September 3, 2010

raleigh wedding photographer in fayetteville: valerie+kenneth.

AWESOME wedding for a gal who looooves color such as myself. had a tremendously difficult time narrowing this post down. valerie and kenneth have been together for 7 years when valerie’s best friend introduced her to kenneth while he was playing football for duke. they don’t golf, but had their wedding at gates four golf and country club in fayetteville, nc on august 21st, and it was a beautiful venue. golf courses make for stellar pics due to the grass and the couple picked beautiful blush, gray, and purple colors for their wedding on TOP of that, so i was pretty much in photographing heaven…not to mention that the couple themselves were both gorgeous people as well as incredibly nice. and without further ado… valerie and kenneth!

the groomsmen were outrageously awesome. they were posing geniuses as well.

we took a lot of pictures before the ceremony. this saves tons of time! we busted out geoff’s old school left-handed golf clubs too. ;)

this is what happens when you have a super cool, smooth-posing, cooperative bridal party. working with the bridal party is one of the most nervewracking parts of my day. mostly because it’s a large group of people to herd around and usually they’re super annoyed with you because it’s hot out and you’re the only thing standing between them and the alcohol and air conditioning. not these guys, though. all of them were SUPER nice and were all about taking more pictures. we got a ton of bridal party shots…all outrageously smoothly posed. you guys rocked this out, bridal party!

FAVORITE!

raleigh wedding photographer bridal party

ALSO MY FAVORITE!

one of the coolest cakes i’ve ever seen. simple, but the flowered decoration was so unique and the colors were fantastic.

adoooorable kids present at this wedding as well. this is kenneth’s daughter and valerie’s son, now siblings, and also the flower girl and ring bearer. they were rocking it out.

hello super awesome LED room lights!

flower girl knew the words to ever song they played and danced like this the whole time. i was cracking up. prepare to see her on MTV in about 15 years.

i hope you love these pictures as much as i do, valerie and kenneth, because you’re about to be heavily used in some CSP advertising. your wedding rocked! congratulations!

say nice things

August 23, 2010

raleigh engagement photographer: heidi+aaron

heidi, aaron and i first met through the wonderful chelsea mills of chelsea reality group whom i met through the downtown raleigh alliance, so our relationship is kind of like six degrees of kevin bacon. :) i could tell from our consult for their wedding that they were a crazy fun couple and i was so stoked when we decided to do a downtown engagement session with them! and they were just as fun as i imagined them to be, of course, if not more. :)

they’re a downtown kind of couple, which i can totally relate to, and aaron proposed to heidi downtown, so we spent last thursday afternoon bouncing around various locations and getting some funky city shots. their wedding is at the raleigh rose garden in april 2011, so we bounced over to the rose garden after we finished with downtown to get some shots for her mom. :) i had a ridiculously hard time narrowing down these images for the blog because they’re both gorgeous and the city was awesome and it was a super shoot, but here are some of the faves!

so without further ado, meet heidi and aaron. :)

oh yeah, and their dogs! :) lola and waggy mae, respectively:

after their wedding at the rose garden, their reception will be at the sheraton, where i hope to convince them to go outside for some night shots down fayetteville. :)

it was really hard to get them to not smile or laugh, which had me smiling and laughing, which in turn made it more difficult for them to not smile or laugh. :) but we got some “serious face” shots in there anyway! :D

the following picture was their idea because this couple was the definition of a fun couple. :)

and, ladies and gentlemen, i present to you…the best family portrait EVER.

raleigh rose garden engagement photographs

thought this was cute! they’ll be married on the lawn in front of them. this is like the pre-wedding planning shot. “where will we put the chairs?” :)

she is gorgeous and will make a totally beautiful bride. i can’t wait!

raleigh engagement photographer rose garden

raleigh rose garden wedding photographer

yay!! i had a blast running around with them and am so looking forward to their wedding next year! make sure you check back for them in 2011. :) good luck with the planning, you two!

say nice things

August 6, 2010

raleigh wedding photographer: renee+daniel

LOVED this wedding! renee, daniel and their family and friends are such a super friendly and nice group of people. it rained! and nobody was really even that stressed out about it! in fact, the bridal party grabbed some umbrellas and we went outside to take pictures anyway! thankfully it didn’t pour and it stopped soon after so we didn’t need them for too long, but it’s awesome when clients are that easy going. easy going and super friendly bridal party, a couple totally in love, and a group that totally knew how to throw a party. nice!

renee and daniel were married on july 31, 2010 at north raleigh presbyterian church. awesome church, by the way. has great grounds and a modern feel about it.

i was loving this ring. i like the circular design on the petite band. i have been getting some brides and grooms with awesome rings lately!

renee wore ballet flats… second bride in a row! such a great idea. i was also loving the bridesmaid attire, flowers, and shoes. tan pumps + sage green = WIN.

north raleigh presbyterian church wedding ceremony

they are both too cute. :( they’ve dated for five years and were so comfortable and cute around each other. there were a lot of tears at the ceremony and the reception. adorable!

north carolina wedding photographer couple

the below shot is my favorite ever. expect this in the portfolio soon.

raleigh nc wedding photographer

north raleigh presbyterian church wedding

the wedding reception was held at one eleven place in cary. great venue! very classy. they did an excellent job arranging everything and being super nice and organized. and renee and daniel had a candy bar! YES! and just when i got excited about that, i saw that the candy bar was lime green and purple! BIGGER YES!

one eleven place

purple and green candy bar

all of their first dance pictures involved them laughing cutely the entire time. :)

first dance

one eleven place reception

i want this little girl’s hair!

one eleven place wedding

one eleven place wedding reception

the expression of a bouquet toss winner vs. the expressions of surprised defeat in the background:

bouquet toss winner

best. garter. toss. ever. i have never seen a group of guys so enthused. usually they stand there with their arms at their sides and step aside when the garter comes towards them. :) these guys were all about it. i love the guy in the front trying to hold back the rest of the crew like, “don’t worry, dudes, i got this.”

garter toss

cake cutting

wedding reception dancing

i’ll give you three guesses for the song in the next two pictures and the first two guesses don’t count. :)

wedding reception dancing

raleigh photographer one eleven place

one eleven place wedding reception

last dance

AWESOME. thanks renee and daniel! we had a great time and wish you two all the luck even though you won’t need it because you’re adorable together. :)

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