Dear Marcus Savage, I’m not sure if you read this thing, but you basically booked me this wedding. You rule.

Marcus, my musical mentor in high school,  introduced me to a band called the Weakerthans and it quickly became one of my favorite bands. We’d drive around for literally hours when we had nothing to do (back when gas used to be kind of cheap) and listen to them. They’re still one of my favorites and remind me of Marcus and high school and everything else. Thankfully, my musical taste has been totally unwavering throughout the years so they’re still in the forefront of favoriteness, and it totally won us this wedding.

Kelly had been e-mailing me for a while, and we had another wedding in the Outer Banks the weekend that we met them for the consult. I liked them. They looked beachy. That’s the best way I can describe it. They also looked like they liked good music (I have good music sense radar). We sat down. Talked about their wedding for a bit. Somehow got on the topic of music. Asked Danny what bands he liked and listed among his top 3 answers were the Weakerthans, and it was pretty much all over.

I distinctly remember me and Danny getting really excited, and Kelly going, “OHhhhhh, no. Well, that’s it. I’m sure Danny’s made his decision.” It seemed like this had thrown a total wrench in the plans of them making any sort of objective decision about their photographer, and we were IN. Yesss! (Side Note, Marcus: Fallow was Danny and his mom’s first dance song and I may or may not have sang to myself the entire time).

And it’s been great from there. We’ve been in monthly contact with these two for a long time and have looked forward to their wedding for over a year. We stayed in the bridesmaids beach house and were welcomed like family. I’m not entirely sure what Kelly plans on doing with her time now that the wedding is done, or exactly how little sleep she’s been functioning on for the past year due to the following facts:

1. Kelly designed and planned the event herself. She made all of the details. Each table was designed so that the centerpieces on it would reflect and represent each person sitting at the table, so all of the tables were themed differently depending on who sat there. She spent a long time collecting the random things to represent their guests who appreciated it greatly and thought it was awesome.

2. She’s been learning guitar from Danny and they sang their first dance instead of danced it.

3. She booked Paleface, one of Danny’s favorite musicians, to play at the post-rehearsal party at Corolla’s Beer Garden as a surprise for Danny (some pictures included to start off the blog)… who basically wigged out for two solid hours straight.

4. Kelly’s aunt made her dress. Go ahead. Go scroll down and find the dress. Then read this sentence again: KELLY’S AUNT MADE HER DRESS.

So I apologize in advance for the crazy long blog post, but this was a pretty cool weekend staying with this crew. Not only was their wedding on my birthday (yay!) but it was our first wedding on the beach. Ever. Really? We’ve been doing this since 2008 and that was our first wedding on the beach? Way overdue. WAY way overdue.

Date: October 6, 2012 (Happy birthday to meee!)

First Song: Kelly and Danny sang (and played on their guitars) “You Swept Me Away” by the Avett Brothers

Kelly’s Occupation: Professor at ECU

Danny’s Occupation: US Postman

How You Met: We met at brunch at Buddy’s in Richmond, VA

Interesting Bride Fact: Still convinced she’s marrying Seth Avett

Interesting Groom Fact: Danny’s mustache has a mustache

Honeymoon Destination: Pacific Northwest camping road trip

Ceremony and Reception Location: Pelican’s Landing // Corolla, NC Outer Banks

Officiant: Rev. Shirley Anne

DJ: DJ Bruce Jones

Florist: Bells and Whistles

Cake: Petite Sweets by Mary Lou Schomburg

Caterer: Costal Provisions Market

Hair/Makeup: Salon Blonde // Greenville, NC

Coordinator: A Premiere Event // Heather Clark

Tent: Sperry Tent by Skyline Tent Company // Charlottesville, VA

It’s always risky when you don’t meet clients prior to booking them. We really like to like our clients and we really want people we get along with and who have the same ideas and visions that we do. But sometimes our clients live in different states or Skyping doesn’t work out due to scheduling and we end up booking them anyway. Lindsey and Mark asked for a lot of referrals and I gave them the names of a bunch of past clients and we talked at length about their wedding, pretty much unaware of the ton of other things we have in common, and a ton of other reasons why Geoff and I would end up loving them so much. The first time we got a glimpse into their awesomeness was their idea for their engagement session, and the phone consult leading up to the session where Mark and I ended up taking about television shows for way too long. After I got off the phone Geoff looked at his watch and said, “So I guess they’re pretty cool then.” Yep.

Their engagement session was awesome and freezing and their wedding was awesome and 112 degrees. I asked Lindsey the night before if she wanted to take pictures inside the barn. She said no. I asked, “Now – are you going to grin and bear it or complain a lot but I shouldn’t take it personally?” She said, “Oh I’ll complain a lot, but don’t take it personally.” They didn’t complain at all. At one point she did say that she felt like she was going to pass out (so we went in, obviously), but they put up with the heat and a potential snake in the barn all while carrying a heavy lace dress and wearing heels. And not once did they make fun of us for being completely soaked. I’m not really sure why we don’t bring kiddie pools with us to weddings because we end up looking like we were in a pool anyway… only we weren’t and it’s freaking hot here.

