Molly+Zach’s Wedding in Charleston, SC.

Remember when we photographed Molly+Zach’s engagement session at NC State and Molly wore a fabulous dress that she had sewn herself? Well now they’re BACK! And they got married! In Charleston, South Carolina! In an even MORE fabulous dress that she sewed herself! I spent half of the time photographing it and half of the time mentally deconstructing it in my head to figure out how exactly she did it. I stopped her a lot while she was doing her makeup to ask her questions (“Hey, what did you use to sew this part with? A sewing machine? A serger?”) and examined it frequently throughout the day. Molly is a delightful human being who is quite tolerant of me poking and prodding her dress and asking her questions, so I’m grateful for that. Also, totally grateful for the torrential downpour of rain over Charleston to stop immediately before pictures and then start up again after the wedding, leaving our picture time dry.

Also, 100% totally and completely grateful for Molly and Zach giving us our first (and hopefully not last) opportunity to photograph a Twin Peaks themed groom’s cake… complete with a log base, pine trees, Black Lodge carpeting, and a tiny plastic Special Agent Dale Cooper. Twin Peaks is one of our favorite shows, and it’s pretty magical finding out that someone else you know loves it… especially enough to make a cake out of it. Damn fine cake (that was coffee based with cherry filling because yessssssss!).

They also put our pictures on M&Ms! And walked around Rainbow Row with us! And we took them to their Air BnB afterward and couldn’t figure out how to get in but in the process saw a ton of delightful bats! But more than all of that, we are so grateful we got to hang out in Charleston with these two and their friends! We met some awesome, smart, talented people down there that were a part of this wedding… professors and scientists and all sorts of brain power located at an adorable little chapel in the middle of some palm trees and Spanish moss. Thanks for letting us be a part of the magic, Molly and Zach!

• Date: July 16, 2017
• Ceremony + Reception Venue: Coleman Hall and Chapel // Charleston, SC
• First Dance Song: “Crazy Love” – Van Morrison
• Molly’s Occupation: Professor
• Zach’s Occupation: English teacher
• How You Met: Book club in Raleigh, NC
• Interesting Fact: Zach had a childhood pet dog named Molly
• Honeymoon: Charleston, SC
• Vendor Credits: Officiant – Reverend Steven Koenig. Ceremony Music – Eric Hartzog. Reception Music – Brian Smith with Eric Hartzog. Florist – Kathy Kazior. Cake – Wild Flour Bakery. Caterer – B Gourmet Catering. Hair/Makeup – Bride. Coordinator – Sabrina Ward with Event Bella.

Karen+Co.

Senior portraits are something we don’t get the chance to do that often, but they are FUN. Especially when you get impressive seniors and they can teach you things like how you should engage your core while climbing on dangerous playground equipment in order to take their photographs, and how you should also probably stabilize your feet better. Karen came all the way to Sante Fe to have her senior pictures taken with us! Well, not really, but kind of? She came with her sister Anna to visit their Uncle Glenn and Aunt Kathy. And Aunt Kathy happens to be Kathy White Swope, who works with the always amazing Sally Oakley to form an unstoppable team of wedding planners here whom we love very much. So Aunt Kathy recommended us to do Karen’s senior portraits and Karen was on board and the dream was born. And by “dream” I mean a plan was hatched to have a place where Karen could hang upside down while I took her pictures.

Karen is in the circus (!!!) and also does fencing (!!!) and is generally impressive and fabulous. She can climb and hang upside down and has a lot of upper arm strength and obviously a stable core accompanied by good foot placement. She also has a great sense of humor (as does Anna, Kathy, and Glenn) and we all had a bit of fun running around Pullen Park in Raleigh (and later in Mordecai, where Kathy and Glenn were married). We also took pictures of Awesome Younger Sister Anna, who had no qualms about sitting in tree caves or trying to get her older sister attacked by ducks (as a younger sister who has an older sister who is also nervous around fowl of all types, I did find this humorous). And we also took pictures of Uncle Glenn and Aunt Kathy because of COURSE since they set this up and accompanied us and helped immensely. It was a good time. Sparklers were lit but not by Kathy because she deserves just one day off from lighting sparklers and she actually got to use them for once instead of trying to give a bunch of wedding guests directions and trying not to get caught on fire. It was a grand ole time. We were so lucky to be able to work with this whole crew, and we wish the best of luck to our outstanding senior Karen – Class of 2018!