Mallory & Edward Engaged

Mallory and Edward drove many miles for their engagement pictures in Greenville, SC.  They are from Charleston and the first weekend they were in town it was just an ugly rainy day - who knew that would be a sign of days to come this summer!  Luckily, when they drove up again we had great weather!  It was partly cloudy and it wasn't too hot.  I'll take partly cloudy over 100 degree heat like last June!  That was brutal photographing in that heat!  Unfortunately for me, Mallory and Edward are getting married in November, and I couldn't do that with an approximate 1 month old.  Too bad, I would have loved to have shot their wedding in Charleston.  I can't wait to see pictures!

Greenville holds a special place in my heart.  My first job out of college was at SunTrust in Greenville in commercial real estate banking.  Yes, I love solving a good financial problem and creating a spreadsheet....no, I did not enjoy bank life culture.  I worked with some pretty amazing people though, and I have managed to keep in touch with a few.  I lived there for about 1 1/2 years on my own - in my first apartment out of college - with no roommate, which I was super excited about!  They have a beautiful downtown - downtown is smaller than Asheville and more preppy, but still lots of fun!  All of the buildings below were either under construction or just completed when I left Greenville in December 2007.  They have really capitalized on the beauty of the river that runs through downtown.

Meet Mallory and Edward....well the backside of Edward in this picture : )  Don't you just love Mallory's red hair?!

They were so comfortable together!  Mallory and I went to Wofford together (go Terriers!).  We were in the same sorority (go Theta!).  She was a year behind me.  It was so nice to see her again and meet her fiance.  I'm just so happy she found a wonderful person to spend her life with - Edward's affection for her was obvious (and cute!).

They (or at least Mallory) is a Coca-Cola lover, so we stopped by this great old painted building which is right off the west end of main street.

Just a few short months until their wedding!  Congratulations Mallory & Edward!

Brandi & Sean's Wedding Reception

Brandi and Sean's Wedding Reception definitely deserves its own post.  Brandi wanted her guests to have a fun experience at her reception, and I'm pretty sure she achieved that!  She had flip flops in the bathroom for the ladies, a late night cotton candy and boiled peanut station, a huge spread of food, and a beautiful wedding cake surrounded by tiers of cupcakes.  There was even a BIG surprise for Sean at the reception...the Hinton Casino (Hinton is their last name).  You'll notice in the first picture when Sean and Brandi were walking into their reception to be announced the groomsmen were wearing poker hats!

Sean's mom is giving the lead vocalist in the band a thumbs up for his Louis Armstrong impression singing "What a Wonderful World."  They had an incredible band, The Finesse Band, they knew how to put on a GREAT show!

Casino details....they had 5- 6 different casino tables set up.  It was very cool! 

I completely forgot to mention that there was also a photo booth!

There was quite the dance party at this wedding!

Even the fathers knew how to break it down!

Sean and his family are huge Clemson fans, while Brandi and her family, from Columbia, are Gamecock fans.  There were orange and white (Clemson!) and garnet and black (Gamecocks) pom poms.  These were actually set up for the exit, but they came in handy as the party kicked into high gear.  

Brandi's grandmothers were proud Gamecock fans.

When there was about 45 minutes to an hour left in the evening, Brandi changed into this super cute creamy white and gold short dress.  She also put on her killer shoes from her rehearsal dinner.

Congratulations Brandi and Sean!  Your wedding was a beautiful and fun weekend!

Vendors:

Venue - Huguenot Loft at Peace Center

Florist - Me and Me Designs

Band - The Finesse Band

Wedding Planner - Farrah Redmon (Bride's cousin)

Food - Granatas Catering

Brandi & Sean's Wedding Day

 Continuing with Brandi and Sean's wedding day....there was a calmness over Brandi as she got ready, and it was awesome to watch.  She was truly just soaking in the day and enjoying every moment.

I mentioned that they had a great group of family and friends surrounding them on this day.  Check out their bridal parties!

Brandi did bridal portraits with me, so I had to take a few minutes to get a good portrait of Sean on his wedding day.   He was very calm as well!

 There's a funny story with this next picture.  Brandi and I talked several times before her wedding going over the timeline and which shots she wanted to take of the bridal party after the wedding.  The bridal party was 24 people, and then add in Brandi and Sean and that makes 26 people!  I had mentioned to Brandi that I wanted to do a street shot of the party.  Luckily Greenville has a fairly small downtown.  We waited for the light to turn red and we ran out into the street.  I was snapping pictures quickly knowing that I would only have a limited amount of time, but I was also willing to push the time of the red light.  Downtown wasn't busy, and the bridal party filled up the width of the street (and there weren't any cars behind them waiting at the light).  I think I got about 5 pictures in, and then Zach (my BFF's husband and the groom's brother - who happens to be a  police officer in Greenville) yelled at me...."Okay Meredith, let's wrap it up, we got to get out of the street!"  His police officer instincts kicked in!  I was a little shocked but fine with it knowing I had got the shot I wanted.  I thought it was funny, and Sarah was appalled at her husband...haha!  I think he now feels bad for doing that, but  it all worked out!  

While photographing Brandi and Sean, I think about 3 or 4 cars drove by and congratulated them - these were people that knew them...not random strangers!  Out of those 3 or 4 cars only 1 was heading to the reception!  They have a lot of friends!

Up next, the reception...and the Hinton Casino!