Engagement Story: Sara and Elliot

The elements seemed to be against Sara and Elliot's engagement shoot... until we arrived on the scene Saturday and WOW we were so glad we waited for such a gorgeous day!

It is always fun to head down to the place I met my husband in order to document another couple's love- Campbell University! Like us, Sara and Elliot met each other and fell in love around campus so what better place to celebrate their engagement.

Sara told me in the beginning that she loves sun flare...

luckily the sun delivered and I tried to take advantage of that!

I am a huge fan of having different colored stones in an engagement ring. YUM!

There are so many personal, lovey moments that I caught between Sara and Elliot...

I love it when couples feel comfortable enough to let me into their world

Hanging out by Sara's old dorm

(since we couldn't go in- Campbell has strict coed visiting hours)

Engagement shoots are one of my FAVORITE types of shoots...

one reason being that I love it when couples show their personalities and parts of their love story during the shoot. Every couple has random details in their "how we met" story, and Elliot and Sara's are bouncy balls. Sara apparently threw a bouncy ball at Elliot and not too long after they were dating. Elliot loves this story and I love that he brought 100+ bouncy balls!

I also love it when a couple says they want to lay on the ground...

I ALWAYS love that :)

We got lucky and caught a security guard locking up the new chapel so we BEGGED him to let us in to take a few shots... surprisingly he said yes!

I like the pre-kiss, kiss and post-kiss moments...

I noticed this dreamy, secluded field on the way to Campbell and had a secret hope that Sara and Elliot would find it a fabulous idea. WHEW! They loved it- Sara even said it made her feel like she was in a Taylor Swift music video.

I happened to see this one on the back of the camera after I captured it and I knew exactly how I wanted it to look in the end. So warm and cozy in this moment...

Sara and Elliot: It was soooo fun getting to hang out with you guys tromping around campus and random fields. Elliot you were SUCH a good sport about doing anything we told you even though you were traveling by crutches. Most men could not have handled that :)

Personal Story: Family

Sometimes I just get this feeling... some would call it a gut instinct, others a nudge from God. Either way, the last time I was around my Papa (my Mom's Dad) when he was feeling decent I was passing through to shoot a wedding in his hometown. David and I had all our gear in the car... I just got this feeling that I needed to record our time visiting with my Papa that day. So after some pictures of him with my Mom David grabbed this one of Me, my sister and my Mom with my Papa...

I am so glad that we grabbed this image among others that day. Yesterday I attended my Papa's funeral and celebrated his life. I got to hear more stories about his life growing up on the mountain where he helped build the Blue Ridge Parkway (at the time "Starline Drive"). I was surprisingly touched by the military portion of the service where we honored my Papa for his time serving in World War II.

When my other grandfather passed away, I had this same feeling. With Papa he was sick and we knew it was coming soon. With my other grandfather he died suddenly of a heart attack. A few weeks before he had the heart attack the whole family was together and I just had this feeling it was important to get a picture of my grandfather with my dad and my uncle.

It may not be the most important to you, but it is so important to me to have my family and friends documented. It sounds so cliche but I believe it is totally worth the time to snap a few images of those people you love...

you never know what might happen before you see them again...

Wedding Story: Kate and Walt, Part Two

It's a rainy, cold, YUCKY day in Raleigh as I post this second half of Kate and Walt's toasty, gorgeous wedding day on Bald Head Island (see previous post for more details!)... it is good to remember what that day felt like :)

So in the last post I left you at the end of Kate and Walt's ceremony... let's pick up at the reception!

There's the lovely lady I shot this wedding with!

This is called "pulling an April"--

she is the queen of tricking other photographers

and walking into their reception shots.

There was a plethora of cute little boys at this wedding...

and Kate and Walt did awesome stuff to make sure they were entertained.

Cupcakes helped!

This is a family tradition...

Everyone loves a lively toast!

Kate and Walt decided to sneak away from the reception for a few minutes to take advantage of the sun setting and play on the beach for a little... April and I loooooved that!

The differences are subtle but I love these both...

After a fabulous party, this couple was ready to head on outta there :)