Saturday, September 1, 2012

Katie & Brady's Wedding

I love photographing weddings!  I feel like I say this for every wedding post I do, but it's true!  The excitement in the air on the day of wedding is awesome.  The smiles, laughs, happy tears, hugs, toasts, kisses, dancing...it all just gives me the warm fuzzies!  Katie and Brady's wedding was so sweet.  These two are high school sweethearts, and they way they looked at each other was so cute.  Get ready for a long post, I have a lot of details from the day to share with you.

The reception was held at the Morehead Inn in Charlotte, which means that's where Katie and her bridesmaids were getting ready.  


There were so many fun details to shoot around the grounds of the Inn. 







Katie had a reception dress she changed into after the first dance and toasts - isn't it awesome!  I'm glad she changed because she could move around the inn a lot better and it was a HOT day!

Katie's brother walked her down the aisle, and she gave him cufflinks as a gift (in hopes that he can wear these on his wedding day...whenever that happens) - very sweet!


Here are her killer shoes!  How any bride manages to wears high heels all day long is beyond me!  I wish I had feet that let me do this.  These shoes are so fun!  And they were fun to photograph.  On my wedding day, my wedding photographer had to photograph shoes that had mole skin applied to the insoles (I'm not lying about the bad feet!).



I loved the bridesmaid dresses!  

This is Meghan, one of Katie's sisters.  They were awesome.  Her sisters were a huge help on the day of her portrait, and fun to have around.



I've mentioned before that this couple attended both Rachel & Lincoln's wedding and Jacquelyn & Scotty's wedding last summer.  A lot of these groomsmen were either a part of Jacquelyn & Scotty's wedding party or attended.  They are a fun group!  And I was impressed with their willingness to get their picture taken.  We did several group shots as well as shot of each groomsman/usher with Brady!  








I love The Green in downtown Charlotte.  Katie and Brady got married at St. Peter's Catholic Church, which is right beside The Green.  We did the groomsmen pictures here and the after-wedding pictures here as well.  It's a beautiful area!








Traditionally at the Morehead Inn, the bride and groom are always announced into the reception by coming down their grand staircase.  It always makes for a beautiful picture.

They went right into their first dance after being introduced. 







Here's the dress change, it was a GREAT reception dress!  

The mother-son dance always gets me!  I always think of my husband, Sam, when this dance is done. If I'm photographing I can hold back tears, if I'm a guest at a wedding, throw in a glass of wine, and let the tears roll!






One of the guests of the groom surprised them with a horse-drawn carriage ride as their get-away ride!  Very cool!  The tree lined streets of the Myers Park area are gorgeous - thankfully there weren't a lot of cars out, so I could run out into the street for one last picture : )

Congratulations Katie and Brady!


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Congratulations Katie & Brady!

I had a blast this past weekend photographing Katie and Brady's wedding!  I'm very excited about sharing Katie's bridal portraits with you!  She braved the 104 degree heat for her bridals!  And we wrapped up  the shoot just as rain drops started to fall.  We did the shoot in downtown Matthews at The Reid House.  This beautiful historical house hosts a Christmas Tea Party that Katie, her sisters and mom regularly attended.  So the location carried some great memories with it already!

Here's the stunning Katie!

Here's the one she chose for her bridal portrait.  This was her grandmother's favorite, so Katie chose this one to honor her!  Also, the her tiara was given to her as a surprise by her grandfather.  He works at a jewelry store in Alabama, and designed the tiara himself.    Is that not one of the sweetest and cutest stories ever!  I love old men, and their sweet dispositions (and wrinkles too!).  I tell Sam all of the time, he's lucky that I think old men are cute, since we'll be old and wrinkly one day...lol!


I'll share a close-up of Katie's shoes when I blog their wedding day, but let me say she was a glamourous rock star for being able to wear these shoes all day long!



At this point storm clouds were rolling in, so we wrapped up the shoot at this old barn right beside the Reid House.  Her sister made a smart a call and got the umbrella out of the car before we started shooting at this spot.  I got about 7 shots in at the barn, as rain drops started to fall, so we quickly got out the umbrella and got back to our cars.  I'm so glad we risked a few rain drops for this shot!  Congratulations to Katie and Brady!


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

More of Kelly & Dave!

Kelly and Dave were surrounded by awesome family and friends this weekend!  Something about a destination wedding really brings your guests this feeling of togetherness.  Plus the groom's family was HUGE, so I think they had fun celebrating. 


Here are Dave's parents, who welcomed us like family that weekend.  Don, the dad, is a BIG FAN of Bruce Springsteen.  He commandeered the computer room at Sanibel Moorings, and had his children buy as many concert tickets as possible as soon as they come online.

The church was beautiful- it was just the right size too!  I love cozy chapels!


The ring bearer, Will, needed one last reassurance hug before walking down the aisle.  Will was a major cutie!


These next 2 pictures were taken by Rachel Garrison.  I just have to share them because, we could get so close to the bride and groom in this church it was awesome!  They had 4 doors up by the altar.  Rachel was able to quickly, easily, and unnoticeably walk around the back side of these doors and get some amazing shots!   







Barbara's maiden name was Flock (Barbara is Dave's mom).  So when Kelly and Dave walked down the aisle, her family held up signs that read "Welcome to our Flock."  It was a cool surprise!

After the ceremony and formals, I was able to take Kelly and Dave back to the Sanibel Moorings condo for pictures.  This place has beautiful grounds for pictures.  







The reception was held at Traditions, which was right on the beach as well!  It was a lovely place with awesome food!  Rachel and I were treated to an amazing grouper dinner here! 












About three-quarters of the way into the father-daughter dance Kelly and her Dad switched it up and got the dance party started!


Later that night, Kelly did the entire Thriller dance!  It was awesome!


Congratulations Kelly & Dave! Thanks for letting me a part of your awesome weekend!