October 5, 2011

Raleigh Engagement Photographer: Rebekah+Braden

Two high-school sweetheart couples in a row here on the blog. :) Although, Rebekah+Braden have known each other since they were very little and their mothers were long friends. She wrote in an e-mail to me, “I’m pretty sure I fell in love in the 7th grade!” Rebekah is currently a senior at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville (Not NC’s Fayetteville) getting her degree in speech therapy. I’m always really interested in what people do for a living and realized with surprise that Rebekah is my first speech therapist! This was kind of exciting because my sister is a speech therapist, so we talked about that stuff for a while. :) Braden is here at Campbell University pursuing his masters in Education so that he can coach football… both high school and college. He played for 3 years at SMU in Dallas and still plays at Campbell. They are both super cute and sweet and we had a great time with them! I told Rebekah to wear boots because we’d be trapezing through some tall grass, but while we didn’t run into any poisonous plants, there were plenty of signs telling us to avoid the snakes. :(

I do believe this was Geoff’s last engagement session for the year that he’ll shoot with me as his regular full-time job prevents him from shooting once the sun sets earlier and earlier, but I appreciate him coming with me to this session and all the others throughout the year! He’s obviously still coming to weddings, but I can handle the engagements on my own. ;) Thank you for attending as many engagements as you could in 2011, Geoff!

Congratulations, Rebekah and Braden! We hope your Texas wedding is wonderful! :D

1 nice things said

April 21, 2011

Raleigh Wedding Photographer in Durham: Amy+Dan

Amy and Dan are a lovely couple who did not let a few tornadoes spoil their outdoor wedding. :) How great is that? Yes, Amy and Dan were to be married in an outdoor ceremony at the Arrowhead Inn in Durham, NC at high noon when the weather channel was predicting, I kid you not, a “100% chance of severe storms.” That’s not a very good percent. :D But we got there and took pictures of Amy getting ready and, miraculously, despite them repeatedly announcing tornado warnings on the radio, it was merely overcast and their wedding was held outside at high noon against all odds. :) We were even able to take family and friend photographs AND the newlywed pictures afterward! It didn’t rain until the reception luncheon (when the lights went out briefly), but that was really all that happened. They were so lucky!

Their venue and their vendors couldn’t have been more wonderful, and neither could Amy and Dan’s fantastic family and friends. Amy’s family traveled in from Japan and they were married by Dan’s brother, a high school principal. It was all very sweet and low-key, just like the beautiful couple themselves. :)

Date: April 16, 2011

Venue: The Arrowhead Inn, Durham NC

Flowers: Special Event Florals, Nancy Dawson

Guitarist: Randy Reed

Officiant: Walter Finnigan

Amy is the definition of a blushing bride… not only because she is getting married, but because she is pregnant. :) Amy and Dan are expecting a baby girl in August!

ivory strapless empire waist wedding dress

This family is a family of cameras. I think everyone there had a camera, large or small, video or still. Below and to the right is our handsome groom, taking photographs of his lovely soon-to-be wife getting her hair done. :) Amy is a high school music teacher trained in classical singing, but she is hoping to one day become a photographer as well! And we will most certainly welcome her into the ranks because she is a wonderful person. :)

Amy looked gorgeous! Very beautiful, natural, and happy. :)

Proof that, even as tornadoes ran rampant through parts of Raleigh, the sun did come out that day (during their first kiss!) for perhaps a few seconds:

I can’t resist me a willow tree. ;)

wedding photography raleigh north carolina

Amy and Dan held a beautiful indoor luncheon for their wedding reception inside the Arrowhead Inn (the innkeepers are lovely and make EXCELLENT food!).

In conclusion, I had a wonderful day with you, Amy and Dan, and wish you the best of luck in your life and marriage! I do hope that I get to meet that baby girl soon and of course see you again. :) Thank you and congratulations! I’ll leave you all with these wise words of wisdom…

7 nice things said

April 15, 2011

Raleigh Engagement Photographer: Jen+Rob

It actually surprises me that my computer didn’t catch on fire and erase all of my hard drives and back up files before I actually got this up and on the internet because that’s kind of the luck that Jen, Rob, and myself have been having over the past several months. :) This wonderful couple had to change their wedding date several times and then had to make extra date accommodations to work around my crazy schedule so that I could be their photographer, and I am so grateful for that. So after we dodged a few obstacles around their wedding date, we finally set a date for engagement pictures. Then we had to reschedule 3 times… count ’em, 3… because of really crappy weather on every single one of their days. :( Wet, soggy, overcast. Jen, who knows what she wants, really envisioned a bright, happy day to have their spring themed session. She had bought a BUNCH of cute spring props and wasn’t prepared to let the overcast day win!

So on our 4th try the weather was gorgeous! We met at a location to take their photographs, a historic park where Jen and Rob frequent quite often. However, it turns out that you are not permitted to take photographs there. :) Usually I check with every location before shooting to double check that we have permission to shoot, no fees are involved, etc., but we were all under the impression that this was just a regular park. But we were mistaken… and on we went to a second plan, which was downtown Hillsborough. But it turns out that downtown Hillsborough has an equally adorable and gorgeous little park that has beautiful light. FINALLY! Mission complete. :) P.S. I love these two. Not only are they completely and adorably in love, but they’re just the nicest people and willing to put up with all my ridiculous suggestions. :)

Jen said, “Yes… let’s hide our faces behind these balloons because that’s the kind of day we’re having.” Hahaha. So they did. And you can’t tell looking at these pictures all that we went through!

I love this picture. And doesn’t Rob have the best hair?! I think I told him that like, ten times and probably made him pretty uncomfortable. But the guy has great hair, what can I say?

Jen wanted a very springy engagement session and had seen photographs using peeps and wanted to incorporate them. So we did. They were (obviously) good sports. And Jen, you have great eyes! They look great with her awesome yellow dress that I loved.

DR. PEEP TO THE E.R. STAT.

The cutest thing about this whole session was the fact that ROB LOVES JEN SO MUCH. You could just see it! A lot of the time people get nervous in front of the camera. If Jen and Rob were, I couldn’t tell. But everytime I posed Rob anywhere doing anything, he always did it better than what I asked him to do just by looking so incredibly in love with Jen… and it was adorable. They are just very comfortable and cute together.

Jen wanted to incorporate a quilt that her grandmother made into the session. What an adorable idea. :)

And a quick change brings us to our House Divided pictures as you can tell. :) Seriously, Jen brought a big bag full of props and was READY.

Raleigh photographer

house divded engagement session

Raleigh engagement photographer

Jen and Rob, I am very much looking forward to your awesome wedding in November (Cafe Luna)! I hope that these pictures are worth to you all of the hoops we all jumped through to get them! ;)

5 nice things said