Bob & Christine have been dating for 8 years and were planning on getting married in Garner but the venue went out of business.  The NACE organization stepped up and found willing vendors to donate the catering, wedding cake, flowers, wedding dress, DJ, musicians, officiants, equipment rentals and, of course, wedding photographers, and their time to give them both a fairytale wedding.  With their 3 children, the couple were married at the beautiful Sutherland in Wake Forest, NC and their family and close friends attended the wedding ceremony.

When I first thought about helping, it was not a hard decision for me to volunteer to take part in such a truly meaningful and humbling event.  To be completely honest, I had no idea how I would hold up throughout the evening but after seeing Christine, in her beautiful Vera Wang wedding dress and her absolute excitement gave us all the strength to focus on what was important, giving  her the perfect wedding day.  Working alongside wedding photographer Katie Hamister, we both got to witness a truly beautiful and radiant couple get married and work alongside the absolute best wedding vendors in the Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill area.

I cannot say enough about every wedding vendor who stepped up to donate their time to this truly worthy cause.  I am very proud and honored to have played a small role in such a wonderful & selfless effort by everyone involved.  To Bob & Christine, thank you so much for having me as part of your day.  I cannot say enough about how much it truly means to me to be a part of it.

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

If you are wondering what I am rambling about, please visit the Southern Bride & Groom website and see the wedding I photographed in January 2010 under their featured weddings.

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

About 40 wedding vendors exhibited at the show, including your truly, to meet with future brides and their friends and family.  I really enjoy doing these shows as I meet such great people and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves!  I have a few shots of my booth below and I’d like to give a special thank to Steve Taras from the Watered Garden Florist who provided my flowers.  Steve also handles all of the florals at the Umstead so you can see his lovely arrangements anytime you stop in.

Here are a few shots of my booth and the hotel!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

There is way too many great things to describe them all, so I will just touch on a few of the events that took place during the reception to give you a good feeling of the events.  After the cocktail hour was over, everyone was allowed into the room and as soon as the dance floor had some traffic, one of the dancers from split second sound breaks into a standing backflip.  Needless to say, that got everyones attention.  From there Sami was announced and she made her grand entrance coming down the beautiful Prestonwood Staircase in the grand ballroom and right into the Hora.

The rest of the evening was literally a blur of activities.  Candle lighting, bread breaking, a cool game called “Sami’s Story” which has people fill out cards earlier answering questions about Sami’s life and winners were given a prize if their name was drawn and they got it correct, pop noggins, slideshows, whew!  I’d like to specifically mention Lee Frankel, Sami’s mom, as she planned the entire event and really did a fabulous job with it.  My writeup is really not doing this justice so I will just go on to the photos.

Ceremony: Beth Mayer Synagogue – Raleigh, NC
Reception: Prestonwood Country Club – Cary, NC
DJ & Dancers: Split Second Sound – Charlotte, NC
Hair & Makeup: Ginger Mullins – Apex, NC
Cake: Prestonwood Country Club – Cary, NC
Video: Amazing Video Creations – Fuquay-Varina, NC
Flowers: The English Garden – Raleigh, NC
Decorations: Triangle Ballons – Raleigh, NC
Books: Paperwhite Press – Raleigh, NC

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

With moving into my new office I’ve gotten to know alot of the surrounding vendors. I had a great welcome to the area by being asked to do some commercial photography work for the Syeni Day Spa in Downtown Apex, NC. After talking with Sarah, the owner, a bit we determined we would do it right and get Architectural, Employees and Modeling photography over 3 different weekends.

The first weekend was architecture, which was quite alot of fun to shoot. The 2nd was shooting the empolyees and we saved the modeling photo shoot until last. It was really a great change of pace from weddings and I really enjoyed every aspect of the shoot.

As always, here are a few photographs:

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Here’s another engagement session that I never got around to blogging about. Sorry guys, it’s here now, in all its glory, on the front page of my shiny new blog.

