sarah + evan = married! blowing rock wedding photographer

I just love the mountains of north carolina. maybe it's because they are still a novel thing to me--in tulsa we had plenty of rolling hills and lots of shoreline from our lakes and rivers, but I rarely saw real mountains. and there's such an awesome vibe when you travel out west--I just love it!

so of course I was thrilled when sarah and evan's wedding rolled around! I had such fun doing their engagement photos and their wedding was simply gorgeous. see?



also, that top left picture of her dress in a bathtub? tells you just how awesome sarah is! I told her what I wanted to do and, without batting an eye, sarah said "do whatever you want, I trust you completely." and now that is my favorite dress picture EVER. :D

one other awesome thing about this wedding was the venue! It was a lovely little city park and the wedding was on a little peninsula of land with a gazebo. and this wedding helps me answer a question I get all the time. first, the picture:


More often than not I get asked "do I want/need/have to have a second shooter?" It's a totally fair question--weddings have budgets and second shooters cost money! But if you have a second shooter, you can often get perspectives like you do here. These were taken within two seconds of one another. And in this case, my second shooter was my fabulous husband Matt, who second-shoots for me 95% of the time! :)

There are a ton of other amazing moments from Sarah and Evan's wedding I'd like to share with you--and you can see them on my wedding website, under "recent weddings." Go check it out!

julie and justin: asheville wedding photographer

I knew this wedding was going to be amazing from the moment I stepped into the Party Barn--and it wasn't the location or the beautiful table arrangements or the horses or the perfect weather. No, it was that I walked up to Julie, introduced myself (we'd only talked on the phone and via email) and she said "no handshakes, friends hug, and we're gonna be friends by the end of today!"

she was right :)

this wedding was held in candler, nc, and wow, wow, WOW! eye candy everywhere, a super-fun bride and groom, and fantastic weather--I couldn't have asked for more.

let's start with the dress: geeeeee-orgeous!


and a touching ceremony--justin's dad officiated.


and so many details--burlap, logs, candles, handmade soap, bird's nest--just made everything gel!


and see that dress-worn by justin's grandmother.



the grandparents? they were PRECIOUS! and grandpa was persnickety in a very awesome way :)go check out the cream-of-the-crop album on my site and you'll see what I mean!

can't you just see how much they love each other? so touching, so adorable!


julie and justin allowed a lot of time for pictures between the ceremony and the reception--it helped a lot that everything was in the same place--and I know they are so thankful they did! check it out...

our own special take on "American Gothic"--SO appropriate for a barn wedding.


and this is the bride's (and my) favorite couple shot of the day!


and I LOVE this ring shot!

their flowergirl was a doll!




their programs were beautiful in their simplicity--and Julie and Justin learned something special for their first dance--the guests LOVED it! I did too! :)







the party barn at night!

a preview of what's up next!

I'm still playing catch-up! I am richly blessed by all of the amazing photography opportunities that keep coming my way! Weddings, families, newborns, corporate headshots and even a corporate event, wow!

I have five sessions this weekend, so I'm not sure when I'll get to blog the full version of each of these, but here's a taste...

t, e and n visited duke gardens with me--look how much little N has grown!


love is in the air! these two lovebirds are living across the pond from each other--she's here, he's there, but when he came to visit they made sure to book a shoot. I am really looking forward to their wedding in april!


leah and jeff got married in durham. holy moly, was the light perfect all day or what??? more from their wedding soon...


this is brandon. he's a rock star, a sweetheart and best friends with my little brother, which basically makes him my other little brother. :) he's also a SENIOR.


and this is harvey, my littlest brother. he is also known as hamster or harvard avenue, and he's probably going to be mad at me for telling you that :) he's also a big bad SENIOR, and of course he had me do his pics. he plays FOUR instruments and couldn't decide which to bring. some day, I think I will have to refer to him as my "famous brother harvey" :)



these fine folks are julie and justin--they got married at the farm in western north carolina. wow, wow, WOW!