January 3, 2020 Traditional Wedding in Charlotte, NC

Bethany and Raul, their friends and family, and my photography team got to start the new decade in the best way possible: with an outpouring of love and faith. The love part is obvious, but seeing Bethany and Raul’s faith manifest in more subtle ways was equally beautiful.

What’s more, as it was a rainy, chilly January day, they had to have a lot of faith in us to make sure that their photos were beautiful, while still enjoying the experience! Not always can you convince a bride to get her train wet (post-ceremony, of course!) so that she can have a few romantic outdoor photos in the rain, but Bethany was game for anything, trusting that we knew what we were doing and that we’d take good care of her gown. Luckily, she had her new husband to keep her warm, and then the two of them danced the night away within the excellent architecture of Waterfront Hall.

Wedding Photo Album || Katie + Mario's Raspberry Plain Manor Wedding

I love Katie and Mario’s approach to their album: while we had over 1,000 photos to choose from they managed to narrow it all the way down to 100 (an impressive feat!) so that they could have as many large full-spread images as possible. They wanted to keep it simple, to let the emotional photos to speak for themselves, so we kept the text to a minimum as well, only including one Bible verse layered perfectly over a silhouette I made during their ceremony. I certainly keep the album in mind while photographing each wedding (in fact, I specifically shoot with the flower & layout of each album in my head) but sometimes things work out even better than I’d planned. Being able to pair the quotation “this is a profound mystery” with a silhouette is one of those moments!

Sultry Black and Gold Styled Wedding || Asheville Social Hall

Melissa of Cakes by Gray reached out to me to photograph a new cake flavor for her - grapefruit and black pepper (it was delicious!) - as we decided that instead of simply sticking with the original in-studio photos that we’d first planned, we would also put together a little styled shoot. Why not, right? To coordinate with the sensual flavors, Melissa created this stunning black pastry masterpiece accented with gold and thus we had our theme. Design inspiration can come from anywhere, even the wedding cake. To round out our design team, Melissa brought in vendors all local to Asheville to help us create this moody styled elopement in the brand new Asheville Social Hall Space.

Katie + Mario Fairytale Wedding at Raspberry Plain Manor || Leesburg, Virginia

The best part about photographing a wedding for your family is getting to be a part of all of the behind-the-scenes, intimate details of the day that most guests would only get to see in photos. The second best part is getting to see just how important capturing all of those little moments truly is, when you’re the one who will want to relive the memories decades later (especially of your grandparents tearing it up on the dance floor!)