Category: Weddings

Caitlyn+Jasmine // Santa Paula, CA Wedding // Limoneira Ranch

LEMONS AND LEMONS AND LEMONS and oh so many wonderful people exist in California, but none quite so great as Caitlyn+Jasmine. We happily and excitedly present to you our very first (of what we can only hope will be many more) California wedding. And our sneaking suspicions of how easy it is to be a photographer on the west coast have 100% been confirmed as literally every place we saw in Southern California was beautiful. But our job was especially easy because not only was our scenery gorgeous (lemons! mountains!) but our subjects were as well (Caitlyn! Jasmine!). You may remember them from their engagement session in Chapel Hill, NC where they gained many fans of their tattoos (we still get people who ask us about them). So how’d we get from North Carolina to California? Caitlyn was stationed at Fort Bragg at the time, and Jasmine was in NC after just finishing a master’s in Iceland when we did their session in Chapel Hill. But they both originally grew up in Southern California, and wanted to get married there before jet-setting off again to new and exciting places.

We are so lucky to have had a wedding out in CA, and also so lucky that the weather cooperated! After many fires in the area this past fall, Mother Nature decided to douse this particular area with rain surrounding the wedding. But luckily it cleared up for the wedding (yay!) and we were left with some beautiful haze. Limoneria Ranch is a wedding venue situated between acres and acres of citrus ranch land in California. It has mountains in the background and more lemons than you’ve ever seen. Also, lemons apparently come with a lot of thorns, which is something we quickly discovered when they kept piercing the soles of my shoes and going into my feet. Who knew? Probably every Californian reading this. I’ll wear more appropriate footwear next time. Besides beautiful mountains and all of the lemons, almost everyone at the wedding had a fun accent but us (they flew in from all over the world!). They were honored with adorable signs on all of the tables and the cutest bird-themed place cards we ever did see. Everyone danced the night away under the open sky and ate s’mores by a fire, and it was everything we thought a California wedding should be. We love you, Caitlyn and Jasmine! Thank you for introducing us to a bit of California life.

– Date: March 9, 2018
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Limoneira Ranch // Santa Paula, CA
– First Dance Song: “I Love You Always Forever” – Betty Who
– Caitlyn’s Occupation: Public affairs sergeant/photojournalist for the US Army
– Jasmine’s Occupation: Fancy map stuff/researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Southeast Norway.
– How You Met: We were friends in high school, lived down the street from each other and got together our third year of college (despite going to colleges across the country from each other)
– Interesting Fact: We have explored 10 different countries together! Jasmine just finished studying volcanoes in Iceland for graduate school. She loves cheese, rabbits, and geography. Caitlyn can do 42 pushups in 2 minutes, and loves birds and craft beer.
– Honeymoon: New Zealand

Officiant: Denise Hayes (Jasmine’s step-mum)
DJ: DJ Keelez
Florist: Unique Floral Designs
Cake: The Butter End Cakery
Caterer: Plated Events by Chef Jason
Wedding Planner: Golden Poppy Events (Sara Beveridge)

Making Fools of Ourselves: 2017

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

Elizabeth+Catherine // A Cotton Room Wedding

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