Rachel+Matt // Married in Cary

These two were the happiest people EVER to be married to one another. We really have never seen people so excited about getting married… and usually people are really excited. However, we’ve worked with Rachel and Matt before and every time we’ve met them under any circumstance they have been excited about pretty much everything… so maybe they’re just happy, excitable people. Either way you slice it, they still make our job very enjoyable since they’re so laid back and happy and we’ve loved working with them!

Their ceremony took place at their church where we had to reschedule some things last minute in order to take their photos riiiiight before a giant rainstorm came into town and stayed there the rest of the day. :( Thankfully we had some wiggle room in the timeline and got the photos out of the way before the rain came! Their reception included a giant, life-size game of Jenga placed on a stage above the dance floor and entertained people thoroughly throughout the evening. No one was injured despite giant Jenga blocks falling left and right, so we think that’s a win (although this did inspire Geoff to make Carolyn play Jenga the next evening and we were surprisingly good at it so it got really tall, fell loudly on our plastic coffee table, and scared our sleeping cat half to death). They had a monkey and a bluejay cake topper, some impromptu games of cat’s cradle, a glow stick exit, and Carolyn got to take home 4 succulents from the buffet table and was very excited. We cannot thank or congratulate Rachel and Matt enough on their awesome wedding and marriage!

Date: September 21, 2013

Ceremony Venue: Christ the King Lutheran Church // Cary, NC

Reception Venue: Cypress Manor at Cary // Cary, NC

First Dance Song: “Little Moments” – Brad Paisley

Matt’s Occupation: Manufacturing Quality Engineer

How You Met: Kayaking in a pool at ECU’s Rec Center

Interesting Bride Fact: Did her research on blue birds

Honeymoon Destination: Already went from Paris to Barcelona

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. John R. Nagle | DJ – Steve Stowe of the Joe Bunn DJ Company | Florist – Mel Day of Dogwood Tree Floral | Cake – Cinda’s Creative Cakes | Caterer – Rocky Top Catering | Hair/Makeup – Makeup For Your Day | Coordinator – Sally Oakley

Meagan+Jonathan’s Wedding at Barclay Villa

Meagan and Jonathan had their wedding at Barclay Villa in Angier, NC. We had been hearing a lot about this venue for a few years but hadn’t had the opportunity to shoot there until now. But basically it’s a giant castle-house that the owners built to have weddings and is very Game of Thrones… without all the bad stuff. The DJ told me that he once had a Renaissance Fair wedding there where the bride and groom asked him to wear a Jester hat. Amazing.

I knew Meagan from a long series of e-mails over a long period of time and from her bridal portraits, but Geoff and I didn’t meet Jonathan until the wedding weekend. Knowing how sweet and lovely Meagan is, we knew that Jonathan would probably be nice, and he certainly was SUPER nice, as were all of his really nice but semi-rowdy with photobombing-tendencies groomsmen (I say that with love, gentlemen). Meagan and Jonathan were married by Meagan’s aunt which was really cool (we’ve been seeing a lot of family members marrying our couples lately!) and Meagan wore the first ring given to her grandmother by her late grandfather down the aisle.

The bridesmaids spent the morning/afternoon getting their hair and makeup done while the groomsmen spent the morning/afternoon playing pool and offering cigarettes to the lion statues out front in their Adidas sneakers. This is pretty typical (without the sneakers). In the evening they partied down and we were sat at a table of their very nice friends and had a lot of fun. Meagan and Jonathan were promptly sent on their honeymoon on a early flight the next day and are still there, so we’ll wish them congratulations and love from the States until they come back home!

Date: June 1, 2013

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Barclay Villa // Angier, NC

First Dance Song: “These Arms of Mine” – Otis Redding

Meagan’s Occupation: Recently graduated – still job hunting

Jonathan’s Occupation: Student/server

How You Met: Our freshman year in high school

Interesting Bride Fact: Meagan refuses to use any type of wooden utensil (knife, spoon, cutting board, popsicle stick) or to touch or stand on wooden objects if they’re wet. She can’t stand the feel of it.

Interesting Groom Fact: Jonathan is the only left handed person on either side of his family.

Honeymoon Destination: St. Maarten

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Janie Taylor | DJ – Island Sound and Video | Florist – Jeffrey’s Florist | Cake – Simply Cakes | Caterer – Barclay Villa | Hair and Makeup – Britt Murphy, Radiance Salon and Day Spa | Vidoegrapher – DJ Island Sound and Video | Coordinator – Cathy Honeycutt of Barclay Villa

Deb and Carey Are Engaged!

Deb and Carey are pretty neat people with a deep love and appreciation for zombies and gardening. Normally I’d say those two things wouldn’t go hand-in-hand, but when you think about it, they probably could. We suggested to them that they could use them Agave plants as a (short-lived and not-so-nuturional) source of food when the zombie apocalypse arises, so hopefully that will spark their imagination and we’ll soon discover some livestock and more sustainable plants such as corn and wheat fields growing at their house. ;)

A few fun facts besides their mad gardening skills: they can make homemade mint ice cream, donuts are their favorite food group, they met at swing dancing class and can dance really well. We suggested that this would make their first dance really good, and they replied that there’s been a lot of pressure on them for their first dance to be really good since everyone knows they can dance, so it may or may not be good, but we’re hoping it is to detract from our terrible dance moves.