Christy, Charles and I, literally, just hung out a bit on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Yates Mill Pond. With the leaves changing for fall, the wonderful autumn weather and how much Christy & Charles are in love with each other… well, it made the photography easy. When I met Christy & Charles initially, we definitely got along and, not to sound weird or creepy, but we just clicked. Seeing them for this session was, quite literally, just like seeing some longtime friends for a great day out in the park. I can’t remember how long we actually shot, but it literally just flew by and before we knew it, the sun was going down.

With their wedding fast approaching, I cannot wait to work with them again! Stay tuned for a beautiful wedding and reception on April 24th, 2010!

Please check out their engagement photos below!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Raleigh, NC – Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Brian Mullins Photography has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Outstanding Service in Wedding Photography.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Brian Mullins Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Brian Mullins Photography is among the very best Wedding Photography Business within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/brian-mullins-photography-apex/3d2d7ebdc2afa552.html

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

What a long trip it has been!

When I first met Marianna & Brian, it was September of 2008. The wedding was originally scheduled for February of 2010 but got pushed back to January 30th, 2010. It feels like forever since I first met with them but, then again, it also feels like I blinked and the time passed! Ok, enough reminiscing, well, almost.. I do want to note that Marianna & Brian will forever be known as my freezing couple. I shot either one or both of them a total of 4 times and the average temperature was 31 degrees. Their engagement session was shot on New Years eve in downtown Raleigh (anyone remember when they couldn’t have tents because the wind was blowing them off their stakes?) then her bridal portraitwas shot on a very cold December evening at the beach (more wind as you can imagine). So when their wedding day came around, it was only fitting we got 5-6″ of snow… brrrr.

When the wedding day arrived, I was already in downtown Raleigh. Not that I mind driving in the snow, but my confidence in others and the road clearing ability of the city of Raleigh is a bit on the low side. So I ended up grabbing a hotel the night before and after the wedding day to insure I would have no problems capturing their beautiful wedding. It’s a good time to mention that I have always wanted to shoot a snow wedding, so I was really excited for this! At the ceremony, I was thrilled to see how many people braved the elements to come out and celebrate Marianna & Brian’s wedding in the snow. After a sparkler exit from the wedding ceremony, we all piled back into the vans and rode back to downtown Raleigh for the wedding reception in the Capital City Club. Before heading back up, I just *had* to get some photos of my happy couple in the snow. With no traffic to speak of, we had free reign of Fayetteville St and, despite Marianna having open toed shoes on, she was a real trooper and let me work a little magic with them!

Both of them are swing dancers so the Casablanca Orchestra fired it up and everyone at the wedding danced it up to a wonderful performance of swing music. After cutting the cake with a saber, a few Captain Morgan poses, a whole lot of laughing and dancing, the night started to wrap up. I will make one notable exception here and mention that I was asked to dance, and graciously accepted, by Kelly. Thanks Kelly!

The last shot below is as I was leaving Capital City Club and walking back to my hotel. Even though I had been photographing for about 9 hours straight at this point, this shot was too beautiful to pass up. I do believe I may frame this one for myself.

Marianna & Brian – thank you both so much for all of your warmth & hospitality! I truly enjoyed working (and freezing) with you both over the past 18 months and I want to give you my most heartfelt congratulations!!!!

Now on to a few photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Thank you Jenn!!!!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

As you can probably guess, we had a few things against us from the start. It was absolutely frigid outside and, as we were at the beach, there was a constant breeze. Marianna, my bride, was a real trooper to bear the cold as she did. Of course, it’s fitting because her engagement session also had cold weather and her wedding, the last weekend in January, had 5″ of snow on the ground in Raleigh. I truly believe though, in adverse conditions, you can get something absolutely beautiful and unique, which is exactly what we got!

We started out at the North end of Wrightsville Beach on the dunes and worked our way around the beach. By the time we got done there, I was having a very hard time focusing 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 help us out a bit more.

