I photographed Allison’s wedding last week but have been sick this past week so these bridals are a little past due.  I seriously could not WAIT to blog them after our shoot!  Allison was such a dream to work with from beginning to end and was the perfect bride to work with as a photographer.  Her dress is by Essence of Australia and was so perfect for her.  The moment she put it on I gasped because she looked just like a Roman Goddess.  Her jewelry was simple and elegant and her friend Casey came along and helped not only with the shoot (while pregnant – thank you, Casey!!!) but also with making her bouquet.  I can’t wait to blog their wedding but for now, here are her beautiful bridals which were shot at both the Revolution Mill and the Our Lady of Grade Cathedral in Greensboro, NC.

This is just a sneak peek of Madison & Josh’s wedding held on beautiful Lake Lure in the mountains of North Carolina this past weekend.  Full post soon!

I posted Madison’s bridal session last week and as promised I am posting her First Look this week! One of the first things Madison came to me with as her wedding photographer was the importance of her photos and making sure they happened no matter what. No matter the weather, no matter what old wives tales said, no matter if it’s before the wedding – she wanted her photos to turn out how she envisioned. She also knew she wanted a relaxing wedding day with family and friends so she came to the conclusion that a First Look would be perfect!

First looks usually happen the day of the wedding. Instead of setting time aside after the ceremony, the bride and groom will get ready a little earlier and spend quiet alone time with each other before the ceremony even begins. It is my job as a photographer to just stand back and let this moment unfold and to capture it as it happens. Madison and Josh’s just so happened to be almost a full month before their wedding but it was every bit exciting. They were anxious, nervous, excited and so full of love and have personally told me just how perfect this time and situation was for them. They are getting married this weekend on beautiful Lake Lure and Andy and I will be traveling there to document that as well. We will do more formals (this time with family and the bridal party) at the lake but as for their official bride and groom photos with just as much meaning – sit back and enjoy their first look!

Thank you again to Alex & Matt for being gracious enough to open their loft to us, Jade Buchanan for hair and Madison’s friend Traci for assisting!

I can’t say enough how much I LOVE shooting bridals! I am going to be posting a series of Madison’s photos because there are so many amazing ones. She and her fiance Josh decided they wanted to do a first look almost a whole month before their wedding. Why? Simply because the photos were very important to them and they wanted to spend as much time as possible with friends and family on the day of their wedding! Since they are having an outdoor summer wedding she didn’t want to risk the chance of rain and not having the photos they wanted.

I LOVED this idea and jumped at the chance. We shot both her bridals and their bride and groom photos in the same day but I will post those next week and after their wedding on the 30th at beautiful Lake Lure I will post the actual wedding photos.

I loved her dress, her hair, the simplicity of it all and how graceful she moved in the satin and lace. Madison asked for a urban yet classy look and I knew of the perfect location! Alex and Matt were once again kind enough to allow us to her their loft as the backdrop and I think everyone agreed that it was perfect. Thank you both for your hospitality yet again, to Jade for the amazing hair and to Madison’s friend Traci for helping out on the shoot! Madison – I feel honored to document this time of your life and you and Josh are simply flawless. Of course I can’t wait to see the photos we capture on your actual day but you completely rocked this shoot!

Oh how I adore Magen!  She is an amazing photographer close to Charlotte, NC who contacted me a couple of years ago to photograph she and her husband together.  We have kept in touch and have shot together a few times since and she’s always such an inspiration and SO funny.  They both are and that makes sense since they’re both actors.

The last time she contacted me though she said they were having a little baby girl and she wanted to know if I’d be interesting in shooting her maternity session.  UM, YES!  Interested didn’t even begin to describe it!  I was excited, over the moon happy for them, honored, nervous, smitten, etc.  We actually shot twice since our first shoot was during a huge downpour that never seemed to stop.  Being a natural light photographer means taking a gamble with mother nature and afternoon thunderstorms are a pretty frequent event in North Carolina. The rain finally lifted at the very end of our shoot but I wasn’t happy with the photos and Magen being a photographer herself (thank God!!) understood my concern. I couldn’t give them anything but my absolute best and they agreed to come back once again (thank you, again!!) for a do-over. This time? They totally made this shoot theirs and blew it out of the water!  The love between these two is so obvious that it feels contagious.  The amount of fun they can have together and how much they can make each other and everyone else laugh should be illegal.  They are going to be amazing parents to baby Kennedy in just a few weeks and I can’t wait to meet her!  I adore you guys and thank you for allowing me to capture such a precious time in your life.  Magen, you are still just as stunning as the first day I met you!  Yall are going to be the best parents ever and I can’t wait to photograph you as a bigger family next time!

I met Brittney a few months back at a previous shoot here in Winston Salem. She drove from Raleigh for the day and we had SO much fun on our shoot. She hadn’t yet gotten married (it was only a few weeks away) but after our shoot decided she wanted to do some funky bride and groom photos after her wedding. We actually “happened upon” our location for the shoot because (long story short) we got locked out of the lofts at our previous shoot and 2 nice men let us back in. One of those men found me on facebook via a mutual friend and I soon-after contacted him for location scouting purposes. He graciously offered up he and his husband’s loft and Brittney jumped at the chance. I think it was the perfect backdrop for their eclectic shoot! Jade showed up and did her hair and makeup and her dress? I DIE! She looked beyond stunning and it was so nice to finally get to meet Paul, her now husband! They rocked out this shoot and had a lot of fun with it, which is just what she wanted!

Brittney and Paul, thank you so much for coming back to me once more to bring your visions to life. You two should seriously be featured in Vogue or some high fashion magazine. You are such a beautiful couple and beautiful both inside and out on your own. Being around you and talking with you is so easy and fun and I could just feel the love surrounding you as I spent the day with you. I thank you again for giving me artistic freedom and trusting that you would rock it out and have a great experience. Brittney, thank you for coming to me and wanting to do something different and Paul for going along with the whole shebang! I wish you two nothing but the best of luck, love and unworldly fortunes in the future and I know we’ll be seeing each other again soon!

Alex and Matt, thank you so much for allowing us to use your beautiful home as the backdrop for the day. It was beyond perfect and your hospitality couldn’t have been warmer. You guys are the best (and I can’t wait to feature YOUR shoot)!