Elizabeth+David // Duke Chapel+CAM Wedding

We’ve been looking forward to working with Elizabeth and David for some time, and this was amplified when Elizabeth showed up to put her dress on wearing a white jumpsuit similar to painters coveralls and fashionable sunglasses, and it only got more fashiony from there. This means KILTS! This was our first wedding with kilts (which is kind of astonishing that there have been no kilts in our 10 year wedding career!) and we were thrilled. Elizabeth’s family has strong Scottish ties, so they showed up in the tartan pattern of their clan (read: a specific plaid for those who aren’t Scottish) and rocked the kilts. Of course, David’s family is Italian, so they later did what they could to join in the ancestral fashion fun by outfitting David in an cummerbund sporting the colors of the Italian flag and singing “That’s Amore.”

There was so much more to love at this wedding too! Elizabeth sporting a giant bow dress with a V-neckline! BAGPIPES! A fab and super secret rooftop access point with wonderful views of downtown Raleigh! FUN PARTY EARRINGS. A band who played not only Steely Dan, but also complicated Paul Simon songs and U2, all while being named after everyone’s favorite childhood toy! A bunch of people from Erie, Pennsylvania! Also, a kid named Angus who became very obsessed with Geoff’s name. I overheard him repeatedly yelling out, “Geoff! Geoff! Geoffff! Geoff! Geoff! GEOFFGEOFFGEOFF” and later asked Geoff what this was about, only to find out that he had earlier had the conversation where Angus said, “What’s your name?” and Geoff said, “Geoff,” and Angus said, “Wow, cool name.” And Geoff said, “Is that your name?” to which Angus replied, “No, it’s Angus. It’s Scottish beef.” This is why I love weddings. From the bows to the Scottish beef and more. We were so happy to be a part of this lovely celebration with the incredible Elizabeth and David, and all their family history!

Date: April 28, 2018
Ceremony Venue: Duke Chapel // Durham, NC
Reception Venue: CAM // Raleigh, NC
David’s Occupation: Pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Duke
Elizabeth’s Occupation: Recently received a Master’s degree in School Counseling at NCCU
How You Met: Mutual friend & wedding party attendant, Jonathan Folley. David says 2006 at a New Years Eve party (Elizabeth sat next to him at one point). Elizabeth says 2012 at a pre-Thanksgiving party when they chatted it up over PBR’s at Raleigh Times.
Interesting Fact: Ask them your self! …over a beer and tacos from the nearest food truck.
Honeymoon: Seattle & San Juan Islands
Officiant: Reverend Dr. Lisa Hebacker
DJ: Mr. Potato Head
Florist: Bloom Works
Cake:Catering Works
Caterer: Catering Works
Wedding Coordinator: Meghan Hadley
Invitations+Wedding Programs: Alison Haszinski, One+Only Paper
Ceremony Pipe Band: Piobadh na Triantan
Clogs: Bryr Clogs
Make-up: Julie Robbins Makeup
Hair: Steven Paul Norton
Spray Tan: Tansformations

Tracy+Colin Get Married at CAM

We get super nice and awesome clients all the time, but we feel like we really kick butt with the ones where we’re like, “YEAH, YOU REALLY GET WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO DO HERE, MAN!” They just trusted us, and we felt the vibes of trust, so in turn we were able to do what we do best, and put orange parking cones on the bridesmaids’ heads.

We met these two a while back. Both are from Pennsylvania (although Tracy grew up in neighboring Ohio), but Tracy roots for the Steelers (yeaaah!! wooooo!)  and Colin roots for the Eagles (booooo… hiss!!!). They told us at that initial meeting at their friends were going to be rowdy, and that there would be a lot of them. They were accurate on both accounts – this was the “youngest” wedding we’ve ever attended, with probably 70-90% of the guests being Tracy and Colin’s age, and it was also quite rowdy (details left out to protect the would-be innocent under probably more normal circumstances). We were also informed closer to the wedding that Tracy’s sister Karen, who is in the military, was Tracy’s maid of honor. However, the military wasn’t permitting her to leave base for the wedding, so they Skyped her in via iPad (she was carried down the aisle and was part of the family pictures).

