). So when a Canadian (Jessie) and an Australian (Phill) emailed us to shoot their wedding in New Orleans, we said YESSSSsssss and got really ridiculously excited. Here’s our highlight reel.

First: fun accents. There were 85+ people at this wedding, and only 3 Americans. You can assume that the rest had fun accents and were also delightful people. We didn’t ask Phill to say “didgeridoo” during the photos, but we kept that as our secret weapon in our pockets in case we needed to make him smile. Turns out that Jessie makes him smile just fine, so now we can save that trick for our next Aussie.

Second: The Pharmacy Museum. Their reception was at the fabulous Race & Religious (that’s how Jessie found us… through our work for this other Jessie) but we were so excited to get to finally go to the Pharmacy Museum, where their ceremony was held! It was closed last time we were in Nola, but we thought it looked fabulous, and it is! It is basically a museum of old medical stuff that makes you a little woozy if you think about any of it too hard. Leeches! Voodoo! Questionable medical practices! And that last phrase is straight off of their website because they know it’s true.

Third: A SECOND LINE! Words truly can’t describe my excitement for this, and how it actually lived up to my excessive expectations of marching through the French Quarter in New Orleans with a Mint Julep and a very loud brass band. One of the best moments of my career, and in the top 5 of my life. Everyone should experience this in New Orleans, and we’re so glad we did.

Fourth: A cake made entirely out of cheese. I really don’t have to explain this one to you.

It rained, it was cold, plans got all switched around, inside out and upside down. But there was a cake made entirely of cheese and a second line and a museum full of questionable medical practices and more Australians and Canadians than I’ve ever seen in my life all in one room at one time and we were in NEW ORLEANS, YA’LL. A huge international hug to Jessie and Phill, their parents, and our 100% A+ troopers of a wedding party who allowed me to put them in traffic in the rain in 40 degree weather and still managed to be happy. We are so honored and thrilled to have spent this weekend with you and we love you! CONGRATULATIONS!

  • Date: January 6, 2017
  • Ceremony Venue: The Pharmacy Museum // New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Reception Venue: Race & Religious // New Orleans, Louisiana
  • First Dance Song: “Your Song” – Ellie Goulding
  • Jessie’s Occupation: Doctor
  • Phill’s Occupation: Yacht Captain
  • How You Met: In the Galapagos Islands. I was volunteering at a hospital there so she could get a longer permit to stay and play with turtles! Phill’s boat got stuck waiting for a part to ship from Ecuador. We met in the only bar on Santa Cruz when Phill got the chef on his boat to come talk to me for him.
  • Interesting Fact: We worked on a boat together for a year and sailed from New Zealand, through the South Pacific to the Caribbean!
  • Honeymoon: Japan!
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant –Rosalie Mortillaro. Ceremony Harpist – Ashley Toman. Second Line – Kinfolk Brass Band. Reception Band – Nola Dukes Band. Florist – Leaf + Petal. Cake Made Entirely of Cheese Wheels – Joel’s Catering. Caterer – Joel’s Catering. Hair/Makeup – Everett Brannon of Preaux Face. Videographer – Lonely Eskimo Films. Coordinator – Madeline Langlinais of Mint Julep Productions. Photobooth – GoGo PhotoBooth.

Meaghan+Alex // Alamance Historical Museum Wedding

We were so thrilled with this chillaxed Saturday afternoon brunchtastic wedding. There were cute dogs and Home Alone and I got to ride standing in the back of a golf cart to go see a cute horse. And that was just one hour into the day. The rest of the day involved a very wonderfully creepy historical museum on a beautiful plot of land during the most idyllic day of the fall in North Carolina. Meaghan’s dress was one of my all-time favorite wedding dresses (BHLDN) and I threatened to steal it several times. She looked gorgeous. Alex was also looking mighty handsome in our first ever maroon groom suit jacket which we definitely need to see more of. They’re several cars ahead of everyone on the east coast fashion train, and that’s how we like ’em. Then we made them stand in front of strange wallpapers and old pianos and graveyards and had the best day ever.

In addition to being cute, they’re also lovely and hilarious human beings whose company we thoroughly enjoyed. And despite me walking through this graveyard for their pictures, I don’t appear to be haunted yet (knock on wood!) so that’s a plus. The graveyard is of the family of the first guy who brought plaid to the U.S. Yes, plaid! It’s like a graveyard for lumberjacks and Scotsmen. Everything was so fall and so southern charm and had such a hint of mild spookiness that I wanted to roll around in all of the magnificent Magnolia leaves and absorbbbb the wedding. But that wouldn’t be social acceptable, so I just took pictures of it. Also, Peter Lamb the Wolves were there, and they’re our favorite jazz band and we just adore working with them. IT WAS THE PERFECT DAY.

  • Date: November 19, 2016
  • Ceremony + Reception Venue: Alamance Historical Museum // Burlington, NC
  • Afterparty: Whiskey Kitchen // Raleigh, NC
  • First Dance Song: “La Vie en Rose” – Performed by Peter Lamb and the Wolves
  • Meaghan’s Occupation: Brand manager for Luxury Brand Partners
  • Alex’s Occupation: Field Technology Specialist for FedEx Office
  • How You Met: Alex was my neighbor when I first moved to Raleigh from South Florida.  I needed jumper cables. He didn’t have any but soon after there was a set on my car with a cute note.  The rest is history…
  • Interesting Fact: Alex has a hidden talent of being an amazing origami artist. Meaghan can not fold origami lol.
  • Honeymoon: Boone, NC.
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Kathie McCutcheon. Jazz Band – Peter Lamb and the Wolves. Florist – Pamela J. Watts. Macaron Tower – Annelore’s Bakery. Caterer – Michelle’s Kitchen. Hair/Makeup – Stephanie Sevilla of The Make-up Culture. Coordinator – Chad Clayton of Boy Friday Events. Wedding dress – BHLDN