Jessica+Andrew // Ocean Isle Destination Wedding

Jessica and Andrew hail all the way up from Minnesota! And, like all Minnesota people I’ve encountered in my lifetime, they are exceedingly nice and can also tolerate much colder temperatures than me. These guys are avid travelers, and they wanted to share the joy of traveling with their family and friends, so they decided to hold their wedding in Ocean Isle, NC and have everyone join them. They rented an enormous and gorgeously updated beach house, and had a ceremony out by the ocean. It was a sunny and clear day while Jess and Andrew strolled along the beach in the sunset with me and videographer Matt from Dogwood Media shouting “Dope dope dope” at them… which is, I’m pretty sure, exactly what they pictured their wedding day being like. We had a ridiculous amount of fun with these guys. And look at how pretty they are. Just look at them. SO PRETTY. Jessica’s dress was gorgeous and I had a fun time making her spin around repeatedly and then trying to shake the sand out of the tulle. They then danced the night away with a super fun group of people who love to pretend they’re all jumping rope at the reception. We are so glad that they asked us to join them out in Ocean Isle – we had never been to that part of the NC coast before (we’re originally from Pittsburgh so still have much of this state to explore) and we loved it! It was clear of people and the light is beautiful out there in November, and the beach is pristine in every direction. We’re so happy and grateful these guys chose North Carolina and chose US to be with them for their wedding day. Congratulations to you both! You beautiful people you.

Date: November 3, 2018
Ceremony + Reception Venue: Southern Comfort Beach House // Ocean Isle Beach, NC
First Dance Song: “Eyes on You” – Chase Rice
Andrew’s Occupation: Union Scaffold Builder
Jessica’s Occupation: Call Center Rep
How You Met: Mutual friends
Interesting Fact: Our parents knew each other when we were kids and we actually use to jump on the trampoline together, Jessie has no recollection of this.
Honeymoon: Cabo San Lucas
Officiant: Pastor Alan
DJ: Coastal DJ
Cake: One Belle Bakery
Caterer: A Thyme Savor Catering
Hair/Makeup: Silver Ceiling Beauty
Videographer: Dogwood Media
Coordinator: Shady Brown Events

Leila+Colin // Asheville, NC Wedding

Okay before I start this, it’s important to know that Leila’s name is pronounced “LIE-LA.” We literally started writing it that way in e-mails so I could remember, all caps included. I knew someone who had her named spelled Leila once, but pronounced it “Lee-la,” which is what I had been calling Leila in my head for months when I was corrected by Heather at Gilded Bridal, which is where Leila bought her stunner of a dress. Have you ever mispronounced someone’s name before? Something about the correction makes the mispronunciation even worse. It causes me to overthink it. Then “Lee-la” turned into “Lee… no, Lay-la… no no, Lee-la, yeah, Lee-la. NO. Lieeeeee…laa?” I couldn’t get it right. Until I remembered good old Lyla Garrity from Friday Night Lights. No, her name isn’t spelled Leila, but it’s pronounced “LIE-LA” and I freaking love Friday Night Lights so for some reason I was able to remember it this way because #texasforever and #cleareyesfullheartscantlose. I am 100% impressed that I didn’t call Colin “Rigs” once.

Now that we have that settled, Leila was our beloved former clients Carly+Jay’s maid of honor and we were so happy when she asked us to shoot her and Colin’s wedding in Asheville! It was actually in Swannanoa which is a pretty little small town just far enough outside of Asheville to be very woodsy, yet close enough where I could overdose on cinnamon buns at Posana for brunch. Ideal conditions. Hidden River Events is an incredible venue with a ton of wildflowers, horses, and dare I say the best lighting conditions on the planet (well, in the evening of October 14th anyway). It was beautiful. And Leila and Colin aren’t so bad themselves. Leila is of Palestinian descent and she and Colin met in Palestine doing all sorts of wonderful humanitarian goodness for people over there. They continue to do humanitarian goodness for all sorts of people from their homebase in Washington, DC with their dog Mr. B while watching Seinfeld at the same time. They were surrounded at their wedding by other Palestinians and also a lot of Irish. There were lots of good accents.

Leila and Colin were super fun to work with when we weren’t bringing up childhood traumas such as the death of Artax in the Neverending Story (don’t worry kids, I’ve since researched this heavily and the horse did not actually die, but was given to the actor who played Atreyu and died “much much later, living a good life doing horse stuff”). We are so, so happy to have been their wedding photographers and excited to see them and Mr. B again this spring for another portrait session where we don’t have to bring up the Neverending Story again (but we might because remember the rock guy?!). We love you guys! Thank you forever and ever neverending for having us. Isn’t this wedding purdy?

– Date: October 14, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Hidden River Events // Swannanoa, NC
– Leila’s Occupation: Public Health
– Colin’s Occupation: PhD
– How You Met: Palestine
– Interesting Fact: I can do a lot of pushups.
– Honeymoon: Maybe Chile.
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Jeanne Sommer. DJ+Florist+Coordinator – Hidden River Events. Food – Anne’s Custom Catering. Makeup – Jen O’Leary. Hair – Sarah Carpenter.

Alex+David // Blowing Rock, NC Wedding Photographer

When you get a wedding inquiry from a badass lady who likes you and color and Seinfeld and Boone and is also a member of a Durham band called GOWN that’s described as “an all wommmmin punk hardcare metallic band made up of blood sucking druids” you take it immediately. Then you find out that their venue is a summer camp in Blowing Rock and your head kinda explodessss at the adorable lake and cabins and little tiny open air chapel and you are SO EXCITED! And then you find out that both her and her fiance are long hair heroes… true champions of Pantene Pro-V wonderfulness who you’re excited to photograph because they look really awesome and also like they’re in a couple great metal bands which, oh wait, they both actually are ::insert shredding solo here::.

And then you show up in Blowing Rock and meet your long haired heroes in REAL LIFE and they are SO NICE and just adopted a super cute BLACK CAT and Alex has a beautiful bouquet made of DRIED FLOWERS(!!!) and all of their glassware and plates are MISMATCHED and COLORFUL and David’s hair is FLOWING and SOFT and their wedding colors are EVERYTHING FALL and you sigh because these… these are your people. And you take their photos on a pretty lake surrounded by a fire pit and animal cracker appetizers and a toddler in a Cannibal Corpse onesie. And you take their photos while they dance inside the old summer camp dining hall to David Bowie deep cuts. And later they see their preview pictures and pronounce that they’re “so Twin Peaksesque,” which may be the highest praise our work has yet received. So gaze upon them, my friends. Alex and David are like the universe heard whisperings of the perfect clients for us and formed them out of star stuff a la a Carl Sagan documentary and put them in Blowing Rock for us to photograph. Thanks, Carl.


– Date: September 9, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Camp Sky Ranch // Blowing Rock, NC
– First Dance Song: “As the World Falls Down” and “Be My Wife” by David Bowie
– How You Met: Outside the music building at UNC Chapel Hill.
– Interesting Fact: We’re both classical musicians (cello and guitar) but also are both currently drummers in bands! (David taught Alex how to play)
– Honeymoon: Seattle, WA
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Ken Craig (father of the bride). DJ – Our iPod. Florist – The bride’s mom. Bouquet+Boutonniere – Westerwisp. Pies – The Gamekeeper. Caterer – The Gamekeeper. Hair/Makeup – Haircut 101 with Jezabel Lebatard. Coordinator – Meris Gantt of The Whole Shebang. Dress – Cathy Telle. Glassware – Miss Match Rentals.