Anyway, Ashley had talked about taking her pictures there and as I had never been, I was really excited to shoot there.  I was certainly NOT disappointed.  Ashley was wearing a stunning dress that seemed made for her and fit the scenery perfectly.  Her Mother had the foresight to bring along a few long stemmed roses which we used in a few of the shots.  As we only had 90 minutes to shoot, we started at the main building and walked down to the gardens, grabbing photos at the multitude of gorgeous locations on the Reynolda Gardens grounds.  I seriously had a very difficult time picking the “best” photos from this session.  It seemed that everything we did just came out perfect…  from the first photos to the last.

Having never been to Reynolda Gardens before, I can honestly say I can’t wait to go back.  It really is such a gorgeous location and the memory of the place is in no small part to my gorgeous bride, Ashley, who absolutely rocked her portrait session.  I can’t wait to blog about  her wedding but that will have to wait until another post.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Ashleys Reynolda Gardens Wedding Portrait.

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As Monique was having her wedding and reception at the Umstead Hotel, and as it’s such a gorgeous facility, she wanted her bridal photography done their as well (trust me, no complaints here).  We started out in the main hallway where, at each end, is a gorgeous (and huge) hand made vase with reeds/sticks and, well, daunting light challenges.  Monique brought her  entourage and I immediately put them to work with reflectors and lights.  I specifically wanted to use a video light in this area and, with the help of Monique’s friends, we got a great portrait.  Not sure if other bridal photographers have 4 assistants, but I think I need to re-visit this one day. 

We moved outside and took advantage of the beautiful time of day to highlight both Monique and the surrounding property.  Shooting both in the front and back of the property, not only did we capture great photos of Monique (in her stunning gown), but also showed how gorgeous the Umstead Hotel grounds really are.  In a slightly unusual, well, different, way to photograph her bridal portrait, we finished up well after dark, outside.  Photographing at night is really one of my favorite things to do and we both LOVED the results.  So, without further ado, here are a few samples of Monique’s Umstead Hotel bridal portrait!

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We started by the gorgeous staircase in the front foyer of the Highgrove. This area really showcases the southern elegance of the property and fit Mary Channing’s beautiful wedding gown perfectly! From there we moved into the back hallway that is flooded with natural light from windows on 3 sides. Even though it was a cloudy day, the lighting was beautiful! We headed into the side parlor where the drapes and gorgeous furnishing just made for a fabulous finish to the session.

I hope you enjoy a few choice photos from Mary Channing’s wedding portrait session.

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We started off behind the house I was staying at.  It was on the sound side of Wrightsville beach and had spectacular scenery for her bridal portraits.  From there, we moved to the Ocean side at a lovely spot I had been to before.  From here, we could photograph the dunes, the ocean or all of the above.  We ended up the session well after sunset and, because of that, we captured some gorgeous colors in the twilight sky.  I hope you enjoy a few choice selections from Caroline’s bridal portrait session.

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My favorite place to photograph at Duke Chapel is the arcades.  The arcades are the wings that extend from the main narthex off to each side.  The architecture is gorgeous and the light filtering through the openings in each wing makes for beautiful and contrasting light – perfect for a bridal portrait.

We spent a good amount of time, until the sun went down in fact, outside (which was very cold by the way – thank you Alise for toughing it out) and then we moved inside to the library.  Now I am a huge fan or architecture and structure in photos so the library entrance was perfect for what we both were looking for.  In fact, the portrait she chose (and displayed at her wedding) was one we took inside the library. Here are a few of my favorites from her Bridal Portrait session at Duke Chapel.

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As I was helping run the competition, I could not enter but I really wanted to photograph anyway as the facility is gorgeous.  I also wanted to play with using different lighting techniques that, if they didn’t turn out as hoped, would not disappoint a wedding client so these are certainly a little different then other Bridal portraits in Raleigh, NC that I photograph.  The end results were, in my opinion, beautiful!  Using somewhat of an unorthodox lighting method, I ended up creating a very dramatic, timeless and alluring bridal portrait.  It should be noted that while my model, Kim, is not a bride, she also had no modeling experience so was just as nervous in front of the camera as anyone else would  be.  She really rocked the shoot and I really love the end results.

I’d like to give a big thank you to  the RTP Marriott staff for letting us use their hotel, our models and makeup artists, the Wedding Photographic Society for helping hold the event (there are 5 of us who help run it) and our lovely “clients” who donated their time and put on wedding dresses for us.  On to a few photos that I hope you really love!

