Posts Tagged: banner elk nc weddings

The Pinterest Factor – reality vs. pinned photos

A common challenge we wedding photographers have these days involves brides sending us a Pinterest board full of photos they want us to recreate on their wedding day. And believe me, we get it. Inspiration comes from so many different places and directions, people, memories……….. the origins of our muses can be anywhere these days and Pinterest boards are proof of that. They are a 21st century social media phenomenon, born of the old bulletin boards, college wall boards of your favorite actors or bands, and more recently the vision boards people made for aspirational purposes. They have enormous value for those who craft, knit, travel, have a yen for a certain type of fiction, color palette, movie genre, you name it.

from a board about movie stars of the 1940s

But Pinterest boards are just that: they are inspiration boards. And brides love them because they create a central and shareable place to collect ideas. It’s perfect for pulling together your ideas and favorite thoughts as you plan. With photography on your wedding day, it’s a moveable feast. It’s live and it’s subject to dozens of variables.

 

from a board about weddings

all images from Pinterest boards about weddings

When it comes to brides, we love seeing photos from Pinterest boards for this reason and pretty much this reason only: we get to know YOUR sense of your style, where YOUR inspirations are coming from and some of the types of imagery you want us to capture. You’re giving us a sense of who you are, but from someone else’s photos. These are someone else’s moments and that’s the distinction.

Why do you want someone else’s moment? Why not allow us to capture or create photos that are uniquely yours? We don’t mind looking at a pinterest board to get an idea of what you like at all, because we can then use it for inspiration. We want to capture what you want and we are seasoned wedding photographers and great listeners. But to wholesale recreate someone else’s moment is not only difficult and time consuming, that moment may be from a photographer with a different style from ours.

Schultz Crestwood Resort Blowing Rock NC High Country Wedding
Firethorne Country Club wedding charlotte NC. Whitford/Kessell wedding photography by Pixels On Paper Photographers photo
 Amanda Walling and Bonnie Hostetler On The Windfall outdoor Wedding West Jefferson NC photo

If you’ve fallen in love with a particular style of photography, you’ll need to find that photographer or a photographer who can mimic that style. Ryan and I feel strongly about copying other professional photographers images.

Thinking we can create images from Pinterest that only happen naturally where brides and photographers can find themselves in the weeds. Setting up an image based on a photo takes much longer due to set-up and lighting, posing people, etc. than those glorious shots that simply happen naturally.

A wedding is a moveable feast, as it were.

It’s live. It’s a living, breathing bit of joy, community, fun, calamity at its best and history in the making. Every moment cannot be a photo shoot and why would you want it to be? There are rain delays, wardrobe changes or makeup refreshes, lingering conversations, your cast of characters who may go missing, speeches that are lovely to hear but don’t convey on film. To capture every type of image based on other weddings on other days, in other locations and shot by other photographers is to set yourself up for disappointment. Have faith!
YOU need your own images that happen naturally for YOU on YOUR day. Remember that, as you sort through what you’d like to see on your day and trust that there will be magic moments we’ll capture that no one else on any Pinterest board will have.


We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddingsbrides, and special events and portraits  of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

themed weddings photographers? ABSOLUTELY.

We made our start photographing the traditional wedding. The gorgeous bride in a white gown, the handsome groom, the heart-felt vows and whether it was in a church or overlooking a mountain vista, the pictures really were worth a thousand words. What bigger day do you have than your wedding day? And capturing those memories is what we do.
But we have also had the pure, unadulterated joy of capturing weddings with a theme. Some are based on a throwback to another era. Some are based on the bride or groom’s family heritage with ancestral touches. We photographed the engagement, bridal and wedding portraits for a couple who LOVED Dr. Who. It was awesome. THEY were awesome. Others just want to give a nod to something they care about whether it’s a style or a place or a genre. Whatever your tastes, loves, origin story or favorite band, we will help capture it on film to share for lifetimes to come. Check out a few or our faves below! Above: A Pirate Wedding in the forest. What a fun group!
Below: A Rock-a-Billy Wedding done up right with every detail. 

Below: A Mexican Fiesta. …. Kidding. Scottish Highlands all the way. It was elegant and even the fog rolled in to go with bagpipes, kilts and heather.

The Scotch-Irish, and British Isles, often make an appearance. We are a country of immigrants afterall and seeing those traditions celebrated is transporting. It’s as if everyone at the wedding has gone back in time. The Fleur de Lis – so French, so New Orleans, so retro and cool. We LOVE those couples who just say, “This is WHO WE ARE. These are the things that we care about or that make us happy or brought us together and we want to celebrate and share it with everyone.” 

