Heather+Garrett+Finn+Men Without Hats // A Family Session

I can solidly say that no other assignment has had us listening to this much Men Without Hats. I think we listened to the Safety Dance at least a dozen times, each time accompanied by Finn doing the Wheels on the Bus circular hand motions while bouncing up and down for completely inexplicable reasons. He was thrilled. This child CANNOT GET ENOUGH Men Without Hats. On vinyl, no less! He went right to the record shelf and picked out the record, promptly dropped it, then picked it up again and ran to the record player because he is a hipster child. I say this with love. But he is an audiophile, has impeccable wardrobe choices, is in possession of several vintage childhood books, and drives an unusual-shade-of-green-colored Jeep. His popsicles are also made out of things like bananas and kale. I’m just saying… he’s an adorable hipster of a 2 year-old.

In addition to Men Without Hats, he also enjoys this one song that came programmed into his Jeep. It’s super strange, oddly somber for a child’s toy, but sounds kind of like a teenage version of Journey’s Faithfully. Definitely a breakup song. And when he’s done with the Safety Dance, he cools down to that one, accompanied by slower, sadder Wheels on the Bus hand motions. When he’s done feeling sorry for himself for whatever imaginary breakup he’s going through, he heads straight to his kiddie pool to pick up a cup and then literally pour a ton of water straight into his eyes. He does this repeatedly (always aiming for the top of his head but not quite having the rotator cuff range yet so landing directly into the eyes) and then shakes like he’s about to explode with joy. I think he’s cold, but it’s a delighted cold, so it comes across as enthusiastically explosive.

So basically, Finn is one of my all-time favorite children. I also love his parents, Heather and Garrett, whose maternity session we photographed back in 2016 while Finn was still in utero. They have a beautiful house that’s adorably decorated because Heather is an incredible designer and also because they, too, love Invader Zim. They have two flufferistic doggos, Mabel and Castle, who like to follow Finn around and look for food he’s currently dropping, and do zoomies around the house. When we left, Finn pressed his entire face up against the glass like I’ve really only ever seen in television shows because he’s the most amazing kid ever. He also blew me kisses immediately upon my arrival and departure. He did not blow kisses to Geoff, but rather stood super close to him while doing the Wheels on the Bus hand motions and staring directly into his eyes. Not sure what this meant but it was also great. YOU CAN DANCE IF YOU WANT TO.

 

A Family Session.

Victoria+Ben // Wedding at The Cookery

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