I think you will agree, the results were stunning!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Thank you so much to Donna & everyone over at Southern Bride & Groom magazine for featuring me!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Well, I wanted to start off 2010 with a bang, this was certainly the way to do it! It all started quite a few months ago with, of all things, a wrong #. Elizabeth had called me looking for wedding hair & makeup. Not that I offer this service (my wife does), but somehow our numbers had gotten transposed on a vendor list, so, she got me instead. I was a bit out of my element when she asked for Ginger on my phone so when I found out she needed hair & makeup, I gladly gave her Ginger’s phone number. Now, for those that know me, or read my blog, you know I am a bit of a smart alec at times… So of course I asked her if she needed a wedding photographer as well. She did.. and, well, the rest is history. I can now say, however, that I booked a client from a wrong number, and it’s the truth!

Nick & Elizabeth, first of all, have been such a joy to work with throughout the planning stages of the wedding. Our last consult involved some rather exotic beverages and a wonderful dinner down the street from my photography office. With a lead up like that, you know this was going to be an awesome wedding! I can honestly say, wow! When I first arrived and met Elizabeth in her room at the Washington Duke Inn, I was floored at what a lovely bride she was! I don’t think I was in the room for more then 5 seconds before I immediately began shooting. As I moved around the room, I noticed that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was embroidered, stitched, labeled or otherwise notated with Elizabeth & Nick’s names, initial or monograms. Wedding cookies, water bottle, tote bags.. you name it, there was their names on it! In other words.. totally awesome! I headed from the brides room into the grooms suite and photographed the guys getting ready. Nick presented me with a wonderful present from both him and his lovely bride – a bottle of imported Rum (which I am waiting for your guys return to crack it open – so hurry up! ) – thank you so much!!!

We headed over to the Duke Chapel where Elizabeth put on her wedding gown and got ready to walk down the aisle! I want to give a special thank you to the officiant, who had Nick & Elizabeth turn around during the ceremony to look at everyone in attendance – allowing me to get quite a few great shots! After the ceremony, the train on the wedding dress was adjusted, as well as the groom’s tux getting brushed off, we ran off for family formals and a little alone time with the newly married couple.

At the Washington Duke Inn, I was, well, floored when I saw the room setup. Absolutely gorgeous!!!! We had discussed this photo idea beforehand so we got into the room before anyone else, and my happy couple shared a dance, alone, in the middle of the dance floor. I Love this photograph and I am so glad we made all the arrangements to make it happen! After the reception was over and the happy couple exited the hotel in a shower of rose petals, a horse & carriage awaited them. As they rode off, I ran after them, hopped in, and we took a quick stroll around campus while I was photographing their ride. Of course, I hopped out after a bit and got a few great shots of them on the Duke Campus, at night, in a horse & carriage.

So, to Elizabeth & Nick – congratulations to you both! Thank you so much for having me capture your wedding and I cannot wait for you to see all the photos!!! Now, on to a few of them!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

As I arrived, I immediately began salivating with all the food selections prepared especially for this event by the Umsteads Executive Chef, Scott Crawford. AS the evenings guests began to arrive, I got a really great example of Umstead service at its finest. From the moment the band began playing, the dance floor began to fill and, literally, I blinked (I felt like it was that fast) and midnight was upon us. Now I knew in advance that I wanted to do something special when it hit midnight as the Umstead had arranged for confetti cannons to go off. Using a slightly different flash technique, I actually had the directional light coming off of the dance floor instead of the ceiling (which illuminates the whole room). The end result, in my opinion, was spectacular!

My hats off to the Umstead for demonstrating what fine dining and an elegant gala really is. You certainly set the bar high this year.. can’t wait to see how you top it in 2010!

