Julia+Erik // Duke Chapel Wedding

So happy to have worked with the real Julia Roberts and Erik Johnson. Our first celebrity wedding of non-celebrities with celebrity names. They are two incredibly kindhearted people who were so excited to get married and we were so happy we were there. We also got to work alongside friend/college Janice of Big Dog Little Bed Production Company who did the videography, and whose footage we frequently photobombed. The rest of their vendors were equally great, and so was their bridal party! The groomsmen helped Erik to practice the first look with the help of a 21C Museum Hotel penguin (it kind of looks like a scene from Weekend at Bernie’s) and a bridesmaid assisted with amplifying the music from someone’s phone speaker by putting it near her open mouth (which somehow worked). They were a very helpful and endearing bunch.

The ceremony was held at Duke Chapel which is always classic and timeless, and waded through a sea of 99% humidity for their pictures. We laughed, we cried, we gave Erik a hard time about identifying body parts for poses because he’s a doctor. At one point we were warned about “a group of 700 campers” that were approaching the campus and got the heck out of there… although if there’s a great excuse to be late to your ceremony, 700 campers is probably the best one. Their ceremony was lovely, and afterward we all proceeded to The Cotton Room where colorful paper cranes folded by Julia adorned all the plates with their guests’ names. I love paper cranes. I think because they’re happy, but also because I can’t fold them, so they impress me. In addition to their lovely paper cranes, they also had adorable husband+wife bulldog cake toppers. I believe these bulldogs were affiliated with their college but anything related to college mascots gets thrown aside by my mind in exchange for the obvious cuteness of bulldogs in tiny top hats and veils. I can’t even. It was a beautiful summer wedding with two amazing people, and we were so excited to be a part of it!

• Date: June 17, 2017
• Ceremony Venue: Duke Chapel // Durham, NC
• Reception Venue: The Cotton Room // Durham, NC
• First Dance Song: “She’s Got a Way” – Billy Joel
• Julia’s Occupation: Recently minted PhD in Chemistry
• Erik’s Occupation: Ophthalmologist
• How You Met: Summer Physics class. Erik asked Julia to do a problem set with him and the rest is history.
• Interesting Fact: We spent our first Valentine’s Day together in Edinburgh at a restaurant called Angels with Bagpipes.
• Honeymoon: Cozumel, Mexico
• Vendor Credits: Officiant – Father Brad Heckathorne. Band – The Finns. Florist – Bloomin’ Rose Flowers. Cake – Guglhupf. Caterer – The Cotton Room. Hair/Makeup – Abby Lassiter. Videographer – Big Dog Little Bed. Coordinator – Summer McInvaille.

Molly+Trevor’s Super Secret Wedding.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (November, sometime, in Durham), Molly and Trevor (now of internet fame for this dress and this apartment) were married in a super secret wedding at the courthouse. Although now, looking back on it, I’m not entirely sure that it was for marriage reasons or if it was just an excuse to dress up and taking pictures with their dogs… and also get their dogs a variety of floral collars. The Furst Ladies featured here are Eleanor Roosevelt (yellow) and Martha Washington (black). Abigail Adams, the cat, is missing in these photos (and all other photos). The large, bonus dog is Bodie, the dog of a neighbor who is a stand-in for us whenever we need a large, bonus dog because why not? As of now, this post concludes our triad of amazing sessions/weddings with Molly+Trevor. Now we just need them to get cracking on their new house so we have a reason to come over and take more pictures.

Molly+Trevor // Duke Gardens Wedding

You know you have the right client-photographer relationship when you show up and the maid of honor that you’ve never met is really excited to present to you a dozen little miniature hands for you to take ring shots with, and then you proceed to also use the bride’s floral binder and Pantone color samples you find lying around and find out that the wedding is floral and Pantone themed. With little hands. Then someone casually suggests hanging the bride’s dress on a pointed hand that’s jutting out of the wall, but it’s facing the wrong way, so the bride gets up on the counter with a hammer and a drill and proceeds to move the hand. Then they tell you that all of the bridesmaids have temporary tattoos that are scented. These… these are my people.

I won’t say too much about Molly and Trevor because they already know we love them, and they already know how fantastic they are (they are the only clients we’ve had to put their photos on a potato), and I already went over some of that from their engagement session (their apartment which is super fabulous and was published on Apartment Therapy, is now going to live on in our dreams as they’ve just recently bought a house which will be, I have no doubt, equally fabulous). So now I’ll just concentrate on their wedding which was pretty incredible. They wallpapered everything. The bar, the seating sign, the aisle runner, the band’s backdrop! Everyone’s table seating had Pantone colors with their names printed on them that doubled on the back as postcards! The kids had matchbox car boutonnieres! I could go on and on for a while but I’ll just stop with Molly’s dress which was incredible. It was floral. It was fantastic. And it was totally a prom dress from Nordstrom’s (we’ve already had a lot of people ask us, so there you have it folks). She said she wasn’t sure when she’d wear it again, but I assured her that she should just wear it all the time because why wouldn’t you.

• Date: April 15, 2017
• Ceremony + Reception Venue: Duke Gardens // Durham, NC
• First Dance Song: “You’ve Got a Friend” – James Taylor
• Molly’s Occupation: Children’s Museum Exhibit Designer
• Trevor’s Occupation: Biochemistry PostDoc
• How You Met: World Wide Web
• Interesting Fact: We have the exact same glasses prescription.
• Honeymoon: Eventually Norway.
• Vendor Credits: Officiant –Meghan Benson. Band – Liquid Pleasure Band. Florist – Pine State Flowers. Cake – Sugarland. Caterer – Chapel Hill Catering Company. Coordinator – Grace Beason of Grace Leisure Events. Molly+Ferry’s Hair: Stephanie Boettcher at Arrow Studio. Molly+Ferry’s Makeup – Pam Hung from OnLoKation Makeup. Bridesmaid’s Hair – Posh Studio. String Musicians – Save the Date Music. Photobooth – Zimzoom Photo Booth. Transportation – Greenway. Ice Cream Truck – The Parlour. Lighting – GetLit Special Event Lighting. Spray Tan – Tansformations.