fun: Rachel + Lance

Rachel was referred to me from Kate's Mom (or was it Megan's? and Megan referred Kate??). Anyway it went, I am such a blessed woman! Witnessing the relationships of all these women has been really rewarding for me. Each wedding was so different from the other, and each girl so different I saw a completely different bunch of guests at each womans' wedding.

Lance and Rachel had to be the party couple of the bunch. What a wonderful wedding! for you, your family, and most of all your friends, who obviously mean so much to you.

I loved the colors of Rachel's red and the church's blue walls in this room:

getting The Dress on... loving all the hands here:

alright, who nailed the groom? sheesh!

Rachel and her girls. I wish everyone had friends like yours, woman!

First dance

First dance 2.0

I do believe he was encouraged to try the frosting..

post cake smush

cross walk in style... that's a lot of bridal party!

what flower girls do

my exit, stage left. :)

Congratulations to you both! Your online gallery with many, many more images will be ready in a few days.
Special thanks to my new assistant, Alexis on her first time out. Good job!

e-pics: Heidi + Adam

In just two meetings, I have deduced that Ms. Heidi has cute shoes. I'm hypothesizing that anyone with colorful, cute shoes is my kind of client. Their soon-to-be grooms must be too. :)

This is Heidi's favorite:

Their reception next year will be at the Carolina Inn...here in the background...

The couple that plays together stays together. :)

...my last engagement session of 2007! What brave souls to do Chapel Hill in the chill. Here's looking to the warmth of July! See you then.

Blessings,

sweet: Autumn + John

I keep thinking they are from Indiana, like me, but no, it's Ohio. Close enough for me!

Autumn and John were our third wedding in Pinehurst for 2007, but it amazes me how each couple, each bunch of guests and each wedding vision can be so unique. Even the work from John and I seems a bit different for each client.



as the guys took fun portraits with John....

I photographed the ladies getting ready. Love this nervous flower girl.




beautiful Autumn!


it's a really, really long walk down the aisle for a little flower girl...

sometimes you just need a hand to get you there.










during the toasts...


grooms cake.... looks just like their dog. so cute!

Johns' view of the cake-cutting.

...am I truly invisible at weddings? because I should have been in John's shot given my angle:

no, not invisible.


Well, what end would you have cut? (great seeing, John!)

The grooms' brother...

plays guittar in an almost famous band! He had a solo at the wedding:



It's been wonderful working with you! I'll cross my fingers for a future shoot with your family. Best Wishes!


John, my husband, is talking about taking his own weddings. This will mean we'll be able to take additional bookings. I'll keep you posted on that!

Be swell!

So much in common: Elnaz and Will

Elnaz described herself and Will as being very different physically speaking, but I really found they had much in common. For instance, they are both quite sophisticated, both very kind (thanks for treating me like a guest!).

Though the location was challenging, I made it work for me! Let me explain: the location was beautiful, but the walls inside are black, ceiling black... very very dimly lit. But my goal is always to preserve the integrity of the night, including the location, and not work against it! So, instead of blasting tons of light at everyone and flatting out the ambience, I took advantage of the biggest feature my camera offers, it's ability to function superiorly (is that a word?) in low light situations. With creative lighting, allowing the black tiled floor to reflect, and special thanks to the guests getting their dance on, I rocked. :D

I love this moment...but wish the videographer was somewhere else!

Combined parent dances are becoming more and more popular!

A male belly dancer?

Trying something different...backlighting during the sparkler exit. Awesome!

You can see many more by visiting their proofing gallery
It was a pleasure working with you and your family and friends. Many blessings!

Raleigh area ad

For the first time ever, you can find us in the Weddings Magazine for the triangle area.

Special thanks to Katie and Jordan, whose images we used for the ad. You two are gorgeous together!

Giving Portraits

I don't do portraits much anymore.

I don't do them because I LOVE doing weddings. Weddings are my passion, my talent, my creative outlet.
Not that I don't do them at weddings... even brides that don't want portraits end up wanting portraits.

Portraits are formulaic and much like doing a puzzle. Sometimes at weddings...there are an awful lot of pieces! hah!

So what I'm saying is, it's not that my mind CAN'T wrap around structure, right, just that, well, I don't want to do that day in and out. Portrait photographers for portraits, wedding photographers for weddings.

I bring this up because, well, even though portraits aren't my favorite, I've registered with Operation Love Reunited, in an effort to give back to our community, and most especially!, to military families.

The Op-Love program is available to all military families with a soon-to deploy member. The families receive a complimentary (free! we like free!!) session (and my session fees start at $125 if I can squeeze you in at all) PLUS the deployed member receives a 4x5 album! No purchases, no hidden fees or taxes or demands for your next born child. ...but of course if you love me at all, when the member comes home, invite me to photograph the reunion. I am a drama junkie. :)
Go to the site for more information.

Feed Me Seymore!

I know that dinner is very interesting, but I'm not taking pictures of you EATING because it's fun. It's a giant HINT, HINT.

Read Me!

Link is from wedpix magazine, an online publication by the Wedding Photojournalist Association, of which I am a proud member. They have lots of tidbits you might find even more fascinating then feeding your vendors.

ps, quote is from Little Shop of Horrors.
Love,

gorgeous to-be-weds: Katie and Matt

Look whose wedding I'll get to shoot next year!









Thanks for being so fun, you two! Sincerely looking forward to working with you again!

Cotton Picker!

Meet the latest addition to our fam, Cotton the kitten:


He is just SO adorable, I almost can't stand it.

but he has a dark side. For one thing, in the above picture, he's glaring at our old cat, Kiki. Kiki is like, 10 years old or something. She's fat, lazy, beautiful and calm. She has claws she doesn't use, has never scratched a stranger, doesn't meow... enter our new kitten. The kitten is not intimidated by the occasional hiss or bat of paw, and literally JUMPS on our old cat.




Cotton is the aggressor. I'm not sure I like cotton. Here... attacking my finger.

Cotton may also have cost me a booking, as he attempted to shimmy up the leg of a potential clients' sister recently. ugh.