Anyway – their wedding had adorable details, one of the most talented florists we’ve had the pleasure of working with, a Tom Petty first dance, and tons of help from family and friends for the food, cake, music, and everything. I love weddings like this.

First Dance Song: ”We Were Built to Last” – Tom Petty

Lindsey’s Occupation: Assistant Front Office Manager

Mark’s Occupation: English Teacher

How You Met: First in our high school English class, but we never really hit it off. Then again in college after a mutual friend invited us both to the same get together.

Interesting Fact About Lindsey: Lindsey has the most eclectic music taste of anybody. Ever. Thanks Dad for a childhood filled with everything from Dusty Springfield to Alice in Chains.

Interesting Fact About Mark: Mark is a high school teacher by day, and a musician by night. He is in a rock/rap trio called T Minus 9.

Honeymoon Destination: It’s a surprise! Details are being completely withheld from both the bride and the groom.

Date: June 30,2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Fair Barn // Pinehurst, NC

Florist: Aldena Frye Design

Officiant: Rev. Darlene Liedig

Other: Lindsey says… “This wedding was DIY in quite a few ways. We could not have pulled it off without the help of many friends. Special thanks to our Best Man – Brent, Bridesmaid – Cassandra, and Family Friend Jack  for providing their talents and time!”

**Editing Note: After threatening to start doing this several months ago but never actually doing it, I am finally scaling down my post sizes. They reached a ridiculous 100-150+ pictures per wedding post a few weddings back, and I finally came to the painful realization that I have a culling problem. So starting now, I am attempting between 40-50 pictures per wedding post, and about 15 pictures per everything else. Basically, I want to put my very, very favorites of the wedding in the post instead of including everything little tiny thing so the rest of the world doesn’t start spacing out about halfway through the post. :) Don’t worry – this doesn’t involve cutting the number of actual pictures the client receives. Okay! End editing note.**

The sailors say, “Brandy! You’re a fine girl! (Such a fiiiiiine girl!) What a good wife you would be! (Such a fiiiiiine girl!)”

Brandy, our fine fine girl, now gets a chance to live up to everything the sailors apparently told her. But Andrew isn’t a sailor, so I think it’s going to work out just fine. :)

This was a very emotional wedding with the highest percentage of family crying pictures we’ve ever taken. They cried at the rehearsal. They cried at the rehearsal dinner. And continued crying all day (not pictured in this blog post: like, a bajillion more pictures of people crying). And I, as someone who does not cry at weddings, found myself tearing up on several occasions and thinking, “What are these people doing to me?” I think it might be contagious. Both of these families have a crazy, crazy love for each other that is just the sweetest thing, and they way they all came together for Brandy and Andrew was amazing. And what was even more amazing was that Brandy and Andrew hated each other when they first met… and it took a few months of hating, but slowly turned into that super embarrassing realization that you just may have a crush on that person you’re still trying to hate (although you don’t remember why). Thankfully they both realized that they came to that conclusion at the same time and everything ended up fine and now they’re married and it’s all good. Andrew can now pretend to like Harry Potter for Brandy’s sake, and Brandy has enthusiastically accepted all of Andrew’s crazy buddies.

We were so thrilled to shoot this wedding for them, and we’ve loved getting to know Andrew. Brandy and I were friends in high school and went through show choir and drama together for 3 years (she was a grade below me) and I was very honored to be asked to be her photographer and incredibly excited to meet Andrew, who is everything that I thought he would be (Brandy is perhaps the sweetest and nicest person ever, and she has found her equally sweet and nice counterpart with the exception of the disagreement on Harry Potter). Geoff and I are also super pumped to be reunited with Brandy, Andrew, and one half of these incredible families in September for Andrew’s sister Christina’s wedding (you may recognize her and Steven in a few of the shots). I’ll bring tissue holster for my belt this time.

 

First Dance Song: “Unchained Melody” – The Righteous Brothers

Bride’s Occupation: Faculty Services Representative for Person Publishing

Groom’s Occupation: Interior Engineer for Honda Research and Design Americas

How You Met: Working at a restaurant, Johnny Rockets

Interesting Bride Fact: Has a Harry Potter tattoo

Interesting Groom Fact: Played the trumpet as a kid

Honeymoon Destination: Cruise to Jamaica, Haiti, and Cozumel

Date: June 16, 2012 (happy birthday, Carolyn’s dad!)

Ceremony Venue: St. Joseph’s Parish // O’Hara Township, PA

Reception Venue: Syria Mosque // Cheswick, PA

Officiant: Father Thom Miller

DJ: Martin Morgan

Florist: Bridal Blooms

Cake: Moio’s Bakery

Caterer: Stratwood Catering

Hair: Chris Murdock

Videographer: Willow Productions