On to a few photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Ceremony – Jones Chapel – Meredith College in Raleigh, NC
Reception – The Royal – Raleigh, NC
Wedding Directors – Danielle McNeillie and Jack Armstrong – (919) 656-4551
Cake – Ashleys Cakes – Raleigh, NC
Flowers – Victorian Seasons – Apex, NC
Catering – Cafe Luna – Raleigh, NC
DJ – Ron K Smith Productions – Raleigh, NC

Christa & Aaron turned out to be my last wedding of what was an incredible 2009 season and what a way to close it out! Having their ceremony at Jones Chapel, which is a beautiful Chapel on the Meredith College Campus, certainly had me excited as there really is no bad place to shoot here (well, maybe by the construction tape but I could of made that work as well).

Occasionally, I walk into a “preparation” room and having to pull up my boots because, well, it’s going to be a challenge. The preparation room here, however, was large enough to hold the ceremony in and beautifully adorned. A very fitting scene for my lovely couple and instantly got the creative juices flowing. I love dresses hanging from chandeliers and, well, you’ll see below.

After a beautiful wedding ceremony and, what the officiant described as the “best wedding kiss all year”, we went outside to do some bride & groom portraits… only one problem now, it was dark. Well, if you know anything at all about me, I LOVE shooting in dramatic lighting situations and, well, darkness can certainly be considered dramatic.

After I subjected the couple, specifically Christa, to December temperatures in a sleeveless gown, in a parking garage, we headed up to the Royal to get the party started. Ron Smith got the party jumping after everyone had their bellies full with Cafe Luna food (If you have never been there you must go!). Dancing, partying and laughter made up the rest of the evenings events and the couple exited the evening to a sparkler exit to their car. Apparently a few of the groomsmen had their way with the car and, ahem, I won’t be showing any of those photos.

So, congratulations to Christa & Aaron! You guys were awesome to work with! As always, here are a few of your wedding photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Well it certainly paid off as my booth won the “Best in Show” Booth design out of over 200 vendors. I am so flattered and honored to have received this award and cannot thank everyone enough who helped me with furniture rentals and the overall layout. Unfortunately I was in Tennessee attending the Digital Wedding Forum & Imaging USA conferences but my wife accepted on my behalf.

Here are the vendors that helped me win!!

Flowers: Fresh Affairs
Carpet & Couches: Classic Party Rentals
Ottomans & Coffee Tables: Triangle Catering – Flair Division

Here are a few photos of my “award winning” booth!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

I was referred Meredith & Geoff from another local photographer who could not take their wedding day (Thanks Heather S)!!! When we sat down and started talking, I immediately knew we were going to have a blast as they told me about their wedding day! A beautiful church (Edenton St UMC), an elegant reception hall (The Cardinal Club) and a smokin’ hott (2 tt’s) couple make for some really great photo ops!

We had talked quite a bit in the months leading up to their wedding day. We discussed all sorts of ideas for unique and fun photography between their wedding and reception. They had allotted about 90 minutes between the ceremony and reception time so we had so many options open to us that, really, the sky was the limit. We decided to shoot at two main locations with several elements in each.. the NCSU belltower and Pullen Park. After the beautiful ceremony (have I mentioned how much I love this church??) the couple hopped in the limo and off to Pullen park we went…

Once getting to the park – first stop – carousel. There were so many options to shooting this and, honestly, I wanted something different. I ended up both riding on the carousel with the entire bridal party the first time, then on the ground as the bride & groom took a 2nd turn by themselves. The photos ended up being better then I could of imagined (*see below). We then took a walk around the park a bit to shoot some fun formals and more stuff of just the happily married couple enjoying a few minutes alone. Back into the limo we went and headed off to the Cardinal Club.

Let me preface this by saying I had been in a rut of rainy Saturdays lately. I love a rainy wedding day as it offers so many different opportunities then you would normally have for unique and dramatic photos. However, I had been aching for a beautiful blue sky and Geoff & Meredith arranged for the best one I had seen in a while (thanks guys). The cardinal club is on the 28th floor in downtown Raleigh and is an absolute wonderful venue to have a wedding or reception in. The view is breathtaking and the floor to ceiling windows really lets you take in the beautiful downtown cityscapes.

