Abby+Steve’s Day After Session

Crunched for time on your wedding day or trying to keep wandering vagrants out of your shots in Moore Square? We have the perfect solution.

Ta-da! Abby and Steve’s Day After session. Remember when they got married? Instead of an engagement session, they went with the day-after session. They knew they’d be decently crunched for time on their day, but also they wanted to go to some slightly more eccentric locations and do some more dramatic type of shots. We had about 15 minutes with them on their wedding day, which isn’t a whole lot when you’re walking around from place to place, so we’re glad they did it. They also had their wedding around noon, so having the day after session in the evening gave them a totally different look in the photos. We love them, and we love Abby and Steve and their wildness and fun selves.

And I have never seen anyone who could make such a crazy face in my entire life. You’ll know it when you see it. Craziest face ever. She said she had always wanted to “capture it on film”… so Abby, your dream has come true!

Kelsey+Drew Get Married at the Carolina Inn

Kelsey and Drew are going to have the luckiest marriage ever if the sideways rain at their wedding was any indication… and I think it was. Also, they were married on Cinco de Mayo which I’m SURE must be good luck somehow… or at least indicates that your marriage will be filled with excellent Mexican take-out (which, in my opinion, is good luck).

These guys are awfully sweet and wonderful, as evidenced by how many people love them and how they got their grandmother and me gluten-free cupcakes to eat for dessert. :) We hit it off right away at our first consult, and have had a wonderful wedding-planning courtship for the past year or so. I told Geoff, “What am I going to do when Kelsey is married?!” because we e-mail each other a lot. Drew asked Kelsey, “What, does she just sit at the computer waiting for our e-mails?” and the answer is yes… yes, I do. Apparently, I’m in safe hands because she specifically e-mailed me from their honeymoon in Costa Rica this week to assure me that she would not stop e-mailing me.

Drew moved to North Carolina for Kelsey and I hope that they stay because we love them and their furry dog-child, Miley. Miley was a big part of their engagement pictures and joined them again for some wedding pictures on the front porch of the Carolina Inn before the rain became too sideways. She’s very thrilled that her parents are finally officially married but is jealous that she did not get to accompany them to Costa Rica (she is e-mailing me in your place while you’re gone, Kelsey).

So congratulations to the wonderful Kelsey and Drew… and may your wedding have all the good luck in the world and excellent Mexican take-out!

First Dance: “Moondance” – Van Morrison

How You Met: Through friends

Interesting Bride Fact: Has a soft spot for any and all children

Interesting Groom Fact: Is awful handy – no wonder I keep him around :)

Honeymoon Destination: Costa Rica

Date: May 5, 2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Carolina Inn // Chapel Hill, NC

Wedding Planner + Flowers: C&D Events

Officiant: Reverend Carl Johnson

DJ: Jon Fowler

Cake: Rhonda Mullen

Caterer: The Carolina Inn

Hair: Dani

Makeup: Michelle Clark

Becky+Jake’s really rad wedding at CAM Raleigh

What makes me so happy with this wedding is how happy Becky looks. Not that she’s not happy or anything like that, but that I remember when we first met Becky and Jake and we basically discussed how bad she hated having her picture taken. According to them, she’d freeze up. The whole deer-in-headlights deal. And I’ve loved seeing how, over time, Becky has been able to completely ignore me. I can see where that wouldn’t be a normal person’s goal… to get someone to ignore you… but it’s awesome when you go from an initial meeting of, “Becky really hates having her picture taken” to Becky running around the city smiling and laughing and not worrying about me jumping out at her from the bushes.

Becky and Jake are those really cool clients that you hope to get but that secretly make you nervous at the same time because they’re really cool and you sometimes feel like maybe your level of cool won’t live up to their standards of cool, you know? I also remember at the first meeting that Jake told me that he didn’t “just want wedding pictures, we want art.” And I thought OKAY WE CAN DO THIS DEEEEEEP BREATTHSSS. And I hope we did. I think we did. To me, the pictures reflect how the two of them are perfectly suited to each other’s quirkiness… and how they not only make a gorgeous couple, but how they’re just so ridiculously right for each other. They’re the type where, if you were friends with Jake, you’d be more than happy to now welcome Becky along to every previously-Jake-only activities and vice versa. They’re kind of infectiously awesome like that. And we like them a whole bunch. I hope these pictures are as cool to you guys as they seem to us. This wedding was rad… and our second time shooting this year and ever at CAM Raleigh where I think I might just set up a tent in the back and live if that’s okay with the staff. Thanks in advance!

So normally I don’t interrupt posts like this, but I thought this was so cool that I had to point it out because it’s tiny so it’s easily missed. But that bird below that flew over the ceremony that Geoff so awesomely caught just happened to be their wedding colors. WEIRD. Thanks, bird!

First Dance: “Take Care” – Beach House

Bride’s Occupation: Lab Manager at NCSU and also part-time doctoral graduate student in Microbiology at NCSU

Groom’s Occupation: Senior Software Architect at IBM

How You Met: The internets! Online dating site called OKCupid.com – we owe them our firstborn :)

Interesting Bride Fact: Is ALWAYS 5 minutes early to everything…

Interesting Groom Fact: Is ALWAYS 5 minutes early to everything… and purposely arrived 5 minutes LATE to their first date – on a Monday, at a restaurant that, as it turns out, is closed on Mondays – leaving Becky wondering if she had been stood up.

Honeymoon Destination: Dominican Republic

Date: April 28, 2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: CAM Raleigh // Raleigh, NC

Wedding Planner: Grace Leisure Events

Officiant: Jonathan Prinz

DJ: Frank Meldau of Joe Bunn DJ Company

Florist: John Griffin with Themeworks

Cake: Once in a Blue Moon Bakery

Caterer: Posh Nosh

Hair: Dana Hunter at Alter Ego Salon

Makeup: Belle Trachtenberg at Alter Ego Salon