When I asked Tracy what her dress looked like, she told me it had a “crumb catcher”… which was explained to me that it was fitted but had “a bit of pizazz at the top.” She then proceeded to make large jazz hand motions near her armpits. Turns out that she was totally accurate and her dress was kinda like having permanent jazz hands attached to the top and was awesome and completely gorgeous (Colin, you weren’t too bad yourself as the coral tie probably served as a bit of a jazz hand too). I told Tracy to make sure that she ate things really messily to see if the top did actually catch crumbs. I hope she did. Best part of the entire wedding? Listening to “I Swear” by All-4-One during their first dance and witnessing it cause middle school dance flashbacks for everyone involved. We love youuuu, Tracy and Colin!

Date: June 15, 2013

Ceremony and Reception Venue: CAM Raleigh // Raleigh, NC

First Dance Song: “I Swear” – All-4-One… nothing like a middle school throwback

Tracy’s Occupation: Marketing and public relations for an engineering firm

Colin’s Occupation: Engineer

How You Met: Not at work! We actually work for different companies. We met through friends at Village Draft House and bonded over iTunes playlists.

Interesting Bride Fact: Terrified of cats (sorry, Carolyn + Geoff!) + Edward Scissorhands **Editor’s Note: It’s okay, Tracy, we still love you.

Interesting Groom Fact: Holds New Eagle Elementary School male pull-up record (held overall record until recently beat by a female gymnast)

Honeymoon Destination: Turks + Caicos

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Pastor Lindsey Williams | DJ – Randy Bennett of the Joe Bunn DJ Company | Florist – English Garden | Cake – Sugarland | Caterer – PoshNosh | Hair/Makeup – Belle Trachtenberg of Alter Ego | Coordinator – Jamie Leigh Events | Graphic Design – Lauren Hall

Becky+Jake’s really rad wedding at CAM Raleigh

What makes me so happy with this wedding is how happy Becky looks. Not that she’s not happy or anything like that, but that I remember when we first met Becky and Jake and we basically discussed how bad she hated having her picture taken. According to them, she’d freeze up. The whole deer-in-headlights deal. And I’ve loved seeing how, over time, Becky has been able to completely ignore me. I can see where that wouldn’t be a normal person’s goal… to get someone to ignore you… but it’s awesome when you go from an initial meeting of, “Becky really hates having her picture taken” to Becky running around the city smiling and laughing and not worrying about me jumping out at her from the bushes.

Becky and Jake are those really cool clients that you hope to get but that secretly make you nervous at the same time because they’re really cool and you sometimes feel like maybe your level of cool won’t live up to their standards of cool, you know? I also remember at the first meeting that Jake told me that he didn’t “just want wedding pictures, we want art.” And I thought OKAY WE CAN DO THIS DEEEEEEP BREATTHSSS. And I hope we did. I think we did. To me, the pictures reflect how the two of them are perfectly suited to each other’s quirkiness… and how they not only make a gorgeous couple, but how they’re just so ridiculously right for each other. They’re the type where, if you were friends with Jake, you’d be more than happy to now welcome Becky along to every previously-Jake-only activities and vice versa. They’re kind of infectiously awesome like that. And we like them a whole bunch. I hope these pictures are as cool to you guys as they seem to us. This wedding was rad… and our second time shooting this year and ever at CAM Raleigh where I think I might just set up a tent in the back and live if that’s okay with the staff. Thanks in advance!

So normally I don’t interrupt posts like this, but I thought this was so cool that I had to point it out because it’s tiny so it’s easily missed. But that bird below that flew over the ceremony that Geoff so awesomely caught just happened to be their wedding colors. WEIRD. Thanks, bird!

First Dance: “Take Care” – Beach House

Bride’s Occupation: Lab Manager at NCSU and also part-time doctoral graduate student in Microbiology at NCSU

Groom’s Occupation: Senior Software Architect at IBM

How You Met: The internets! Online dating site called OKCupid.com – we owe them our firstborn :)

Interesting Bride Fact: Is ALWAYS 5 minutes early to everything…

Interesting Groom Fact: Is ALWAYS 5 minutes early to everything… and purposely arrived 5 minutes LATE to their first date – on a Monday, at a restaurant that, as it turns out, is closed on Mondays – leaving Becky wondering if she had been stood up.

Honeymoon Destination: Dominican Republic

Date: April 28, 2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: CAM Raleigh // Raleigh, NC

Wedding Planner: Grace Leisure Events

Officiant: Jonathan Prinz

DJ: Frank Meldau of Joe Bunn DJ Company

Florist: John Griffin with Themeworks

Cake: Once in a Blue Moon Bakery

Caterer: Posh Nosh

Hair: Dana Hunter at Alter Ego Salon

Makeup: Belle Trachtenberg at Alter Ego Salon