It's not every day that you get to photograph in a manor built in the 1920's that happens to look like a European castle! But that's exactly what I got to do for Ashli and Dustin's wedding! From her intricately-beaded gown to their floral exit to the warm, golden sun: start to finish, the whole affair seemed straight out of a fairytale.
Read MoreEach year, right around Christmas, I evaluate my goals from the ending year and then write out my goals for the coming year. I them let them sit for a few weeks while I evaluate other metrics - making sure that these are the goals that really resonate - and eventually come back to them during the first week of the new year to write this blog post. This year I've been so busy that I'm just now getting to it!
Nonetheless, I'm more than a little excited about this coming year. While each of the past 6 years has brought be a step closer to my ultimate career goals, this coming year is the first one where I feel like I'm really on the right track towards doing exactly what I want to be doing. It took me a while to figure out that exact intersection where my skills, enthusiasm for the work and ability to help people all coincide to create my "calling", but I'm only 24 so it's hard to complain. So, without further ado, here are my intended plans for 2018!
Read MoreI got to start 2018 off in the best way possible: documenting the wedding day of a my cousin as she married her prince charming. It was an honor to get to tell the love story of Katie and Mario through their engagement and wedding photos and to get to know them deeper both as individuals and as a couple while I captured their personalities.
Read MoreWhat better way to close out the year than to celebrate love! We got to travel over the mountain to capture Kristie and Ethan's December vows and though it never got above freezing, the warmth of this couple's happiness was almost enough to forget the chill.
Read MoreNew Year's Eve has always been one of my favorite holidays. Not for the parties or the food (okay, maybe the food) but because it's a collective time of reflection and refocusing. I've always been a very goal-oriented person (which is both a blessing and a curse) so for my business, this gives me a very specific deadline to analyze not only the growth and financial status of my business, but also gauge my passion for the work I've been doing and decide what I want to pursue further. I'll discuss in my next post what my goals are for the year, but as it's still 2017 for a couple hours, I want to look back at the goals I set for myself this time last year and reflect on just how beautiful this year was for me.
So here, in the same order as I wrote them last year, are my 2017 goals and how well they played out:
Read MoreAs the theme of the day had been "Just say yes," from Snow Patrol's same-titled song - and their first dance song - we began the storybook album with their phrase. From there, as they'd focused on enjoying time with their friends and family, I dedicated a majority of the spreads to group photos, both the few formals and the wide array of candid shots.
Read MoreWe began our day at a little cottage in West Asheville where the ladies were getting ready. It was fantastic having the entire house to work with, particularly for detail shots as I got to incorporate the gorgeous door frames, wood floors and vibrant colors. Even in the midst of the prepping stress, the whole group was loose and goofy; dancing, laughing and even joking (in Cassady's case) with the coordinator. Well, that might have been a bit of the stress talking as the joke was about taking off to Mexico. Nonetheless, we had fun, even creating a few simple portraits of the bride (in the laundry room!) before heading off to the venue.
Read MoreI've worked with quite a few crafty couples, but Alexis and James may just take the cake for the most personalized elements in their wedding. Not only did James and Alexis's parents create all of the beautiful bottle decor and her niece make the cute little owl cupcakes, but the bride herself was adorned in family heirlooms with a handmade dress crafted by her mother to take the cake! But, as beautiful as all of these things were, it was the amount of time behind them, the amount of effort that the families put into Alexis and James' big day, that truly showed how special the pair is.
Read MoreLauren and Eric's special day was no different; in fact, is was quite possible one of my favorite weddings I've ever shot because I got to see such an honest and wholehearted outpouring of love on all sides for the entire day (and a different side of Lauren than I saw capturing her on the tennis court!) From sweet mother and daughter moments while getting ready to the ladies-only trolley ride singing "Goin' to the Chapel", the devout Catholic ceremony to the celebratory kisses in front of the church, the tearful toasts to the energetic dancing - the whole day flew by as we soaked up every moment. Thank you to Lauren and Eric for letting me capture your big day and thank you to everyone who made their wedding so special!
