Leah & Brock Part 1 / Claxton Farm Wedding / Asheville

I'll be the first to admit that after hearing Leah and Brock's wedding plans I was really hoping they would choose me as their photographer. A beautiful ceremony at Claxton Farm with floral design by The Bloom Room and a reception / party at her father's brewery. I wanted it so much more after I met with Leah and she was seriously one of the coolest people I've ever met. As much as I love photographing a blow out wedding with every detail planned out and executed to perfection I always remain completely focused on the two people that I'm there for and clients like Leah and Brock make that an absolute pleasure.

Anyway, since Leah and Brock decided to spread their celebration over two days I figured I'd split their event on the blog as well. It's probably obvious but this was their smaller wedding ceremony and dinner at Claxton Farm. Next up will be their reception / party at Highland Brewing. 

Oh, and if you're new around here please check out one of my favorite engagement shoots ever! I just love when people want to try something different. Yay Leah! Yay Brock! High fives all around!

P.S. New larger blog images don't cha know.

Mary & Charles / Biltmore Estate Wedding / Asheville

The first time I met Mary and Charles they were insisting that I join them for breakfast at The Inn on Biltmore and their kindness was nonstop from that point on. In fact, Charles sent me one of the most thoughtful thank you notes I've ever received. Mary was very involved in the art world and simply told me, "do whatever you'd like with the photography, you're the artist." Obviously working with people like that is one of the best scenarios a wedding photographer can imagine and my time with them at the Boyd Chapel and The Biltmore Estate seemed to fly by. Thanks so much to you both.

Oh, and yes, I probably got a little carried away posting images of Deerpark at The Biltmore Estate but it really was in top form.

Lauren & Keith / NC Arboretum Wedding / Asheville

Above photo by Matt Rose

Photo on right by Matt Rose

Lauren and Keith. All smiles, all the time. Ok, but let's back up to a trip to Target I took one day.

As a homeowner, dog owner, and toddler wrangler I'm at Target a lot. Anyway, one day I wandered in and heard someone calling my name out. My first thought was that I clearly shop here too often but it turned out to be Lauren's sister, whose wedding I photographed at a time that feels somehow like a lifetime, and also mere days ago. Anyway, she told me Lauren and Keith were living in NYC but were having their wedding in Asheville...and...well, you see where this is going. Needless to say I was beyond happy when I heard from Lauren a couple days later. 

Now back to these smiling people. You can't help but feel happy around them and I loved working with all of them...again. I say again since in addition to bringing Keith back, Lauren also brought back the same awesomely fun band (Love, Peace & Happiness) that played her sister's wedding. Wait, I'm skipping ahead. First we should probably talk about the weather. It was simply crazy and after leaving Lauren's parents house I snapped the photo of Keith on his phone after sprinting into a building at the NC Arboretum in a full Amazon downpour. I remember he just laughed and I couldn't help but overhear him chatting with Lauren about plan B, C, D, or whatever they were on by that point. Both of them were unflappable and after a few attempts at taking the wedding outside they went with plan H and just stayed inside. Did you notice how stressed out they look? Oh, no wait, they had a great time! It really turned out to be a beautiful day and was followed by some SERIOUS singing and dancing. I couldn't be happier for them. 

Big thanks to my friend and photographer Matt Rose, Liz and her team from The Purple Iris, Lauren's bridesmaid Allison from Studio R who designed the programs and signage, and the wedding staff at the NC Arboretum. Everyone just rolled right along when the weather turned ugly. I love working with people who understand how to just "make it work."

Thank you so much Lauren and Keith, I hope 2012 is treating you well so far!

Megan & Jay / The Swag Wedding / North Carolina

Spending a few hours on top of a mountain at The Swag is always a good thing (did you see that view?) and doing so with Megan and Jay was even better. It should be pretty obvious from the pictures that these they were a lot of fun to hang out with and I was honored they chose me to photograph their intimate little ceremony. I loved Megan's cheerfulness and sense of humor and Jay's attempts to be far more serious than he really was. Jokesters these two and happy people make for happy pictures. Thanks again you crazy kids!