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We had everyone on deck for Carly’s bridal portrait with her mother and sister coming out to help.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day and, as such, the gardens were teeming with people.  While my life is certainly not like this, people rarely see a bride outside of a wedding so, of course, we had our own gaggle of spectators watching us work.  Carly handled the attention like a pro and we ended up with some beautiful portraits for her wedding day.   I hope you enjoy a few of her Duke Gardens Bridal Portraits.

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I met up with Sarah, her mom and helpers at the Fearrington House so we could get right to the bridal photography.  They let us have full access to the gardens and entire grounds so we had so many diverse looks to play with.  Sarah certainly wanted a beautiful portrait but we wanted to keep it mostly traditional while showing the southern charm of the Fearrington.  We photographed until the sun went down and the results we got were absolutely outstanding.  I am afraid I made Sarah’s job really difficult in picking out just one photograph.  Sorry Sarah. 

I hope you enjoy a few choice photos from Sarah’s Bridal Portrait session:

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I asked Joanna to come out for this and she readily agreed (Thanks Joanna, you rock!) as it was an opportunity to have some fun and photograph what we wanted. As this was more for me then Joanna, I decided early on that an Urban Bridal Portrait was just what I was wanting to do. Locating a warehouse in Raleigh was a little more difficult but a friend came through for me and found one with access to do it in. All I can say is, I want, really want, to do this more often as we both had an absolute blast with it! Joanna brought out her Jimmy Choos to spice up the bridal portrait and, with the dress and a lovely wedding client, well the results were awesome!

The bridal portrait lasted about 3 hours and it literally flew by as we moved from floor to floor in the warehouse. Gems like this location are hard to find in Raleigh so we shot until the sun went down (which gave us some beautiful golden light to photograph with). Using mostly natural light, I think we really captured the feel of the location and came out with an outstanding example of an urban bridal portrait. It’s shoots like this that really recharge my artistic sensibilities and, as a wedding photographer, that’s essential to getting the iconic look and feel I want in my wedding photography.

Joanna, thank you so much for taking the time out to have some fun! I truly hope you enjoyed both the session and the photography we captured!

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We started out at the North end of Wrightsville Beach, NC on the sand dunes and worked our way around the beach. By the time we got done there, I was having a very hard time focusing my camera because of how dark it was (and my fingers were frozen). We moved down to the Oceanic and used the floodlights from the pier to make seeing everyone a bit easier.  I really love working with wedding clients who want a unique and different bridal portrait and this did not disappoint.  I think you will agree, the results were stunning!

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We started out the bridal portrait slowly at first.  I mean, multiple lights and a guy with a camera, a nice guy that is (nice camera too), can be pretty intimidating at first so I thought it would be neat to shot the progression of our shots below.  I would like to thank the lovely Lauren for being my portrait client and especially for having fun during the shoot which enabled us to get the last shot, which she chose for her bridal portrait on display at the wedding.

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This weekend I had the amazing Anna’s bridal portrait at Meredith College.  If you;ve never been on campus, they have a beautiful chapel and an amazing lake complete with bridges, killer geese and lovely foliage!  We started the day by grabbing some photos overlooking the water and proceeded to walk around the lake. I’ll give myself 1 point for recommending Anna wear her cowboy boots instead of her shoes as we were walking in nature.  I didn’t hear it, but I’m sure her feet (and shoes) both thanked me in their own way.

COOL STORY ALERT – Anna’s father proposed to her mother on one of the benches overlooking the water, so of course I had to photograph them sitting back on the bench again.

Here’s a few selections from the day!  Sorry fellows, she’s already taken!

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To achieve this, we enlisted the assistance of two very talented models, Heather & Lauren, poured them into a few different wedding dresses and went to downtown Raleigh with a total of 6 photographers, 2 models, 3 dresses & 1 scarf (RIP).  The sun was out, the winds were blowing approximately 40 mph and we suffered only one casualty, the scarf.  It was literally ripped from our models hand and soared over 15 stories in the air before landing somewhere on top of a parking deck.  With the impending weather, we didn’t bother to look for it.  During our dinner break, the weather decided we should work on indoor shooting and The Big Easy came to our rescue.  They literally let us have the run of the place and with such rich textures, great ambient light and vibrant colors, it really made our evening.

Special thanks to everyone who participated – Ken, Bob, Patti, and Frank!

Now, onto a few of the photos:

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