Lindsey & Mike :: Oriental, North Carolina

Lindsey and Mike had a beautiful waterside ceremony and reception at River Dunes in Oriental, North Carolina. What a great destination for a wedding. River Dunes has the most charming chapel on site that made such a great backdrop for the ceremony site. It was quite a warm day, but luckily we had some rest from the heat by some happy clouds. Let me define happy the clouds: clouds that are big and fluffy that still leave a little room for the sun to peak out every now and then. These “happy” clouds make for beautiful scenery not only for guests but for my pictures!! It seems I have been denies these happy clouds and many a wedding in the past year or so. So, I was very thankful that they finally made an appearance.

The bridal party as well as the courteous staff at River Dunes made for such a wonderful experience. Lindsey and Mike were truly fortunate that we got through the pre-ceremony pictures, ceremony, and post-ceremony pictures before it started raining. It was perfect timing because right as everyone entered the Harbour Club it started pouring down rain.

Congratulations to Mike and Lindsey and a big thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day!

This couple was celebrating their 61st wedding anniversary. How amazing is that?! I was getting a little choked up watching them dance together.

Lindsey :: Bridal Session

Lindsey & Mike were married Saturday at River Dunes in Oriental, North Carolina. I was definitely excited about the location as soon as I drove up! Those images will be coming soon! But for now, I am very excited to share Lindsey’s bridal portraits. The location we chose was in keeping with their waterfront wedding. Lindsey is such a beautiful gal and I just got carried away making pictures…as usual. She did such a great job!

Brittany & Zach :: Morehead City, North Carolina

Brittany and Zach had a beautiful waterside wedding at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, North Carolina. The ceremony site and the ballroom was filled with beach themed details all tied together with a purple and gold color scheme. Brittany and Zach are big ECU fans and had “pirate” themed elements from ECU’s colors, to pirate heads (and we had a pirate hat, patch, and hook at the photo booth…see the post before this one!), to a big ECU entrance to the reception. The bridal party came in cheering with purple and gold pom poms.

Natalie James from “At Ease Bridal” kept everything on schedule and running smooth. (You can find her on facebook too!)

I absolutely loved working with these guys…Thanks Brittany and Zach for asking me to be a part of your wedding!

It was tough narrowing these down because of all the fun details, people and events. So, here are my favs.

I used Photoshop’s Photomerge feature to create this panorama:

 

 

Zach & Brittany’s Photo Booth

I always love it when a couple wants a photo booth at their wedding. And Heather Sullivan, my fabulous assistant who gets to shoot at the photo booth, loves it too. While I was capturing what was happening on the dance floor, Heather was at the photo booth. We switched things up a bit with this photo booth to improve it. We used a white vinyl background, rather than fabric. I was just so tired of trying to get wrinkles out of the background. I’m sure any photographer who has used a fabric background can relate. I purchased a white vinyl (Savage Brand, 8′ wide) from B&H. I wanted the 9′, but it was too tight of a fit in the car. I was definitely pleased by the lack of wrinkles and the classic white worked well with Brittany and Zach’s purple and gold (go Pirates!) color scheme. I painted a couple pieces of wood with chalkboard paint so that their friends could pass on some messages to the bride and groom. I re-purposed an old decorative frame and painted it a goldish yellow to fit into their color scheme. Heather did an awesome photographing at the photo booth…thanks Heather!

Brittany :: Bridal Portraits, Wilmington North Carolina

It’s official, Brittany and Zach are married! I was so happy to be a part of their wedding and will be sharing those images soon! But just a few hints to get you in the mood…shells, purple and gold, pirates, sand… Of course, now that they are married I get to share Brittany’s bridal portraits. I absolutely love doing bridal portraits. I love that the bride is excited to be wearing her dress, I love playing with lighting, and I love the actual picture making process..so much fun! We met up with Brittany in downtown Wilmington just after St. Patty’s Day. The weather was a bit iffy, but it held out for us long enough to do some shooting at Wrightsville Beach as well. Although, on our way to Wrightsville Beach an onslaught of fog moved in. This isn’t always a great thing for portraits, but it ended up giving it a really soft glow in the background. I also broke out the video light (Lowel ID Video Light) for the first time and  had a great time with that. I must say thanks to my wonderful assistant Heather Sullivan for being the best boom stand ever (meaning, she held the light, rather than putting it on a stand). And a big thank you to her super awesome friend (and bridesmaid), Olivia. What a trooper! So, here they are…