this wedding is total proof that november weddings are awesome and should not be dismissed as cold or dreary! cortney and james, two super nice and wonderful people, met in chiropractic school and are soon opening up their own business in durham. when i first met them to discuss their wedding, cortney and i found out that we grew up and went to school not too far from each other in pittsburgh and that she went to high school with geoff’s best man for our own wedding! small world!  they are two of the sweetest people i’ve ever met and had great families and friends (i was very popular with the pittsburgh side of the family). ;) they had a beautiful wedding day with the temperature in the low 70s and the leaves just starting to change. their vendors were also fabulous! and, to start making things easier to read, i’m going to begin listing the vendors and their links below to make things a little easier on the eyes.

date: november 13, 2010

venue: 1705 prime

hair: citrine salon

hotel: renaissance by marriot, north hills

cake: sweet memories bakery

flowers: julie liles floral and event design

dj: greg ramsey of the joe bunn dj company

officiant: reverend barbara lodge

musician: harpist elizabeth munch

citrine salon chapel hill

geoff, being a good assistant by sitting on the couch in hair salons on his phone. ;)

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gotta have the jimmy john’s!!

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cortney and james opted to see each other before the ceremony, or have “first look” pictures. their ceremony was late in the day and the sun set directly afterwards, so it was a great choice to get pictures in before the sun set. also, it helps calm the nerves to see each other beforehand and makes for a much more relaxed day!

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hahaha this picture cracks me up every time i see it. cortney’s, “soo, what do you think??” pose. she was GORGEOUS! she wore a flower in her hair taken from her mother’s wedding day hat and had a beautiful dress that fit her style so well. and i can’t compliment the flowers enough… but maybe that’s because i pretty much had the same ones! ;) so beautiful and perfect for their day.

first look wedding photographs

we had a super handsome and sweet group of gentlemen.

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and look at these good looking ladies!!

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i am so in love with the following series of couple shots that i feel the need to emphasize how awesome november is for weddings.

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cortney is so pretty and james is super handsome and together they will make the most attractive team of chiropractors ever!

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1705 prime is one of the best wedding venues in the raleigh area, in my humble opinion. the outside is very southern/old school while the inside is very modern/hip and the food is delicious and wonderful. their staff and wedding coordinator was nothing but fabulous. we have a great time every time we shoot there. we’ll be returning in february for another wedding and i’m definitely looking forward to it.

1705 prime wedding wedding guests

rev. lodge married us in october and we had a nice little reunion. :)

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raleigh wedding photographer

the mother of the groom, left, made the fantastic cookies seen on the right for the couple’s cookie table. for those of you who don’t know, it is standard pittsburgh tradition to have a cookie table at your wedding. this doesn’t take the place of the cake, but it’s more like a candy bar sort of thing. if you get married in pittsburgh, you must have cookies. that’s pretty much all i can tell you in terms of history/significance, haha. anyway, the “best cookie ever” was a delicious gluten free cookie that i could actually eat! and it really was the best cookie ever –  i chowed down on these all night!

mother son dance

cortney’s parents moved to raleigh, but her dad still operates his own chiropractor business back in pittsburgh 3 days a week. he was hilarious!! we had a great time talking about the ‘burgh and making fun of geoff for going to valley high school. booo vikings! ;)

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oh hey! it’s just me, your photographer, in your photo booth.

joe bunn dj company photobooth

wedding reception

1705 prime wedding

congratulations and much love to cortney and james for having a beautiful wedding with great friends and family! best of luck in life and your business!

kelsey and adam’s wedding date finally came! you may remember the adorable couple from their engagement shoot with their daughter, emma grace. kelsey and i have been facebook chatting it up over the last couple of months and we were so excited for our weddings which are falling a few days apart (mine is coming up in a few days!). i love the bond that you can build with clients and that lovely point where clients become friends. :) kelsey and adam are definitely that – my friends as well as a beautiful couple who has a wonderful group of family and friends. they thankfully had a warm, dry, sunny day on october 9th when they were married in pinehurst, nc. enjoy!