We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddingsbrides, and special events and portraits  of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License

All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

An Outdoor Wedding ~ in a casual way

Is there a penalty for saying this one was special, if it’s true more than once? We feel this way about more than a few of the couples we photograph on their big day, and this one goes in that category. While we don’t know Dylan and Elizabeth intimately, Dylan’s dad, Richard, has been a friend of ours for over a decade. Plus, who can feel cynical about the world when there is a bagpiper – IN A KILT – playing during the ceremony? Dylan’s uncle not only played the bagpipes at Dylan’s wedding, he played them at Richard’s, so this was a tradition worth keeping. Elizabeth and Dylan are a low key couple, extremely cool and fun, and so was their wonderful outdoor wedding.pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photo

You want to know how to mix the casual with the tender? Take cues from these two. Part of the laid back atmosphere they wanted to create for their wedding and reception was to have it at their new home in New London, NC surrounded by their families and friends and their beloved dogs. Elizabeth and Dylan had only been in their new digs for a few short months and worked hard to get the place ready. While the dogs made cameos, any dog owner will tell you that getting them to pose takes more than a nod and a wink but they made it.

pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photoOn the traditional and tender side: Dylan was given a pair of cuff links just before the ceremony that were his grandfathers as a special touch from Richard. Additionally, someone shared the old Southern tradition of burying the bourbon at the ceremony site to ensure good weather the day of the ceremony. It worked!! As the tradition mandates, the bourbon is dug up and there was a toast of bourbon with the guests after the ceremony. The groom’s sweet Grandmother made the desserts and the catering was provided by Lexington Barbecue as in THE best barbecue. Richard commented, “who knew my son was a barbecue snob?!”pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photo

pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photo

pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photo

pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photoWe stole the couple from the ceremony late in the reception because the sunset was just too gorgeous not to get photos with. These two are so relaxed with each other, so happy and in love and their future just appears to be only filled with light and joy and silliness AND DOGS.

pixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photopixels on paper concord outdoor wedding photographers photoWe look forward to watching these two grow their family and their lives together over the coming years and loved being a part of their big day. Our thanks to Richard and their whole tribe for letting us in! We love you guys!

We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddingsbrides, and special events and portraits  of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License

All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Late Summer | Photos of an Outdoor Southern Wedding

Engaged couples everywhere: If you’re planning a wedding for summer of 2018 (or spring or fall, for that matter), take note. This couple did it well, or as we say in the south – did it right! Alex Sohl and Dan Goldman brought family from all over North Carolina and Kentucky to their outdoor wedding at River Run Farm in Banner Elk, NC for barbecue, dancing and vows in a gorgeous setting. The day, the ceremony and the details were outstanding. If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration or just a smile for the day, check out Alex and Dan’s July 29th wedding.Pixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoAlex’s entrance was beautiful. Everyone was assembled in a stand of trees and it felt like country weddings from another time… when two families would come together on a farm, gather to watch the exchange and then sit down to dine together. It was casual and incredibly sweet.Pixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoThe key ingredient for Alex and Dan was for everyone to feel comfortable and to enjoy the day. There was no fuss, no pomp, just a lot of people playing games, chatting, dancing and enjoying the late summer eve.Pixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoFun and games was their theme – brilliant idea – and everyone had a blast gabbing and competing and getting to know each other. The bride changed her dress and after walking up from the river, everyone enjoyed the barbecue and danced. Their send-off with bubbles and applause was a perfect ending. Many happy returns you two!Pixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoPixels On Paper Photographers River Run Farm Banner Elk Valle Crucis NC Sohl / Goldman Outdoor Mountain Wedding PhotoThe vendors for this wedding were superb and to help those of you planning, here you go!
Wedding Planning and Coordination: Kelsey Fidis of The Whole Shebang
Venue: River Run Farm, Banner Elk NC
Hair & Makeup: Christy & Co Hair Design, Boone NC
Caterers: Woodlands BBQ, Blowing Rock NC
Rentals: A&J Rentals, Wilkesboro NC
Cupcakes: Ugga Mugga Bakery, Blowing Rock NC
Trolley: Air Haven Limousine, Boone NC
Music: Spinboxx, Boone NC

We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddingsbrides, and special events and portraits  of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License

All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

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