Hannah+David // Durham Wedding

Hannah and David had a wonderful afternoon wedding at the Cotton Room. Both of them are absolute pictures of calm. The 100% cool and collected expression Hannah is wearing through this entire blog post is not carefully curated; she was just like that all of the time. And I’m pretty sure she can give Tyra a run for the money in a closed-mouth-smile competition. Also, she kind of reminds me of Natalie Portman. Plus, she wore a lace dress with this awesome detachable skirt thing made of tulle. It’s kind of like a veil, but for the lower half of your body instead of your head. I love Hannah and it is obvious.

It is also very obvious that David loves Hannah, as he spent most of the day lovingly gazing at her and why wouldn’t he?! Of course he would. David is wonderfully kind and charming and was so sweet to us all day… making sure we ate and were okay and thanking us for being there. They are just the best. It’s kind of how I picture the wedding of any sort of royal prince and princess in maybe England or something. Is that weird? Maybe. Anyway, we had a lovely time, and then dragged poor Hannah and David into the mosquito infested woods of Durham to take pictures of them post-wedding (yes, both of them looked this good after their entire wedding, which is pretty unbelievable). Congratulations to two wonderful people – we were so happy to photograph your wedding!

  • Date: October 1, 2016
  • Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Cotton Room // Durham, NC
  • First Dance Song: “Forever” – Ben Harper
  • Hannah’s Occupation: CPA
  • David’s Occupation: Renewable Energy Business Development
  • How You Met: Slim’s Downtown Raleigh – first met and then met again a year later at which point we started dating
  • Interesting Fact: David loves dogs and is allergic to cats but has grown quite fond of Hannah’s cat. The dog and cat have grown quite fond of one another too!   Hannah is a vegetarian. David is not – but graciously compliments each vegetarian dinner Hannah makes – even when he wishes they contain meat :)
  • Honeymoon: Sedona, AZ
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Reverend Felix (Tony) Futtrell. DJ – Island Sound (Frankie). Florist – English Garden. Cake – Ashley Cakes. Caterer – The Cotton Room/Triangle Catering. Hair/Makeup – Makeup for Your Day. Coordinator – Shelley Clayton. Exit Car – Dave’s Car.

Lexie+Michael // Raleigh Elopement

Lexie and Michael were introduced to us a long time ago by our friends Monica and Graham, whose wedding we shot back in 2012. Well, I guess we knew Lexie first (I spy her in one of their reception photos) and Michael later. Lexie is an identical twin (oddly enough, our third identical twin this season, but our fourth identical twin ever), and for a while we had absolutely no idea how to tell her and her sister Ashley apart. Later someone gave us the pro tip that Ashley has bangs and Lexie doesn’t, and it’s been somewhat easier since then, but if they aren’t standing next to each other it’s still not a fool-proof method and I’m never 100% sure in my answer. But, now that Lexie has been our (wonderful!) client, I think my chances of figuring out who is who will now have a 90% accuracy rate, white dress or not, and I think that’s the best you can really hope for with identical twins. So now that Lexie and Michael are married, it’s going to be Michael’s job to stand next to Lexie all the time so I don’t mess up.

These two were married at the courthouse in Raleigh surrounded by close family and friends, then they had a reception at Watered Garden Florist a few days later (Lexie’s mom is a florist at Watered Garden and did all the flowers for this wedding, which were amaaaaazing!), then a few days after that they had another reception in Chicago with Michael’s side of the family. We happily were able to keep her dress pretty clean throughout the courthouse ceremony and the pictures afterward roaming around the gardens so she could use it at the receptions. Michael studies trees for a living and is really into plants. Lexie rehabs turtles (very jealous of this) and has dogs and is also into plants. Together they are very nature-y and excited to take pictures by some trees and we were excited to take their pictures by trees and everyone was very, very happy. But not as happy as me, who received gluten-free cupcakes care of Monica and Graham from Lexie and Michael’s reception a few days later. ;) Mmm, cupcakes.

Lauren+Kris // Duke Forest Wedding.

Lauren and Kris had all the necessary things for a delightful wedding: donuts, a jazz band, an ice cream truck, a crazy little biodiesel bus, and a phone full of pictures of their cat Calvin using Snapchat wearing a fedora and a fake mustache. They were married by a friend in a little intimate spot of grass in the middle of Duke Forest surrounded by trees and fabulous early fall light. Then we all went on to the reception at The Cookery that was adorned with little golden dinosaurs sporting air plants that were standing guard over bottles of liquor holding wildflowers. I really wanted to steal all of them and start a tiny gold dinosaur plant army but I couldn’t do that because Lauren and Kris are so nice and I feel like it’s probably good luck for your marriage if you start out with your own golden dinosaur plant army and I didn’t want to rob them of that.

Did we mention the ice cream truck? We did, but we’re going to talk about it again right now because ice cream. At one point Lauren held a glass of wine in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other and looked so ridiculously thrilled with the whole thing and I thought yes, this is what happiness looks like. Everyone loves The Parlour and we do too, especially when they arrive in a pink and white truck, and I had two scoops of the Vietnamese Coffee because it’s my favorite, even though I don’t like coffee at all. And we ate our ice cream as the fabulous Mint Julep Jazz Band played on into the night and everyone had the best time talking and socializing. Thank you for having a delightful and charming wedding, Lauren and Kris, and we hope you’re up in DC starting that tiny golden dinosaur plant army with your cat Calvin.

  • Date: September 23, 2016
  • Ceremony Venue: Duke Forest // Durham, NC
  • Reception Venue: The Cookery // Durham, NC
  • Lauren’s Occupation: Economist for the federal government in DC
  • Kris’s Occupation: Energy analyst
  • How You Met: Graduate school classmates at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
  • Interesting Fact: Although they love Durham almost as much as they love each other, the only actual NC native in their family is their okra-loving cat, Calvin (from APS of Durham).
  • Honeymoon: Not sure yet! The front runners are Croatia and Laos.
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Zarak Khan. Band – Mint Julep Jazz Band. Florist – Pine State Flowers. Ice Cream – The Parlour Ice Cream Truck. Caterer – Durham Catering Company. Hair/Makeup – Carla White. Coordinator – Gretchen Garrett of Red Bird Events. Ceremony Music – Jordan Nance. Transporation – Greenway Transit. Donuts – Monuts.