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had to get a shot of the mother/daughter wedding dresses. :) emma grace’s tiny dress was just too cute! we hung it in the same place as mom’s as a surprise… we thought kelsey would enjoy the side-by-side pics. :)

mother and daughter wedding dresses bride getting ready with perfume bridal veil

first look pictures are becoming very popular for several reasons: 1.) you get ALL of the nervous jitters out of the way so you’re both relaxed for the ceremony 2.) extra time for pictures! 3.) your better half actually gets to tell you what they think about what you’re wearing instead of smiling at you in silence then turning to do the ceremony 4.) you get to express your love for each other in a very genuine way before the ceremony and all-day ruckus begins 5.) they make ADORABLE pictures!

i highly recommend going with the first look pictures. we’re doing it for our wedding because we don’t want a cocktail hour, and i’d love to get pictures beforehand for time, so geoff and i can talk about the dress, and so i can concentrate on actually walking down the aisle (which is stairs!) instead of trying to see what geoff’s expression is. :) if you don’t trust me about first look pictures yet, just look at how adorable kelsey and adam’s are! he was sooo nervous to see her, which made it even more adorable.

first look

he has such a sweet expression on his face. :) such a lovely set of pictures!

first look first look pictures

then we got all of THIS out of the way before the ceremony! it was an easy, low-stress day. love it. the bridesmaids wore sangria colored dresses with the groomsmen in matching ties.

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kelsey’s bro walked her down the aisle and into the sunny ceremony. it was bright! it made the pictures look very fall-esque though and i’m digging them. :)

southern pines wedding ceremony

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southern pines wedding ceremony

two-sided first kiss! thanks to geoff for getting the one on the left. :)

first kiss

i’m in love with this ring shot. i’m in love with her ring!

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emma grace making her tiny debut for the second time on the CSP blog. :)

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they had an intimate reception back at kelsey’s mom’s house which was very relaxed and fun. a nice break for my back and feet from a crowded dance floor! sometimes it’s good to switch things up a bit. :)

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wedding dog

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outdoor wedding reception

thank you, kelsey and adam, for entrusting me with your pictures, which i know are very important to you. you have been amazing to work with all this time and i look forward to seeing you in raleigh soon! :) congratulations!!

out of raleigh and back in pittsburgh on august 28th for nicole and luke’s wedding. :) this was a cool wedding to do seeing as how i went to high school with luke and how i’ve known his older brother since my days of braces and extreme hair cuts (ohhh, middle school…you were shameful years, indeed). his brother chris was good friends with my sister and we knew each other through her and various marching band appearances (i told you they were shameful years). anyway, chris was in my sister’s grade a few years ahead of me while luke was a grade younger than me. chris and i have kept in touch via facebook and he’s been following my photography progress since i’ve started. actually, i owe the whole creation of the carolyn scott photography blog to him! it was totally his idea. thanks, chris!

anyway, when luke and nicole got engaged, he recommended me to luke and i ended up booking them for their wedding. :) it was super exciting and awesome to see everyone again and to meet the lovely nicole for the first time (although we’re pretty sure we must’ve met before at some place…sometime…which neither of us can really remember). they had a gorgeous wedding at st. george orthodox church in new kensington, pa while their reception was at the oakmont country club (helloooo nicest golf course in the states!).

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gotta love getting ready in a children’s school. this sign was amazing (it’s the elementary school teacher in me).

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WEDDING FACT: nicole and i chose the same bridesmaid dresses for our girls except hers are purple and mine are black. also – both of our dresses are la sposa – an amaaaazing spanish wedding gown maker. ::high five, nicole!:: we have good taste, what can i say. :)

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nicole is beaaaautiful!

bride getting ready st. george orthodox church wedding

WEDDING IRONY PART ONE: this was the first wedding where i had absolutely no restrictions inside the church whatsoever despite it being the most religious/scared ceremony i’ve ever attended. in fact, i was encouraged and asked to use my flash through the entire ceremony and stand up front with the priests (yes, multiple priests…3 to be exact). i never use my flash during the ceremony, but this church was extremely dark and i did so at the request of the bride. the church was seriously breathtaking and i’ve never been in one like it.

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SWEET WHEELS.

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WEDDING IRONY PART TWO: so usually i have a ton of restrictions placed on me at the church during the ceremony and total free reign at the venue where we usually take the formals. however, this was totally opposite. no restrictions whatsoever at the church… a trillion restrictions at the country club. we were allowed to take pictures in a very limited area of the course due the fact that it’s a very prestigious country club and, as we were told by the man that followed me around to make sure i didn’t break any rules, that a spike from a bridesmaid’s heel could cost the course $4,000. soooo, we obviously followed the rules. :D geoff was also told that he was not allowed to check a voicemail out in the hall, but that he had to go outside for that…which cracked me up. this club is serious stuff!

but what it lacked in freedom it made up for with its gorgeousness, delicious food (or so i hear because i still can’t eat much), and overall coolness because hey – i was at the oakmont country club! NEAT.

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they are a seriously good looking couple!

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this picture never fails to crack me up on chris and his jumping sister. THIS IS FOR YOU, KAIT.

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it was a great wedding that i was so happy to be a part of! it was an honor to be able to photograph such an intimate ceremony and to be able to shoot inside the oakmont country club. :) congratulations to the newlyweds and please keep in touch! and thank you, luke, nicole, and chris, for making this happen!