Victoria and Ben are the bee’s knees, especially considering they got married on a July day with zero rain in the forecast, and then it POURED for the one hour that we were supposed to take pictures (no rain at all besides that single hour). Not even the kind-of-raining rain, but like, unshootable-levels of rain. Thankfully The Cookery has a badass bridal suite now that we were able to hunker down in for their newlywed shots! No complaints from Victoria or Ben, who had liquor nearby but, most importantly, each other. ;) Victoria reminds me of a brunette version of Taylor Swift, but she also gets told that she looks like a young Neve Campbell and that’s also very true. I think Geoff and I thought of at least three other attractive women she looks like during the evening, so I’d say she has a lot of good celebrity comparisons. She is adorable and spunky and also an upcoming author which I am SO excited about! She has a young adult book coming up next year which is going to kick all the ass and take all the names. And right beside this incredibly intelligent and creative woman is her equally intelligent and creative partner Ben, who’s a doctor who enjoys music and literature alongside Victoria (particularly Russian literature? but also they love Harry Potter? so I think they enjoy a wide variety of genres).

For their wedding, they were surrounded by their lovely family and friends (one of whom was a bridesmaid who I had as another bridesmaid before, and who we also run into at every Star Wars movie premiere). The best part about the bridesmaids is that their skirts contained a lot of tulle, and they enjoyed putting said tulle over their faces to pretend they were ghosts. They were my favorites. They’d also do this on command, as well as fluff out their tulle to protect Victoria anytime you said, “BRIDESMAIDS, ACTIVATE!” I feel like I need each and every one of these ladies in my life to protect me with their tulle anytime I run into someone I don’t want to see, or when someone strikes up a conversation with me in line at the Post Office. Besides having great bridesmaids (and groomsmen!), Victoria and Ben’s wedding had absolutely gorgeous details – from their Harry Potter themed wedding table numbers to their plastic dinosaurs and vintage purses. It was perfectly them, and very cozy. They decided to have their ceremony inside since it was so hot, and with everything indoors in The Cookery’s warm and dark interior, it did remind us a bit of what Harry Potter wedding venues must be like.

Date: July 29, 2018
Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Cookery // Durham, NC
First Dance Song: “Love” – Lana Del Rey
Ben’s Occupation: Internal Medicine Physician
Victoria’s Occupation: Experimental Psychologist and professional novelist
How You Met: OKCupid, over Rachmaninoff! irl? A coffee shop in Iowa City.
Interesting Fact: The first book we read together (for Valentine’s Day!) was the Kruetzer Sonata by Tolstoy, which is about a man who kills his wife because he’s jealous about her relationship with her music teacher.
Honeymoon: Banff National Park in Canada
Officiant: Dr. Garry Crites
DJ: Jess Dilday (DJ PlayPlay)
Florist: Michelle Duncan (Embellished Blooms)
Cake: Cailey (Sugarland Chapel Hill)
Caterer: Jacob Boehm (Snap Pea Catering)
Hair: Gina (Bella Capelli Salon)
Makeup: Sharon Davis Makeup
Coordinator: Sabrina Seymore Events

Ahh, the annual culmination of embarrassing photos of ourselves all in one place. We look terrible or confused or hangry, and are occasionally seen straddling logs in the middle of streams or getting caught in gym equipment. We are always, always, always pointing out in vague directions, gesticulating wildly, or petting dogs. I also decided to add an always-smooth-looking fannypack to my arsenal of wearable camera gear this year, so now I look like I’m ready for a week long trek in the wilderness after I’m done rock climbing. Not pictured this year: multiple pictures of Geoff eating wedding cake. I don’t know why. Maybe because I was able to eat more cake this year than ever before due to my gluten-free wedding guest brethren, so I was also busy eating cake at the same time? Either way, a disturbing lack of pictures of Geoff eating. I’ll work on that for next year. To make up for it, there is a picture of the Virginia Tech mascot hugging him against his will. Enjoy the stupid expressions and awkwardness of it all. To all of you who worry about how you’ll look in your pictures, we promise it won’t be this bad.

The “Making Fools of Ourselves” posts started in 2011 at the end of our Class of 2011 post. Here’s a look at younger versions of us:

2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011

Winter weddings are always so lovely and this one was no exception. Elizabeth and Catherine, whom you may remember from their engagement session last spring, were married during a late morning ceremony at The Cotton Room in Durham in December. Their old rugby coach officiated, and they were surrounded by family, friends, and just a little bit of snow. :) It’s pretty rare to snow around here, and even more rare to snow during the day (for some reason our snow frequently comes in at night). Oftentimes the snow is actually ice. This snow consisted of large, puffy, beautiful flakes that added a bit of magic to the day, even though the snow didn’t stick. It nicely complemented the gorgeous winter decor of lit trees and candles and it all felt very warm and fuzzy.

Elizabeth and Catherine did a first look that they were so excited for after keeping everything about their outfits secret from each other for months. They also gave out adorable T-Rex and Narwhal printed glasses as their wedding favors that I’ve been drinking from ever since (I wash it in between drinks, don’t worry). The placecards were little pieces of round wood that Elizabeth engraved by hand, and everywhere you turned there were adorable pictures of them as children (these are my favorite things to look at during weddings). They had a lovely wedding and have a lovely marriage, and we couldn’t be more excited to see these two wonderful people get married. Congrats, Elizabeth and Catherine! We couldn’t have ended our 2017 season on a better note.

– Date: December 9, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Cotton Room // Durham, NC
– First Dance Song: “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers
– Catherine’s Occupation: Community Organizing (State Director)
– Elizabeth’s Occupation: IT Audit (Manager IT Audit, Data Governance)
– How You Met: Rugby!
– Interesting Fact: We have Broadway season tickets at DPAC as Catherine is an avid Broadway fan. E does crossfit and talks about it incessantly. Catherine likes to take long silent bike rides alone while listening to podcasts about TV. We are also huge wine fans and are taking a wine tour in Spain!
– Honeymoon: Spain
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Sarah Deane // DJ – Ali Kaba // Florist – Petal & Oak // Cake – Cinda’s Creative Cakes // Caterer – The Cotton Room // Hair+Makeup – Evanna Coe & Jennifer Panther // Coordinator – Ari Ball