The reception got jumping thanks to Garrett with Lenny Fritts – touch of class DJ’s and the party got rolling. A side note here.. I had an assistant for the wedding reception. I cannot remember his name but he was about 4′ tall and was running around with his digital camera taking some really decent photos. I remember near the end of the reception he was without his camera and looking a bit downtrodden. I found out either his camera batteries died or he had no space left on his memory card. Well, far be it from me to deprive someone of something they are really good at, so I gave him my spare camera to shoot with. Let me say this.. I have NEVER, EVER seen a kid so happy before. Some of his shots are included in the disc to the bride & groom (yes, he is good) and I want to tell you KEEP AT IT!!!

Literally, before I knew it, the reception was over and with it still being somewhat early (10pm), the bride & groom decided to head out to downtown – in their wedding wear. they were gracious enough to invite me out, sans camera, to enjoy the rest of the evening with them. I cannot tell you how touched I am when I get invited out to help celebrate a beautiful wedding so, to Meredith & Geoff, THANK YOU for all of your hospitality, graciousness and just plain awesomeness! I had an absolute blast working with you both and I know you are just going to love your photos!!!

Now on to a few of them:

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Ahh..  the holidays are really here!  I love being a part of larger organizations that allow me to network with other wedding professionals.  Back in November, I was asked to cover this years “Light Up Durham” celebration at the American Tobacco Historic District.   I had a chance to discuss it over dinner with Valerie Ward and, frankly, I was immediately excited!

If you are not familiar with the event, the American Tobacco Campus has a huge water tower at its center.  Instead of flying in a Christmas tree, they string lights on the water tower and have a huge event, open to the public, to celebrate the throwing of the switch!  This year, they had 4 different groups of singers, from elementary, middle, high school & college performing along with the Raleigh Ringers and several local personalities.

Fake snow along with a beautifully decorated campus completed the feeling (thanks to the cold weather as well) and made the event a HUGE success with over 1000 people attending.

Bay 7 housed a beautiful VIP reception where local brewers and a culinary school had suds & food for everyone.  Complete with Christmas decorations and Wull E. Bull made an appearance to try out the food and help celebrate the lighting of the tower.

Here are a few photos from the event!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Brian Mullins Photography LLC Located in The Sellars Building
108-B N. Salem Street
Suite 202
Apex, NC 27502

After a long search looking for just the right space, I finally found the perfect location and office in downtown Apex, NC. Located on N. Salem Street (right in the middle of historic downtown Apex), the 2nd floor office has 2 rooms and plenty of room to shoot studio portraiture should the need ever arise (have already done my first portraiture here). I completely underestimated the amount of time and energy it takes to make a space look and feel the way I wanted so I expect some more changes in the near future.

I am so absolutely excited to have had such great clients over the past 4 years and this office is a tribute to my love of wedding photography. I will be announcing a “gathering” in the very near future but, for now, I have just a few photos for you.

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

As fall weddings are coming to a close, I was very excited to end the season on a great wedding for Jason & Lisa! When we initially met I heard a little bit about the wedding dress, the shoes and a few other very personalized parts of the wedding that, frankly, made me just a bit giddy. Lisa had designed and stitched (in part) her wedding dress with red and oranges. She also may take the prize for the coolest shoes of the year. Between the dress, the bouquet Lisa made herself and the music, I can honestly say this was a perfect way to wrap up a tremendously successful 2009 wedding season!

Jason & Lisa were married on the lawn of the Umstead Hotel in Cary, NC. The lawn has concrete pavers leading out to a wonderfully scenic view of the lake and fountain. After a very emotional wedding ceremony, the newlyweds and I got a chance to roam the lakefront and interior of the hotel to get some great wedding day portraits. One of the things they really wanted was to enjoy part of the cocktail ceremony. As they were announced into the crowd, it was evident how important friends and family really where to them as they, literally, were immediately surrounded.