Read MoreAs if something from a fairy tale, Ashli and Dustin celebrated their love for each other in a gorgeous restored 1920s manor; making their forever vows in front of the stone fireplace and sharing their first dance as husband and wife under a beautiful wrought iron chandelier. But while the location was magical, the food was delectable and the couple looked incredible, it was their pure joy in beginning their new journey together that really made the day exceptional. Thank you to everyone who made Ashli and Dustin's day so special; I can't wait to share more photos!
Read MoreI love the details and all the personal touches that couples infuse into their weddings, but when it all comes down to it, my very favorite thing about wedding photography is getting to capture the beginning of each couple's lifelong journey as they're surrounded by their loved ones. Meadow and Theo made their vows to each other in a beautiful sunlit field as the bride's dad presided, giving his own sound advice for a long and happy marriage: don't settle for the wedding being the best day of your life, make each day better than the last.
Read MoreIn putting together this album, my focus was to tell Morgan and Mike's story of excitement (particularly in their first look), personality (especially through the personal touches in their decor) and pure happiness at saying their forever vows surrounded by friends and family, even family from across the ocean. Because they did a first look (one of my favorite parts of the day!) we spent the first hour relaxing and taking couples portraits and group shots with their maid-of-honor and best man.
Read More2017's wedding season began quite a bit earlier than I'd anticipated as I got to shoot my first winter wedding since my very first wedding 4 years previous. One afternoon I was taking a nap when I heard my phone buzzing and - after pulling myself out of a cozy slumber - booked a last minute wedding on the spot. You see, Morgan and Mike met in Ireland while she was studying abroad and with so many unknowns surrounding the visa process, they had to plan their wedding rather last minute as they had 90 days to get married once Mike's visa request was approved. Luckily, they had the wedding wizard, Michelle of Party Envy, to help and on a balmy January evening they said their "I do's" amidst friends and family.
Read MoreThis was one of those shoots where I saw the location (on a shoot I was modeling for, of all things) and without any plans in place immediately created a scene in my head to shoot that I knew I needed to bring to reality. I knew I wanted Lauren, one of my gorgeous 2017 brides, to model and that if at all possible I wanted to put her in a whimsical gown from one of my favorite Asheville bridal shops (Wildflower Bridal) paired with a bright color palette from Swannanoa Flower shop and Cakes by Gray for a bohemian mountaintop styled elopement. As the shoot would have to be right in the middle of wedding season to make sure it was warm enough, I knew it would be a long shot, so when every one of these selections worked out, I was so excited I was bouncing off the walls! Of course, no shoot is ever that easy and in the end we only had about 25 minutes or so of photography, yet I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.
Read MoreWhat I really loved about this wedding weekend was the emphasis on bringing two families together. Not only did we have a delicious and fun rehearsal dinner the night before and family brunch the morning after the wedding, but the reception allowed both families to celebrate together in their new bond. Perhaps the most touching moment of the day was when Monica shared a sweet dance with her grandfather, leaving no one in the reception hall with a dry eye.
Read MoreAfter months of planning, our day started with a phone call from the coordinator, Michelle, asking about Cassady's thoughts on moving the ceremony from their carefully chosen outdoor spot to the more rustic dairy barn as clouds of doom rolled in. Rather than get upset, Cassady quickly decided to activate the contingency plans and move on, only stopping (without actually missing a beat) to joke that she was in Mexico relaxing instead of getting ready for the wedding when Michelle asked how things were going.
Read MoreJust as I said in their engagement post, I knew that photographing my friends' wedding would be extra emotional. From documenting the frenzied moments of preparation to capturing Clair and JJ's poignant first look (and struggling to keep it together myself) to photographing their sweet ceremony, there were more than a few times that I found myself shooting through tear-filled eyes. But these were, of course, happy tears as I got to watch one of my good friends from college marry this steadfast man of her dreams!
Read MoreMatt and Alex had the right idea: get married quietly without any stress or fuss and then get all of the family and friends together almost a year later to celebrate. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE weddings (not to mention, if we didn't have them I'd be out of a job!), but whereas weddings can be understandably taxing, Matt and Alex's marriage celebration yesterday was nothing but enjoyable.
Read More
