Charlotte Wedding Connection Bridal Show

We’re looking forward to the Charlotte Wedding Connection bridal show on Sunday, March 21 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Levine Museum of the New South, presented by Charlotte Wedding magazine! We’ll be giving away an engagement session to one lucky couple, which will include the session (no travel fee if within 45 miles of Charlotte) and either one 11×14 or two 8×10 prints.  Come see us at our booth and register for the giveaway.  We look forward to talking with you about your vision for your wedding and how we can help you capture all the special moments of your day in photographs.

New E-session product! Video/photo Fusion

We are excited to be offering a new product! Engagement sessions now include a video fusion of images and video so that couples will have an additional special keepsake. Catie and Sam are such an adorable couple and we loved hearing the stories of their meeting, dating and proposal on a recent beautiful and blustery afternoon.

Valentine’s Day Video

Here’s a short video slideshow of some of our recent and current wedding couples! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Catie and Sam Engagement Session – UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens at UNC Charlotte made for a fresh, fun setting for an engagement session with Catie and Sam. We found many wonderful locations within the 3-acre Susie Harwood Garden.  Even though much of the garden is shady, we also found some sunny spots among the trees.

The Asian Garden area was particularly beautiful, with small buildings, benches and Asian plants in an intimate setting.

The Sun Mosaic seemed a perfect spot for Catie and Sam, with their sunny personalities and smiles!

The NC State and UNC Chapel Hill rivalry runs strong in this couple — but we’re sure they’ll work it out!

Emily and Philip – Winston-Salem Engagement Session

We met up with Emily and Philip at Reynolda Gardens of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem for a fun engagement photo shoot.  They’re such a cute couple.  They knew each other in high school, went their separate ways, then found each other again and the rest is history!  While they now live in South Carolina, they’re having a Winston-Salem wedding, and wanted to take their couple portraits in a natural setting in their hometown.  We knew the gardens on a summer day would be perfect!

The Seed Selections garden and other flowerbeds not only show visitors what they can grow in their own gardens, they also offered us great locations for beautiful engagement portraits.  We found it really neat that harvest from vegetable gardens, picked by staff and volunteers, is donated to Winston-Salem food banks.

The All-America Rose Selections garden, with its 800 shrubs, stretches on seemingly forever, and with roses being a favorite flower, we found plenty of opportunities for images.

Gazebos and other structures, such as benches and steps nestled in the plantings, provided spots for reflection — and photos!

Bridal Blast! – Charlotte Area Bridal Show Really Was a Blast!

The Bridal Blast! at the Cabarrus Arena was loads of fun.  We met so many wonderful brides, grooms, friends and family members.  We decided to go with a uncluttered look for our booth, with comfy stools and tables to allow guests to look at our albums in comfort. Our large banners showed some of our favorite photos of a few of our brides and grooms.

We also had fun connecting with other wedding professionals, and we wanted to mention a few.

Art and Arica of ShutterBooth Charlotte had their booth on-site, as brides and grooms entered, so they could experience the fun!  The food, of course, was one of the best things.  To mention a few (from whom we had to have samples!): Sunflour Baking Company, Heaven Sent Catering, Custom Cakes by Joli, and Whimsical Creations, with her custom stationary and candy buffets, a popular option for many couples. Sweetest Beginnings was another popular invitations booth.

We were so fortunate to be next door to the ladies from Inbloom Events.  They offer wedding and event planning and are a delight.  We also enjoyed seeing Blissful Planners, Inc. It was fun also to reconnect with Frank Lambert, of Lambert’s DJ and flutist Emily Higgins. DJ Curtis Treece was our corner neighbor, and he kept us supplied with tunes, from his Sunset Celebrations collection. The ladies from The Lily Rose of Cornelius, a couture boutique, who also are our physical neighbors near our studio on Catawba Avenue in Cornelius, were across the way from us.

Two people we discovered at the show are Laura Dowey, owner of Miss Behavin’, Your Best Home Party Yet, and Lorelei Smith,  Romance Consultant — Just love that job title! — with Temptations Parties by Lorelei. We immediately thought of our I Feel Pretty boudoir line, and hope to work with them and some of our brides in the future!

The Big Red Barn: Lindsey and Neal’s engagement photos

The striking red barn in Colfax near Greensboro was a natural location for our engagement photo session with Lindsey and Neal. Neal has helped out around the barn over the years, and Lindsey just loves the look of the barn.  We do too!  Neal’s uncle joined us on the photo shoot to watch for wasps and made sure the barn was in good shape for this North Carolina wedding couple.

We especially liked the way the light came through the windows and cracks in the aging boards. The barn’s over 50 years old, and wears its age well.

We started wondering why barns so often are painted red, so we turned to a trusted source, the Farmers’ Almanac.

In years past, paint was hard to come by, and farmers sealed barns with orange-colored linseed oil. They sometimes added rust to kill molds or moss on the barns. The rust turned the oil red. When paint became more available, many people chose red paint for their barns for tradition.

We’re certainly glad that Neal’s uncle held to tradition, so we could take Neal and Lindsey’s engagement photographs with this fine old barn.

Madison and Shannon – Engagement Session

We met up with Madison and Shannon recently at Reynolda Gardens of Wake Forest University to take their engagement portraits. It had threatened rain from Charlotte to Winston-Salem, and we were a bit concerned. It turns out Madison and Shannon love the rain, so they were unfazed when a few drops fell. While we all left a bit more damp than we were when we arrived, we think their photographs came out beautifully – especially the ones with the white umbrellas. We were accompanied throughout the afternoon by the gardens’ resident cat Millie Tilley, who seemed quite fascinated by our ramblings through the gorgeous grounds. Here are a few of their portraits. – Lynn