ahhhh, the day was finally here. :) tamyra and darius married at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in raleigh on june 26, 2010.

back when i met tamyra and darius in the fall, i started looking forward to their wedding. they were so fun, outgoing, and creative at the consult that i knew their wedding would be a blast, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! i started looking forward to it even more when i did their engagement session and had an amazing amount of fun. note: i love engagement sessions for this fact: i really feel like i already know you by your wedding day and you don’t feel awkward anymore having me follow you around with a camera. :)

so they’re a genuinely super nice couple who are hilarious and loving at the same time…perfect to photograph. i knew their wedding day would be simultaneously full of love and shenanigans at the same time…which it was. :)

we’ll start with some getting ready shots!

geoff’s view:

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

https://www.carolynscottphotography.com/2010/03/25/raleigh-engagement-photographer-tamyra-and-darius/

my view:

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

seriously…women would kill for these eyebrows:

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

tamyra is READY! love that look of determination.

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

think she liked the bouquet? :)

raleigh wedding photographer

seriously…not a more chill, laid back, but also hilarious group of guys can be found. not only were all of the groomsmen super nice, pleasant, and easy to work with, they also struck unusual poses for me throughout the day and kept me on my toes.

raleigh wedding photographer

CSP on the big screen! :) their church had two screens projecting the slideshow from their engagement session with yours truly while the guests walked in until the ceremony started. super cute!! i know i was impressed. :) pictured here below with the super colorful and beautiful bouquet!

orange, black and pink bouquet

the colors for their wedding were pink, orange, green, and black and it ROCKED! and i was asked to wear green which is great, because i’m usually dressed in all black…and bold colors shake things up a bit. :)

upper room church of god in christ wedding raleigh

check out that alter!! so cool. what a neat way to personalize your ceremony.

upper room church of god in christ wedding

not only did they use gelled yellow and pink stage lights for their alter, they lit their reception with them. on top of THAT, their reception was in the gym of the school next door which was just really neat, period. and i’ve got to hand it to demitrius of creative touch designs who did their flowers, decorations, and so much more for putting together a totally kick-butt wedding. i seriously felt like i walked into some sort of hollywood party for their reception.

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

really, though, i loved these guys!

groomsmen

first dance

raleigh wedding photographer

neat groom’s ring!

first dance

wedding toasts

i’ve been getting a lot of amazing garter toss sequences lately, but this one is amazing. darius launches it and wait for it…wait for it…

garter toss

garter toss

and caught! by the little dude totally not even seen in the original garter tossing picture. the little man came out of nowhere and totally snatched it. LOVE the look on his face below…where you can tell he knows he did something totally cool, but isn’t quite sure what it was.

ring bearer

raleigh wedding photographer

caught a few of tamyra and darius waiting for the limo at the end of the day. :)

raleigh wedding groom

favorite!! she’s gorgeous. :)

raleigh wedding bride

raleigh wedding photographer

congratulations, you two! we loved it loved it loved it!

again i’ll say it – there is nothing better than photographing the wedding of a friend.

melissa and i met when we used to teach elementary school in creedmoor, nc. she taught first grade, i taught second. we loved kids, but ended up despising teaching in the public school system and eventually we both quit around the same time to pursue different paths. i went into photography and melissa, very much in tune with nature, farming, and her religion, moved to virginia to begin an intentional community on a farm in the mountains near lynchburg. she was starting this new life with her friends from the area and her boyfriend, chris. they both attended classes to further their education on their ideal community and longed for a day when they could begin the journey together for good, as they were frequently separated by state and county lines.

last weekend, they began their full life together and geoff and i traveled to virginia to photograph their wedding. :)

like i said, they are very earthy and do-it-yourself, not to mention incredibly creative, lovely people. the pictures below will vouch for their total awesomeness and the love and support of their family and friends. they did the entire wedding themselves, using only their friends and family to make everything. it was truly amazing and shows just how much you can accomplish when you enlist the help of people you know.

raleigh wedding photographer

melissa, being the super crafty previous-elementary-school-teacher that she is, did a ton of the details. she also made her own wedding dress because she is an amazing seamstress who makes a ton of her own clothes, of which i’ve been perpetually jealous.

raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer

melissa and chris received a cabin in the woods for their wedding present. can you get a better wedding present than that!? i found this book sitting on the bookshelf in the house on the farm and found it fitting for a shot. :)

farm wedding raleigh wedding photographer farm wedding carolyn scott photography

no farm wedding is complete without chickens. you have no idea how excited i was when i found out that there would be a chicken coop on the ceremony grounds!

farm wedding farm wedding farm wedding invitations

all the girls making food for the wedding in the kitchen. no AC here, folks! they were more used to it than i was, so i was pretty much running around sweating buckets. :)

raleigh wedding photographer

i’m loving the use of mason jars in weddings recently. i’ve always loved the look of them. to the right is the back of melissa’s dress with the tiny buttons. :)

raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer

melissa’s little sister sam working on her hair. they are both equally adorable and incredibly alike. i pretty much felt like i already knew sam and they both have the same laugh. sisters are great!

raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer

her dad bought her this necklace for the wedding and i found this book sitting on the nightstand. and as melissa is truly a “daughter of the land”, i figured i’d put dad’s necklace by it for a shot. :) i love it – one of my favorites of the day.

farm wedding

and here is dad, putting the necklace on his girl!

farm wedding raleigh wedding photographer farm wedding

obviously i don’t have to sit here and tell you how gorgeous melissa is and how i’d probably just follow her around all day with a camera and take pictures of her if she’d let me, but i’ll tell you anyway: she is gorgeous.

raleigh wedding photographer family portraits

and what an adorable groom we have!! the look on chris’s face to the right is so cute!

farm wedding ceremony

annnnd beam of sunlight from out of nowhere shining on the wedding ceremony GO!!! thank youuuu, nature. :) pulling through yet again.

farm wedding ceremony farm wedding ceremony raleigh wedding photographer

yes, those are candles in the trees you’re seeing. :) they were married in the early evening and, after the ceremony, guests cleared out the chairs and replaced them with tables. the entire reception was in the same spot at the ceremony and lit entirely by moonlight and candles in the trees. it was absolutely beauuuuutiful.

farm wedding ceremony farm wedding ceremony raleigh wedding photographer first kiss raleigh wedding photographer wedding toasts

raleigh wedding photographer

melissa and her sister holding hands. :)

wedding reception wedding reception north carolina wedding photographer

i was even more excited to hear about the rusty truck than i was about the chickens. i never apply vintage-y effects to anything, but i did in this portrait because i thought it fit.

farm wedding photography carolyn scott photography

and the following, ladies and gentlemen, is the result of giving your photographer lots of time to walk around with just the two of you to take photographs at your wedding. it’s totally, totally worth the twenty minutes or so it takes. i am so in love with every one of these.

raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer raleigh wedding photographer carolyn scott photography

i absolutely LOVE THIS! and it was all melissa’s idea. :) they wanted to recreate american gothic and so we did our own spin on it. their expressions are dead on and it’s just about the greatest thing i’ve ever seen. and then, to kick off the reception, was the appalachian folk trio. yesss!

raleigh wedding photographer

raleigh wedding photographer

and then it proceeded to get dark very, very quickly in the mountains and the woods. :) but we still got our groove on with the folk trio!

farm wedding reception

congratulations, melissa and chris. i love you both very much and was so, so happy to be there with you on your wedding. :) hope to see you in october, friends!

*like it? leave some love in the comments!