Greenville Wedding Photographer : Huguenot Loft Wedding : Matt and Rene

Raise your hand if you love cold and flu season!!!  What?  No one?  Well, gee willickers, that's just plain shocking.  Or not.  What I'm really getting at here is that I have a cold, and it's making me grumpy.  I'm reasonably tough about lots of things, but I feel very strongly about being about to breath through both nostrils.  I admit there are perks...staying in sweatpants all day, not feeling the least bit bad about working from the sofa watching Les Miserables on repeat, and eating copious amounts of strawberries because I just like them.  But then we come back to the aforementioned single nostril breathing, and the light pounding in my head that comes with it, and I'm just not sure it's worth it.  Plus it's been several days since I've gotten any natural vitamin D in my life.  Steven has been instructed to only approach me with chocolate, and perhaps a shiny new tabloid magazine.  

I just needed to get that little bit of whining out of my system...every time I complain to Hallie, she just sort of looks at me, and then farts.  Not quite the expression of sympathy I was looking for, but I guess on the plus side, I can't smell anything.  But I digress...and really into a place I don't particularly care to go, so let's move on.

I love looking back on this wedding...everything from the color palette and amazing venues, to just how cute Matt and Rene are together.  It's all so bright and cheery, and it helps me forget that between the weather and the cold (that I WILL whine about until it goes away),  everything seems to look, feel, smell, and even taste gray today.  I think you'll agree...

Church : Grace Church Downtown

Reception : Huguenot Loft

Dress : Poinsett Bride

Flowers : Dahlia

Coordination : B & R Events

Cake : Couture Cakes of Greenville

True story...Steven and I got into wreck on the way to meet up with Matt and Rene at the Hyatt.  It was totally minor, we were both fine, and we even managed to get to the Hyatt on time.  Always leave early, kids...very, very early. Anyway, all was fine, but I'm not exactly famous for handling things like this in a calm fashion.  My hands were shaking up until I actually got together with Rene and her bridesmaids.  They were so sassy and fun that I honestly forgot until the end of the night that part of my car had gotten smashed earlier in the day.

I still maintain that Matt looks like Brendan Fraser...

I love the this...candy buffett before and after.  :-)

Spartanburg Wedding Photographer : The Great Car Alarm Incident

I don’t really think I’m someone who tries to project an air of being hip at all, but sometimes my own lack of cool surprises even me.  I got locked in my own car recently, while out running errands with Steven.  Not out of it; IN it. 

Steven and I had been running errands all morning one day last week, and around stop number 57, I asked if it would be okay if I just waited in the car while he ran into the farmer’s market to grab one quick thing.  Well, it was supposed to be a quick trip in, so I didn’t think anything of it when Steven turned the car off and locked it.  You can probably imagine where this is going…it got hot in the car after less than a minute.  Since Steven had the keys, I couldn’t crank the car, but I thought I’d just open the passenger door.  It wouldn’t open.  I pushed the unlock button.  Nothing happened.  At that point, my very mature, rational reactionary processing had me completely convinced that I was going to suffocate before my husband came back out to release me.   So, I attempted to pry the lock on my door up, to force it to unlock.  Well, apparently our car DID NOT like that, because the alarm started to sound.  That was great fun, with all the people within a hundred foot radius staring in my general direction, all looking both horrified and embarrassed for me.  I’m pretty sure that my husband (who happened to stroll back out at that exact moment), considered just leaving me there and taking a cab home.

Before my days of trapping myself inside my own vehicle, Halie and Michael were married.  They are so stinking adorable, and I loved everything about this wedding…from the bridesmaids dresses, to the peacock feathers at the receptions, to their fabulous getaway car...which I'm pretty sure they didn't get trapped in.

 

All of Halie's bridesmaids signed the bottom of her shoes for luck...

I'm pretty sure that's not actually how these guys feel about marriage...

Halie, you are so, so, so stunning!

My favorite...and literally the last shot of the day!  Love!

Greenwood Wedding Photographer : Cake

One of my favorite parts of planning my own wedding was choosing the cake.  Steven and I both agree that we sort of wish we’d drug that part out a little longer.  Seriously, how often is it that you get to go into a bake shop, and they literally let you taste whatever you like.  Plates and plates of sugary goodness, all for us.  Our final selection was four tiers of yummy: 2 of mint chocolate chip, 1 of red velvet, and a top tier of vanilla, all covered in buttercream.  Yes, I did just have to back away from my Macbook Pro so that I wouldn’t slobber all over it.  Here it is, in all of its glory (thanks to Davey for the pic!): 

The cake is one of my favorite things to photograph at weddings.  I think I get a contact sugar rush just from sniffing them.  I’m a bit extra obsessed right now because I’ve been nibbling on a micro version of our cake all week.  My hands are twitching as I type.   Anniversaries = awesome

As much as I loved my cake, I think Kendall and Danny might currently hold the record for Most Epic Of All Cakes Ever.  I'm more than a little in love with their Old Hollywood Glamour themed wedding...

While the girls were getting all glammed up, the guys went golfing.

The Barratt House was a stunning location...

Fun fact: this chair came from the White House during John F. Kennedy's presidency.

LOVE Kendall's dad's reaction to seeing his baby girl as a bride!

And here's that cake...see what I mean?

As you can probably tell, I couldn't narrow down all the prettiness to just one post...this was just a sampling of the details.  Check back tomorrow for the ceremony, reception, and portraits!

Personal : Six Months (And One Day) Ago...

This post is actually a day later than I had very strategically planned, but such are the joys of technology...

Six months ago, I met my best friend at the end of the aisle of our church.  After a series of tears, laughter, and a rogue flower girl, I became Mrs. Steven Lee Ragan.  One half of a perfect whole. 

I won't say that the first half of our first year hasn't presented its challenges...God, music, and breathing oxygen are amongst the few things we have in common.  He prefers to leap from bed and get ready as soon as the alarm goes off, whereas I like to ease into my day.  Slowly.  He's not much of a breakfast person, but I have to be fed soon after getting up, or I may get violent.  His idea of the perfect day off is catching up on home improvement projects, while mine involves pajamas, the sofa, and Alias on DVD.  At night, he falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, while I enjoy chatting...for at least 30 minutes.  But that's why it works; because we bring balance to each other.  And I love him.  Even when I don't get fed on schedule. 

Here are just a few of my favorites from July 25, 2009, aka THE MOST AWESOMEST DAY EVER!!  All photos are by our awesome friend and fellow photog, Davey Morgan.

My dress was by Pronovias, and I loved it.  In fact, I still walk around the house in it when no one is around.  Because I'm cool like that.

Baroque Shootsac covers look good with everything!

I don't care how many times I look at this picture...I still can't believe that boy married me...

*tear*

Hey, remember that time I forgot all the words to the congregational hymn???  Yeah, me too...

Our yummy cake by Couture Cakes...