Amanda+Patrick // A 1920s-themed Wedding

Ahhh, our first 1920s-themed wedding! This may sound strange, but the 1920s are actually my favorite decade should I choose to go back in time. I think it’s the fact that women had short hair and their dresses had a lot of fringe. Plus it seemed like they threw some pretty awesome parties. Basically, I picture the entire decade like that scene from The Shining in the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel (I’m sure that’s totally accurate, right?). Anyway, Amanda and Patrick’s wedding was ’20s themed and it was awesome. They had their guests dressed up which was incredibly impressive because they actually listened and came up with the most amazing things. There were lots of feathers, black and white, fringe, wing-tipped shoes, pin stripes, those long cigarette holder things, kids dressed like newsboys, and a guy who brought a violin case with a plastic automatic weapon inside. They danced the Charleston and plays 1920s music and Patrick’s grandfather wore a fake mustache. I’m not sure we could ask for more than that. It was the best ever.

Amanda and Patrick are some pretty sweet people who we like a lot. When we first met for their consult, Amanda brought her old high school copy of Resident Evil (the book!) for me to read. I was totally going to steal it and read it anyway if they didn’t book us, but they did, so I gave it back when I was done reading it. Not many people have the dedication to read the actual book for Resident Evil, so I was quite impressed with Amanda (plus I liked her red hair), but then we found out that Patrick’s a real life actual rocket scientist and so he won the first-impression-impressiveness-contest, but we came away loving them both equally despite Amanda’s lack of degrees in rocket scientism. They are super nice, and Amanda gave me a ginger beer on her wedding day and introduced me to all of the adorable dogs in the family… and there were cool string lights and a piano and salt and vinegar chips and caramel apple bites! I’m gonna live mentally in this wedding forever. We’ll miss you, Amanda and Patrick!! Amanda, you should still send emails when you’re bored.

Date: October 12, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Garden on Millbrook // Raleigh, NC

First Dance Song: “Transatlanticism” – Death Cab for Cutie

Amanda’s Occupation: Drafter at an engineering firm

Patrick’s Occupation: Aerospace engineer at NASA

How You Met: High school art class

Interesting Fact: Have two cute mutts, paint in oils and play music together for fun, have been together 8 years before getting married

Honeymoon Destination: St. Croix

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Mike Seipal (Patrick’s Uncle) | DJ – Barbour & Hinton | Florist – Vang Flowers at the Farmer’s Market | Cake – Ashley Cakes | Caterer – Garden on Millbrook | Hair – Kristi at Vanity Salon in Garner | Makeup – Amanda and Patrick’s mom, Kate | Coordinator – Marc Dabagian at the Garden on Millbrook and Amanda’s Aunt Becky

Ariana+Matt // Raleigh Rose Garden

We met Ariana and Matt way, way, way back at the 4th wedding we’ve ever photographed. Ariana was a bridesmaid and Matt was a groomsman and they had kind of exchanged brief “hello”s at each other once before since their best friends were engaged. Now they were in the wedding, and I specifically remember photographing them several times talking and dancing because I was pretty sure they were a couple, but apparently they weren’t, but rather had just started actually speaking more than “hello” that evening. Clearly they seemed like a couple and that obviously transformed into them actually being a couple and I’m really happy that I took those photos because that’s pretty much when they first met so I feel like I have some sort of weird, cosmic part in the whole thing. :)

Through the years since that wedding, Ariana has kept in touch with me. She’s an extremely talented cellist who plays at weddings and with the symphony (and has performed recently with Yo-Yo Ma!) and is generally awesome. Recently she asked me for my hair dresser’s contact information and got her hair cut right before us so we were able to see her and recommend the best gluten-free restaurant ever in Asheville (Posana!) where her and Matt were soon headed for their anniversary (they’re gluten-freebies). She had a sneaking suspicion that he might propose, so we were anxiously awaiting the news, and he did, and it was awesome, and then they went to Posana to celebrate, so I feel like we had a weirdly cosmic part in that aspect of their relationship timeline as well! Clearly the cosmos think the four of us are pretty good together.

Anyway – we are thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to have them finally… all these years later… as our clients and we’re looking forward to their wedding next March! Here are our favorites from their engagement session at the Raleigh Rose Garden. We love you both and are so excited!