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.  :-)

Greenville Wedding Photographer : Chris and Carly : Part 2

One of the things I learned during my summer at the Flat Rock Playhouse, in addition to the fact that I should probably not be a professional actress, was that actors are amazing photo subjects.  And, yes the celebrities that you see in magazines all the time are super experienced and usually photoshopped within a literal inch of their existance, but that's not what I'm talking about.  Actors, famous or not, love to perform, and being in front of a lens is just another great means to do that.  They also like to be looked at.  And have a particular penchant for looking at themselves.  I know that one from my own experience...just ask Steven what happens when I get sat near a mirror in a restaurant.  Or my friend Joanna about how many times I have to stop for a picture of myself when touristing.  

My very roundabout point, friendlies, is that this was a wedding chock full of actors.  A group of people that was just as excited to have photos taken of themselves as I was to take their photos.  And, as icing on the cake of awesomeness, Carly planned in 3 hours between her ceremony and reception, just to make sure we had plenty of time.  I told you I loved these people...

It rained for a good hour right before we were scheduled to head into Falls Park.  Luckily, it stopped just in time and I was working with a fabulous group that wasn't worried about the added humidity.  What we got in return was some rather dreamy looking haziness, and some crazy water in the Reedy River.  Love.

The girls decided to make this little hike down to the rock a barefoot experience and I can't say I blame them...

The furry guest of honor.  I should note that these are Hallie's favorite pictures...

As I may have mentioned before, I'm about eleventy billion years behind in blogging.  The movie had just come out when Chris and Carly actually got married, so we were totally trendsetters here!

And then this happened...

And then this...

And then this!  With no coaching from me, might I add...

Mr. and Mrs. Brown...I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of your day.  It truly meant the world to me!  I hope you guys are loving every second of married life!!

Greenville Wedding Photographer : Chris and Carly : Part 1

Steven and I have the world's second cheapest cable package available.  Not the cheapest one, mind you, because we are classy people...who are too cheap to pay for all the channels past 20.  We also have a Netflix subscription and TiVo.  This gives us the ability to jump in on all the great television trends a good 2-5 years later than everyone else when the stuff we normally watch goes on holiday hiatus.  Like right now.  Obviously, everyone wants to be our friend.  So, let's talk about the immense hilarity that is How I Met Your Mother.  We're halfway through the first season and we're just a little obsessed.  I want to jump in my TV and be best friends with all of them right now.  We're also working Christmas movies into the rotation, because they're awesomesauce and one of our (my) favorite parts of the year.  This yummy, and slightly bizarre combination of viewing has led me to a somewhat unsettling realization about myself: I am the lovechild of Robin Scherbatsky and Buddy The Elf.  

Seriously...Steven agrees with me, although that's probably a bad thing.  But I am an excellent bro, would definitely have 5 dogs if I were allowed, think I would be a superior news anchor, and I love smiling.  It really is my favorite.  I also think that the perfect day would involve snow angels and holding hands.  Putting all of that out there has probably also just cost me all potential clients and business for the rest of my life.  Hmmm...I think I'll distract you all with pictures!

Not gonna lie, I have enjoyed more than anything else in the world saying that I got to photograph Chris Brown's wedding.  On more than one level.  Firstly, there's the obvious misunderstanding of which Chris Brown I'm talking about, which gives me massive street cred.  Not that that's really a problem for me anyway.  Then, and this is really the biggie, I love him and his new wifey so much.  I want to shrink them down and keep them on a shelf in my house so that I can hang out with them whenever I want.  But that would be weird, so I'll settle for just saying once again, that they both are truly amazing people and I really do adore them.  

Also, I have entirely too many photos for just one blog post, so I'm dividing it up into the overall story of the day (this post) and the mammoth portrait session we did with their wedding party in Fall's Park.  Here we go!

Ceremony : Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Reception and Catering : Embassy Suites

Bridesmaids : Coren Moore

Cake : Kathy and Company

Carly is an avid Yankees fan.  :-)

Carly seeing her dad for the first time...is it weird that I'm majorly jealous that Steven took this one?

When I came across this little gem while culling through my original files, I may have snorted.  Loudly.

Carly's cousins suprised them with a custom version of Airplanes.  It was 100 different kinds of fabulous.

In case you were wondering...theatre people can THROW DOWN.  

Best bouquet sequence EVER!

Holy Sweaty Photographer, Batman!!  And yet still, these are my favorites.  :-)

Stay tuned for the portraits, later today!

Spartanburg Wedding Photographer : Engagement : Bridals : Keighley and Rob

Keighley and Rob have been married for exactly 2 days now, and are hopefully enjoying lots of sunny goodness at Disney World.  (Sidebar: I offered to go as official documentarian, but for some reason they declined.  Cray cray, right??)  This wedding was extra special to me because Keighley and I spent quite a few of our formative years together marching in Spartanburg High School's colorguard.  That means that we spent the better part of our summers accruing bizarre tanlines and bruises as if they were currency.  That kind of stuff makes you tough.  Maybe tough enough to deal with some of those zombies I referenced in my previous post.  I'm sorry to keep coming back to that, but either trust me on this one or Google it.  I'm well warranted to want to be ready for something like that to show up on my doorstep!

On a serious note though, Keighley, it was super cool to be a part of your day...please give Rapunzel my best regards!

Fun factoid: as we made our way over to our next location in the park, a very charming gent with a ginormous tree branch told these guys about how he was going to take that branch and carve it into a walking stick.  And then sell it.  In case any of you out there are interested.  :-)

And now, just a few of Keighley's lovely bridalness.  If Disney had a movie about a winter princess, she'd look like this.

Greenville Wedding Photographer : Julie and Adam

I've mentioned this before, but I'm more than a little prone to getting all misty-eyed at weddings.  Sometimes, it's just a single, stoic tear, and then there are the times that Steven has to ask me if I need to step out and take a minute.  Julie and Adam's wedding day was one of those latter times.  And rather than ramble incoherently as I am so prone to doing, I think I'd rather just let the images do the talking...

Rehearsal dinner : Brick Street Cafe

Brunch : Twigs Tempietto 

Church : Saint Paul United Methodist Church

Reception : Zen

Dress : David's Bridal

Flowers : Twigs

Cake : Old World Cake Company

Trolley : Main Street Trolley

So many sweet speeches (and cakes!!) at this rehearsal dinner!

Bright and early the next morning, Julie and her girls got together for the loveliest of brunches.  In other news, I'm pretty smitten with this flower girl...

Dear Steven, I need these shoes right now.  Okay?  Okay...glad we talked.  :-)

Julie and Adam opted for a (super sweet, super emotional) first look.  Swoon...

Seriously, be JUST A LITTLE MORE ATTRACTIVE GUYS.  Yeesh!

This wedding party gets major bonus points for rocking it out like they did in what felt like the hottest day in the history of time anywhere.  And I'm not exaggerating in the slightest.

You know you have a photogenic kiddo on your hands when they look like that, just standing there, probably bored out of their mind because the chick with the ginormous camera wants "just one more shot"...

A confession about these 2 images: Steven took them.  And I could not be more proud.  Or jealous.

Adam and Julie, thank you so, so, SO much for allowing me to be a part of your day.  I hope that married life is absolutely amazing!!