Lizzie+Tommy // A Durham, NC Wedding

Well, it’s finally taken us ten years but we finally had a couple use their cat as a prop in their photobooth (not their actual cat, but a large cardboard photo of their cat) and Geoff and I took full advantage. It’s also taken us ten years to finally get a The Doge cookie cake at a wedding. What’s been taking all of you so long? So thanks to Lizzie and Tommy for finally making our dreams come true in so many ways. We had an awesome start to 2019 at their wedding, and are so glad they were our clients this year! Lizzie likes to make a variety of different faces which I appreciate (as someone who also makes a lot of faces) and she also likes to bust out into a variety of different dance moves (The Chicken Dance being a favorite but there are some other ones I am pretty sure she invented that are just as good). She is funny and wonderful and I want to hug her all the time. Tommy clearly feels the same way, and together they’re an unstoppable team of smarts and love for cats. Tommy just got into a fellowship at the University of Arizona, so they’ll be moved to Tucson shortly, where we will visit them and force our friendship and authentic Mexican cuisine upon them (Geoff’s parents live there). But we’re glad that they got married in the Durm where they shall hopefully return after they get some good tans. Their wedding was fabulous (as evidenced below) and you guys, I am telling you, the band Punch is THE BEST and we’re glad we got to see them again. We may or may not have stayed after we packed up all of our stuff to listen to them play Purple Rain because PRINCE YOU GUYS! Lizzie saw me swaying my invisible lighter in the corner and appreciated it as only one person who makes up ridiculous dance moves to another can.


Date: January 5, 2019
Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Cotton Room // Durham, NC
First Dance Song: “Coming Home” – Leon Bridges
Tommy’s Occupation: Surgeon
Lizzie’s Occupation: Marketing Extraordinaire
How You Met: Interwebs – the dating app formerly known as Hinge
Interesting Fact: Did we mention we have a cat. She is the best cat. Her name is Sazzy (short for Sazerac). We love board games, traveling, snow days, and OH! We’re about to move to Arizona for a year during Tommy’s fellowship at University of Arizona.
Honeymoon: St. Lucia in January…hopefully Japan in July!
Officiant: Dame Gracie Bassett
Band: Punch
Florist: Cupboard
Cake: Whole Foods
Caterer: The Cotton Room
Hair/Makeup: Wedding Hair by Liz
Videographer: Dogwood Media
Coordinators: Michelle Alred and Heather Schaffran
Photobooth Prop Extraordinaire: Princess Sazzy – (this is still a joke about our cat…but we really do have a fathead of her in the photobooth)

Olivia+Gunnar // Raleigh Elopement

Olivia and Gunnar eloped in Raleigh in mid-November and had their closest family and friends in from out of town to stay at a big house in Raleigh to celebrate with them. Olivia and Gunnar are originally from Alabama but recently moved to the area for jobs, and we’re so glad they did! They are awesome people who are super sweet and like key lime pie. And I automatically trust anyone who loves key lime pie. They enjoy cooking together and are pretty into food. But, so is their dog, and upon returning from a honeymoon in Ireland where they brought home chopsticks from one of their favorite restaurants there, their dog dug through their bag and ate said chopsticks. You can’t with ’em all. They told us of driving through Ireland on the wrong side of the road which sounded terrifying, and they told us about black pudding which sounds totally disgusting, but beyond that, Ireland sounds really great and it’s still high on our list of places to visit someday (just without the black pudding maybe). At home, Gunnar likes video games and building computers and doing techie things, and Olivia likes all things true crime and watching movies (and we all agree that Pet Semetary definitely should not be remade as it’s perfect in its original form). We had a great time meeting their families at their elopement in Raleigh, and then a great time on a slightly drier day photographing them in Durham. Thanks for finding us, Olivia and Gunnar, and may you have many more chopsticks someday that your dog doesn’t eat. Congratulations!

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