I will award 2 points for the coolest way to leave the bride and groom notes wishing them well. A very old and operational manual typewriter was left out with fine paper to type on. Everyone who came by pounded out a few well wishes and, I know when I tried typing a note, I gained a new found respect for touch sensitive keyboards and the backspace button. Once inside, everyone enjoyed a wonderfully prepared meal by the Umstead chef and some cool dinner sounds from Jeff Simpson.

As the evening progressed, the toasts, cake cutting and general hugs & well wishes all faded into the history of the day as everyone got out on the dance floor. With a great soundtrack from the 80’s including the cars, psychedelic furs, echo and the bunnymen and many other bands from the era got * kept everyone moving until the end of the evening.

I’d like to extend my sincerest congratulations to Jason & Lisa for a wonderful marriage and thank you so much for having me be part of your day.

And now on to a few photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

I was back at the beautiful Fairmont Methodist UMC for my latest wedding. Hunter & Melanie had actually chosen the church, in part, from photos I had done for a previous wedding client here. With it being an older church in downtown Raleigh, it really has some beautiful areas for photography and lovely pools of natural light that makes for gorgeous wedding photography.

Hunter really surprised me when I arrived. He actually had a present for me which, I can honestly say, is a first on the wedding day. Imagone my surprise when I opened up the box and found this inside. So, let me thank the both of you again for really making my day!

Their day, for photography, turned out wonderful with cloudy skies giving me a ton of flexibility on my locations. After the wedding ceremony (did I mention how much I love this church?), we dodged a few raindrops and photographed around the church campus. Then off to Bogarts in Raleigh where I got to take the happily married couple out and around the architecture in downtown (which is a big favorite of mine). Back inside Bogarts we got to enjoy a wonderful set of dances with the parents and, of course, the newlyweds. Bogarts did a wonderful job with hosting the wedding reception and everyone had an absolute blast dancing and celebrating with Hunter & Melanie! AS things began to wind down, a few of the groomsman “prepared” the car as a final salute to the couple.

As it does tend to happen in this area, the skies cleared up after the wedding reception which gave us the chance to the go back out downtown and photograph a bit more. I do need to clarify the wedding was on 10/24, so there was some Halloween activity going on in the form of a scavenger hunt – so hopefully the explains the zombies.

As always, here are a few photos from the evening!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Ahh.. the craziness that is the fall wedding season in Raleigh. When I first met Susan & Corey, I remembered thinking how cool it would be shooting a small & intimate gathering of family and very close friends at a place like Second Empire. If you’ve never been I highly recommend you going as it is not the top rated restaurant in Raleigh by mistake. The service, atmosphere and food are simply spectacular. I’ll get into the service part in a second but, let’s just say, flexibility it definitely high on the list of what makes them so great!

With a small wedding congregation of about 20 people and the bride & groom, this was a wonderfully intimate affair that (being selfish here) allowed me to really work with Susan & Corey for quite a while. To say I am pleased with the results would be an understatement and a few of these photos will certainly be making it onto my main website. The day started off, well, in an interesting fashion as the couple discovered the guys boutonnieres had been left behind. I spoke with the Second Empire Manager and the found some beautiful white roses which were cut and would be perfect for the guys. One sticking point… pins. We didn’t have any pins to attached the flowers to the lapels so again, we had to be resourceful. I pulled out my trusty emergency kit and found needle & thread as well as safety pins to attach them.. the day is saved!!!

Let me say, I LOVE the light in the 2nd empire dining room. With a bay window allowing natural light in behind the couple, it adds a real ethereal quality to the photos. After the ceremony and formals, Susan, Corey & myself hit the streets and shot for quite a while in the block surrounding the restaurant. With it being a cloudy day, the conditions were perfect for outdoor photography and, again, the results are outstanding. After we came back into the reception, champagne was popped and the cake was cut…. well, ok, it took an effort to cut the cake. Personally I think the cake cutter was defective (or Corey possesses Hulk like strength) but, needless to say, it didn’t survive the ordeal. A replacement was quickly found (again, thank you to the Second Empire) and we proceeded again.