Sarah & Elia / Blue Dress Barn Wedding / Michigan

*Note: I'm 5'10" not 4'10".

The idea for this particular post came about towards the end of last year. I was thinking about how prevalent the "vintage" look had become and wanted to at least address it on the blog since I don't edit weddings for my clients in that style. I've had a couple potential clients ask specifically if I "did that vintage look" and I'm sure they immediately crossed me off their lists after I responded with, "I'm sorry but no." Even though I tried to explain why I'm sure all they heard was "no" and they were obviously right to try to find another photographer who would provide them with what they wanted. Anyway, a few weeks ago I decided I was going to re-edit some images from my friend Elia's wedding last summer in Michigan at The Blue Dress Barn since their wedding seemed to be styled that way in general...and it was in a barn.

Now perhaps I should take a moment to clarify that I have always been proud of the work I did for The Darling Bee for the launch of their website and enjoyed creating an editing style that was consistently "vintage." I think it works perfectly for their vintage product and styling service and I love seeing their work at weddings. I am also happy to admit that as an artist (did I just type that?) I am often intrigued by some of the gritty vintage stylized editing out there. I'm just saying, I get it.

However, I'm also well aware that what looks good now might not look good in a few years. Or even in a year. In fact, I started re-editing some of these a couple weeks ago and when I came back to it on Friday I really didn't like what I had done but I kept going if for no other reason than to finish what I started. I blunted down highlights, pushed black levels up, messed up the white balance, tone, and color...and uploaded them before I could change my mind. Nothing crazy but at least noticeable. Now that I've posted them all I've kind of swung back to thinking that I do actually like much of what is here.

But that's the problem. It's not consistent and consistency matters. It matters a lot at a wedding. I want my clients to have images that are timeless and photographs that remind them of the fun they had that day with their friends and family without being overly processed with whatever the latest fad the wedding industry has seized on that year. I want my clients to have artistic simplicity not a mess of filters and presets. And yes, degrading your images to make them look vintage is easy, you don't even actually have to do it. Google "vintage Lightroom action" and you'll see what I mean.

Ok, I think I'm just going to stop there. This post is starting to feel preachy and grumpy and that is definitely not my intention. I just wanted to give it a try and explain why I probably won't be doing it again. I hope that makes sense...and if not, there's plenty of photographers who will happily time warp you right back into the '70s.

NOW, about these two crazy kids, Sarah and Elia. I can pretty confidently say that Elia has been a friend of mine longer than anyone else I've known. I remember moving to Michigan in second grade and living at my aunt's house while my parents were househunting and Elia lived right next door. Somehow we became friends on our walks home from school and have been friends ever since. He has a memory like an elephant and could definitely tell many an embarrasing story but thankfully he doesn't have a blog. Anyway, I'm not sure at what point I began hearing about Sarah but it was sometime over the last few years and as I made my way back "home" to Michigan now and then I always enjoyed our brief meetings. Even from those small conversations I could tell that she was the one for Elia. I was so happy for them when he called to tell me they were engaged and was honored that they chose me to be their photographer. 

Obviously Sarah did a great job planning her wedding and I loved all the fun details she had prepared all around the barn but what I really enjoyed was seeing so many old friends having a blast celebrating with Sarah and Elia. I know Elia will be relieved that I'm not posting any of his dancefloor moves and would probably be perfectly happy if he didn't appear on the blog at all but it was all too good not to share at least a few from their big day.

I guess I should wrap this up since this is a "photo" blog but I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have true friends like Elia and how happy I am that he found Sarah. Congratulations to you both! Hopefully I'll see you soon.

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What's that? You want to see a yearbook picture? Well, I couldn't find second grade but here's third. And yes, third grade was probably a hard one for me with those teeth. I suppose I at least had a bunch of hair...