Carolyn+Shawn // Raleigh Engagement Session

I’m always partial to people with my name, but it does make it difficult when Geoff is directing clients to figure out who he’s talking to. Meet Carolyn and Shawn! They are super fun and cute and follow direction exceedingly well. They are also both short like me, so I didn’t have to use my step stool (yes!). We met them one evening in the Raleigh Rose Garden and made a good time of it, talking about travel and cats and how Ramsay Bolton is an evil psychopath. Fun fact about Carolyn and Shawn: if you count to three, they’ll turn and run directly into each other. If you count to three again, they’ll turn and run directly into each other one more time. It seems to be some sort of reflex. We’re looking forward to counting to three on their wedding day and seeing what happens, but they’ll probably just run into each other, this time super dressed up.

Amanda+Derek in Downtown Raleigh

It has been  while since we’ve shot an engagement session in downtown Raleigh, and we were excited to return to our roots this spring with Amanda and Derek! We were lucky enough to meet them last fall and book them for their wedding this upcoming September and are having a blast getting to know them in between. :) They met at UNC several years ago but only started dating as they were both moving out. ;) Then they lived in separate places for a while until they both settled down together in Raleigh (hence the photos downtown) where they watch a lot of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. They’ve considered getting a dog, but have determined that it’s a little much right now, so we’re working on convincing them to get cats.

Derek also works on a fantastic poster print company he’s founded called Blue is the Land. It started out with him making posters for their house of places that they’ve lived (Amanda’s from Winston-Salem and Derek’s from Schenectady, NY, but they lived together in Chapel Hill and Raleigh after that) and also places they’ve traveled (they go to NYC frequently and were engaged there). Since then, it’s grown quite a bit and now features all sorts of cities! You can even request them. :) They’re super well designed and feature a bunch of the neighborhoods in the cities in a nifty way that we hadn’t seen before but are also pretty sleek and modern at the same time (I swear I don’t work for his company, I just like his design work). You should check it out! Maybe after you view these pictures of him and Amanda being very cute.  May I present to you: the face, the image, the spirit of… Derelicte!

Elizabeth+Bryan // Engaged in Raleigh

Elizabeth and Bryan are planning a March wedding in Charleston, SC but have thus far put off taking any sort of engagement pictures as they dreaded having their pictures taken.  Of course, they were awesome to work with and Bryan was goofy the entire time and kept Elizabeth laughing, so we think it was pretty painless for them after all. :D The pair met in Austin at a bar when Elizabeth asked him to watch her drink and the rest is pretty much history! Bryan is now a mechanic in Raleigh and Elizabeth owns a corporate event planning business and they’ve happily made North Carolina their home. They introduced us to the awesome downtown bar Clockwork (which has an amazing interior!) and we are incredible gracious for their hospitality in letting us shoot a few photos there. We then ran about downtown to get some more urban type shots and had a great time getting to know this fantastic couple!