I, like many Raleigh Wedding Photographers, are hoping for indoor weddings now that it’s 250+ degrees outside, in the shade. This past weekend I had just that, an indoor wedding and reception. To make it even better, the wedding and reception were both at the Wake Chapel in Fuquay-Varina, about 20 minutes outside of Raleigh. This means no getting into a 300+ degree car to make the mad dash to the reception hall. So, all in all, I was looking forward to a relatively nice day inside the building with the AC set to “penguin”.
The day started off with Carly getting ready in the reception hall just behind the church. I had never been inside this building before so it was nice to get a first hand look at the hall before the festivities started. As Carly was getting her hair & makeup done, after a few photos of course, I headed up to the sanctuary where James and his brothers/best men were getting dressed. The sanctuary was built in 1856 and added onto over the years. This makes the interior a pretty cool place with lots of neat features that are very historic in creation literally beside cutting edge technology. My one favorite was the old art deco door with a round glass cutout (never did walk thru that door though). In my opinion, Raleigh Wedding Photographers really have the best of both worlds with both urban and rural churches within an easy commute.
The bride came up shortly after and, well, we had a wedding! This church just recently allowed wedding photographers back into the sanctuary after, well, let’s just call it an incident with a not-so-professional wedding photographer. This was exciting news for me as the interior is gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to photograph the ceremony. After the ceremony and formals, we opted to go straight into the reception as the thermometer was still showing “broil” outside. We had 3 great dances and a few tears, of course, to start off the reception. Food was in plentiful supply and the cake cutting started off a “smashing” affair. 
Carly and James chose a bubble wedding exit and with no wind, it made it perfect to photograph them coming out of the reception hall. We met in downtown Fuquay-Varina to catch up on the portraits we missed due to the heat. It was still hot outside but with the sun going down, it was bearable and made for some lovely light to work in.
I’d like to thank Carly, James & their parents for their hospitality and graciousness! Congratulations to you all and I hope you enjoy the photos!
by Brian Mullins
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