Church: North Raleigh UMC – Raleigh, NC
Wedding Reception: Capital City Club – Raleigh, NC
Flowers: Ninth Street Flowers – Raleigh, NC
Cake: Edible Art – Raleigh, NC
Band: Casablanca Orchestra – Raleigh, NC
Invitations: Carlson Craft
Dress: Enchanting Moments
Transportation: White Horse Transportation – Raleigh, NC
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!
by Brian Mullins
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