A mini bridal session

I will do a full post on Kim and Matt's wedding in Asheville in the coming days.  First, I wanted to share a few bridal images of this gorgeous bride!  Kim and I worked hard on developing a timeline for her wedding day to fit in a first look and family pictures before hand.  She was awesome at keeping to this timeline!  I always tell my brides that the timeline is there as a guideline and not to worry if we aren't following it minute to minute.  Well, we were right on schedule this day!  And it allowed us to get some really nice shots bridal shots of her before her wedding : )  These images were taken at the Beaufort House Inn near downtown Asheville. 

This is one of my favorites - a natural smile and with a natural ease about her!

Who doesn't love twirling in their wedding gown?  I remember twirling in mine...unlike the women of Downton Abbey, we are not used to wearing fabulous dresses that make for stunning twirling photographs : )

Kim was a beautiful bride!

Showered with Love

Baby D and momma were showered with love this past weekend!  Wow, I'm so thankful for my family and friends that will help us welcome this baby into the world.  I was overwhelmed with everyone's generosity and the cuteness of all things baby  : )

Ruth, my bestie since 3rd grade hosted a gorgeous shower at her home.  She said she didn't want me to have to take photos, but I couldn't resist capturing some of the details she put together with her mom.

You know what I love about this picture....Ruth and John's portrait of their dog Walker in the background : )

Here's me with my mom on the left, and other mama, Nancy on the right.  Nancy and my mom worked together many, many years as nurse anesthetists at Presby's Same Day Surgery Center.  Nancy even put me to sleep when I had my first nose surgery in high school right after I broke it.  She said I started doing herky-jerky movements as I was falling asleep and I told her I was just doing some round-off back handsprings...ha!

Ruth and me (I felt the need to put my hand somewhere on my belly, because my dress was more of looser fit).

My AMAZING friends

A delicious and pretty cake from Tizzerts in Charlotte.  It was chocolate on the inside with chocolate ganache and raspberry filling in the layers : )

I officially entered the 3rd trimester last week (at 28 weeks).  Here are my most recent belly shots - thanks to my dear Sam for taking these pics.

We're dog sitting for Sam's parents this week, so Zeke was able to join the picture : )

A quick word about pregnancy clothes for those of you interested in this sort of stuff...my favorite stores to shop in have been Gap Maternity and Pickles and Ice Cream (in Charlotte, but they have a website as well, it's a franchise).  

My pink pants are from Gap Maternity and they are the demi-band.  They were great in the first half of the 2nd trimester when you start to feel bloated and bigger in your mid section but no one can really tell your pregnant.  They became uncomfortable to me around week 20 when I more or less "pop" as they say.  Now I can wear them under the belly, but it's not super comfortable, but it works.  I'm just trying to get as much wear out of my clothes as possible, but comfort is huge in the pregnancy world, so some days I just can't do these pants.

My jeans are the brand Lilac and are from Pickles & Ice Cream.  They have the full belly band and are super comfortable!  The only thing I would change about them is the navy belly band.  It's navy so that it blends with the jeans, but I noticed that Gap Maternity puts nude color belly bands on their jeans.  The nude band would be nice because I have a few tops where you can see the navy band, so you have to wear a nude camisole.  Not a big deal, but camisoles in the summer aren't fun to wear.  I wear a lot of camisoles in the winter underneath sweaters as an extra layer of warmth (I'm always cold), but not in the summer.  My gray tank top is from Gap Maternity and it's one of my favorites!  It's sooo comfy and soft and has grown with me.  I've been wearing it since week 14 or so.  It's has ruching on the sides which is nice to have in maternity tops.

Sorry for the long ramble about maternity clothes.  I remember being very scared and intimidated when I bought my first pair of pants.  I also felt very silly that I needed a pair of pants around week 13.  But my work pants were just not comfortable.

A Charlotte Wedding - Kim & Scott

I had 2 brides named Kim this summer!  Here's the first wedding of Kim and Scott in Charlotte.  Kim contacted me in January of 2012!  We have been in touch for a long time!  She was one organized bride!  We met sometime last Spring to talk about her wedding day and the timeline, and I was impressed with how much she already had planned.   

Kim and Scott met in college at Elon, and their relationship reminded me of my relationship with my husband, Sam.  There were several comments made in the toasts to Scott about how he waited long enough to propose - but I get that!  Sam and I had been dating for almost 5 1/2 years before we got married.  When we have our baby in October, we will have been together for 10 years....we don't rush into big decisions : )  So to Kim and Scott, congratulations on your wedding!  I know it was a long awaited for day for many of your family and friends.

I was pretty excited to have a wedding that was recognized on the famous Hugh McManaway statue in Charlotte.  It's a bronze sculpture of Hugh, who would direct traffic in the crazy intersection of Queens Road and Providence Road during the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. 

The wedding was held at the beautiful Myers Park Methodist Church.  Kim and Scott lucked out with the weather.  As we all know, we haven't had our normal scorcher of a summer because of all the rain.  This was one of the few Saturdays that it didn't rain in Charlotte, and it wasn't that hot considering it was the end of June.  

Kim and Scott opted to do a first look, which was really fun.  Photography is only allowed on the balcony during the ceremony, so we opted to do the first look in the Sanctuary where they got married. We put Scott at the altar, and Kim walked down the aisle  - well they ended up meeting each other halfway down the aisle.  It was a very sweet moment, and got the day rolling with pictures!  We then did a lot of the formal shots with the bridal party and wedding ceremony participants before the ceremony.

Since photographers weren't allowed in the Sanctuary (only up in the Balcony), I was able to capture some great last moments of Kim with her dad before she walked down the aisle (I had my awesome 2nd photographer in the balcony photographing Scott as she walked down the aisle, and then I joined her upstairs).

The reception was held at Byron's SouthEnd, which is where my wedding reception was held!  The evening was already so much fun because Kim and Scott are incredible people.  They had an AMAZING group of friends in attendance at their wedding - and that always makes for a fun evening.  So on top of having the wedding photographer adrenaline rush, my mind was full of fun memories from my wedding : )  

They were really fun and cute to photograph.  In Kim's own words, "she doesn't have a bad side."  It was cute, we were taking formals of Kim with each of her friends that were participating in the wedding (singer, reader, etc.), and she told her friends they could pick which side they wanted to stand on because she doesn't have a bad side.

How beautiful is that REAL peony in Kim's hair!  I LOVE peonies!  One of my favorite flowers!

The evening was a wonderful celebration of this sweet couple.   Lots of laughter and fun was had by everyone.  

This was pretty funny - Scott's fraternity had some of sort of tradition where they serenade the bride and give her a rose.  Kim handled the spotlight well.

Oh my, they were just so cute at the end of the night!

Again, I send my congrats to this amazing couple.  I know they will settle into married life nicely1