Courtney+Seth // Saxapahaw, NC Wedding

We’ve only known Courtney and Seth for a short period of time, but in that time we’ve experienced the happiness of shared ice cream, the fear of trying to rescue Courtney’s lost glasses from somewhere in the Durham Bulls stadium during a crazy thunderstorm, and the joy of having your chips and salsa delivered to your restaurant table via a choo-choo train. What better experiences could you have with new friends? Seth has a beard and likes baseball like Geoff. Courtney prefers animals over humans like Carolyn. None of us like disco ball lights when they cast spinning shadows on the wall and ground. They’re definitely keepers.

Courtney and Seth’s wedding was at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, NC on a gorgeous September day! It was supposed to rain, but it didn’t, and Courtney put on her wedding dress outside. She met Seth down by the river for their first look and portraits. Some wildflowers were picked and stuck behind ears. Some sparkly shoes stepped on some crunchy leaves. There were a lot of thorns and mosquitos and slimy rocks and possibly poison ivy, all of which were navigated without care or worry… until the mosquitos started swarming and outnumbered us and too much blood was spilled. :) Then we went back to the Ballroom and had a good ‘ole time partying with their family and friends. Seth got on stage and played a set with some jam buddies from separate parts of his life who had literally just met each other the day before and practiced the morning of the wedding. They played a one hour set that was better than several bands we’ve paid to see, and a bride touring the ballroom asked someone if she could hire them for her wedding band (I think that was during one of the amazing 90s covers). We love you, Courtney and Seth… here’s to more chip-delivery-trains in our future!

Date: September 13, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Haw River Ballroom // Saxapahaw, NC

First Dance Song: “Ain’t it Enough” – Old Crow Medicine Show

Courtney’s Occupation: Health/Nutrition Specialist for Head Start/Early Head Start

Seth’s Occupation: High School History Teacher

How You Met: As friends in college

Interesting Fact: We had an epic prank war in college.  Seth (and Zach who is a groomsman now) beat the heck out of me and Hannah (bridesmaid). :)

Honeymoon Destination: Backpacking in Colorado

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Daniel Wilkers and Rev. Bill Sosebee | MC – Stratton Lawrence | Florist – McAdams Farm | Pie – Saxaphaw Baking Company | Caterer – Saxaphaw General Store | Hair/Makeup – Christen | Coordinator – Heather Cook of Shind!gs Events

Megan+Ben’s Wedding at Mosteller Mansion

Megan and Ben! We were super happy to meet these guys and work with them on their wedding. We Skyped originally, so it was great finally meeting them in person! I fell instantly in love with the infectiousness of Megan’s happiness that refused to waiver all day, despite it thundering loudly during their ceremony and threatening to pour (it did, but only just before pictures were done, so we just about got away with it). This girl is happy as can possibly be, has a giant smile, and equally happy friends with equally giant smiles, as well as family helpers and literally everyone else there. Ben is equally as happy as the rest of them, only he’s a lot taller than Megan, so his happiness isn’t as compact and intense because it has to spread out over a much larger area.

Their wedding venue was a mansion built by a husband for his wife shortly before she passed away. There were varying rumors on when it was built, and I can’t find much evidence either way online, but I can say that it’s amazing. It has awesome woodwork and cabinetry and stained glass. And then there’s the tile. In one of the bathrooms, there’s an entire equestrian scene complete with German Shepherds and ducks hand-painted on the tile for the tub. In another bathroom, there are literally hundreds of hand-painted tile depicting sort of an Egyptian-dessert theme (camels, strange tropical birds, people with shepherd’s hooks). We were told it might be haunted which would’ve been pretty neat (or terrifying), but we did have a fantastic time seeing the different rooms of the house (which, now a wedding venue, was also a restaurant at one time, and a few other things as well… so it’s had an interesting life so far). Enjoy the pictures of Megan and Ben’s awesome wedding! We were so happy to be there with you all!

Date: September 6, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Mosteller Mansion // Hickory, NC

First Dance Song: “You Are the Best Thing” – Ray LaMontagne

Megan’s Occupation: Patient Care Coordinator at MY Dentists

Ben’s Occupation: Sales for Time Warner Cable Business Class

How You Met: Match.com

Interesting Fact: Ben and Megan both admit to being mildly addicted to tacos.

Honeymoon Destination: Ti Kaye Resort, St. Lucia

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Margie Boyd | DJ – Jerry Laney of Music and Dance To-Go | Florist – Phyllis Furr (friend of the Bride’s Mom) | Caterer – Chuck Spaller of Mosteller Mansion | Cake – Amy Murphy of Cakes by Amy | Hair – Sparkles Hill | Makeup – Jenny Le of Sweet Southern Glam | Coordinator – Mary Middleton (friend)

Deb+Carey’s Wedding at the Rand-Bryan House

Deb and Carey’s initial e-mail to us simply said this: “Photograph our wedding & help fight off the Walkers if they attack the farm.”

Obviously we loved them right away and were thankful that someone was able to discern from our website how awesome we are at fighting the undead. Thankfully we didn’t need to use our zombie-fighting training techniques that we skillfully honed up all the way to their wedding on their actual wedding day, but we were certainly prepared and absolutely willing to accept the task head on. Unfortunately, while there weren’t zombies, there were an outrageous amount of grasshoppers. And while we love grasshoppers dearly (we actually do), they were magnetically drawn to Deb’s dress and a lot of them ended up inside the tulle. So while we didn’t need to spend our time fighting zombies, we did spend a lot of our time trying to carefully save grasshoppers from Deb’s dress (and save Deb from the grasshoppers). The wildlife at the house loved her (see bee attacking picture below) and we can’t blame them because she looked amazing and they can DANCE!

We always envy people who can actually dance since Geoff and I shuffled around in about a 3×3 square for our first dance, so anything more than shuffling is super impressive to us. But Deb and Carey met at swing dancing class and can actually dance. Like, really, really dance. Like, twirling around all over the place and Carolyn ducking for cover by a table so she doesn’t get kicked in the face kind of dancing. And so could almost everyone else at their wedding. It was like a crazy swing dancing convention. And then there were mini donuts! And milk! I’ve never sat down at a reception before and just drank a carton of milk, but I totally did at this wedding, and it was good. We love Deb and Carey and give them a big warm and fuzzy congratulations and thank them so much for allowing us to be part of their wedding and lives! (P.S. Yes, their cake topper is a cake topper inception).

Date: September 7, 2013

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Rand-Bryan House // Garner, NC

First Dance Song: “My Blue Heaven” – Frank Sinatra

How You Met: Swing dance class

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Richard Salsman, ordained specifically to marry us :) | DJ – Bill Baucom | Florist, Cake, Caterer, and Coordinator – Catering Works | Hair/Makeup – Makeup for Your Day