I’d like to thank both Corey & Susan for letting me be a part of their day and capture some a special event for them.

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

You may remember Erin & Thij from their Grove Park Inn wedding earlier this year. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day of their wedding so we didn’t get do any outdoor portraits, which was really important to them. The week after the wedding we talked it over and decided to capture the same feel in Raleigh and Yates Mill Pond immediately came to mind.

So I know it’s called a Day After Session but, well, it was actually a couple of weeks. There is something to be said for consistency and we had to reschedule twice as the rain continued to follow our plans. Finally we were able to get a break in the weather, don the wedding dress and tux (them, not me) and shoot outdoors.

Here’s a few of my favorites from the day:

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Wowzers! What a fall it has been! Continuing on my wedding photography marathon (which I totally love by the way), I present Emily & Mark to you! I shared their e-session on my blog not too long ago and recounted my embarrassing statement of “You look like you belong on TV” and, guess what, she is (Fox 8 in Greensboro, NC). Well, their wedding date finally arrived and I was super excited!

When I first entered the church for the wedding ceremony, I was literally floored. I love Catholic churches and this one was absolutely breathtaking. The stonework, adornments, colors and LIGHT. Yes, I had another church with light in it! I have certainly withdrawn a few credits from my wedding photography bank account so I am sure to run into a few Scottish dungeons soon. (I love the Scots, just saying your dungeons are dark!).

Meeting up with Emily in her dressing room was, well, exciting! I hadn’t seen her since our engagement session in Raleigh and to be greeted with a warm hug and laughs just always sets a wonderful tone for the day! Emily was still getting ready so I had a chance to get shots of her, her shoes, close friends, families and the dress! I know I have mentioned it before but doing the wedding preparation photography is a favorite of mine… it’s just a wonderful time full of nerves, smiles, laughter and just raw emotion. Emily certainly had all of these going on and we got some great stuff in the room.

While she was getting dressed, I had a few moments to catch up with Mark upstairs. Shot a few portraits of him with his best man with a beautiful stained glass window before heading back down to meet Emily. Off to the ceremony we go (but not before grabbing a mini-portrait of her in the church stairwell 5 minutes before the wedding). The ceremony was beautiful and, let me say again, what a beautiful church!!! After the wedding ceremony, I got my favorite exit shot of the year. This one was not posed, just a quick kiss while they were walking out.

After the wedding, we headed off to the Hayloft for the wedding reception. Having never been there I was anticipating, well, shooting in a barn hayloft. What a cool place to have a wedding reception! After the dances & dinner, the DJ got everyone moving and the Elvis impressions were unveiled (friends & relatives of the couple, not the couple themselves). A few more hours of partying and awesome photography, I capped the night off by spying on the newlyweds a bit and grabbing a few GREAT photographs of them dancing alone, outside.

Congratulations to you both Emily & Mark! You have both been incredible to work with and I can’t wait for you to see the rest of your photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

When I arrived today, I had this wonderful surprise waiting for me! Thank you again guys! Have a wonderful honeymoon and I can’t wait for you to see your photos!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites

Have I mentioned I love shooting bridal portraits? Lauren, myself and her family had a blast photographing hers at the State club in Raleigh. We were looking to keep the photo classic but slightly edgy and when threatening weather rolled in, canceling our downtown Raleigh location, we put our collective heads together and came up with this location.

The State club is beautiful on the inside and, being a NC State fan, well, I was just happy to be here! Lauren, like many brides, are always a little nervous to begin with so you can see the progression of the portrait as we got more comfortable with each other. My favorite, and her selection, is the last in the group below!

Share the goodness!

Hide Sites