Posts Tagged: bridal traditions wedding and prom attire

Wilkes Wedding Expo 2020


Pixels has been photographing the Wilkes Wedding Expo for years. Owner of Bridal Traditions and Expo Host, Kelly Shumate is one of my best friends, so of course we photographed the latest one in March of 2020.

For years, the Expo has been a place for brides-to-be to find vendors and see their hypothetical dreams played out in various applications. Wedding industry experts flock to this early spring event year after year at Wilkes Community College. Pixels has exhibited annually over the years, as have pals of ours in the catering, DJ, event planning and venue realms. If you are looking for ideas, this is an Expo worth attending and if you are a vendor who wants to get in front of prospects, consider exhibiting!

2020 was Kelly Shumate’s last year hosting. She is celebrating 20 years in the Bridal Boutique & Prom business and wants to stay focused on that in the foreseeable future. But for the 2020 Expo, she took on a wonderful co-sponsor – Kelli Rodriquez of Embellished Events for You. Beginning in 2021, Kelli and Embellished will be the new hosts! Congrats and best of luck with this important annual event.


We love graphic design and commercial photography whether logo design, brochure design, head shot photos, architectural photography or product shots. At Pixels On Paper we pride ourselves in listening to a broad range of clients and customizing our photography and graphic design services to meet each individual request. Our skills, styles, and visions come together to be a permanent record that either reflects an identity or delivers a message that speaks to thousands. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your business needs. Email us at mail@pixelsonpaper.net or call 336.990.0080 to learn more, receive a quote or to let us know how we can put our skills to work for you.

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

All photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Small Business Love-Up: Bridal Traditions

We’re celebrating and saluting small businesses during a time when they are suffering and waiting to reopen full force. Today, I want to shine the light on Bridal Traditions. Kelly Shumate, the owner of BT and beYOUtiful Boutique … oh how I love this girl. We have been friends for more than a decade and have memories to back up that time. Pixels even created her logo back in the day.

If you find yourself on a small, blue marble hurling through space, you should have a Kelly in your life. I photographed her bridal anniversary portraits, pictures of her with her sweet husband and pup for the holidays, and the Wilkes Wedding Expo for years.

Kelly is community-focused, a smart business woman, a good time Charlie and one of the hardest working women in the biz.

We’ve photographed the Wedding Expo for years including this previous one in 2020, but I have also had the fun and pleasure of accompanying Kelly and her team to Atlanta for prom and wedding markets and buying efforts over the years for her boutique. Watching her work, choose styles and chat with other vendors is the best.

Bridal Traditions just celebrated its 20th Anniversary. I couldn’t be more excited for her, more proud of her, or more happy to have her as one of my best friends. If you aren’t following her on Facebook or Instagram, I hope you will.


We love graphic design and commercial photography whether logo design, brochure design, head shot photos, architectural photography or product shots. At Pixels On Paper we pride ourselves in listening to a broad range of clients and customizing our photography and graphic design services to meet each individual request. Our skills, styles, and visions come together to be a permanent record that either reflects an identity or delivers a message that speaks to thousands. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your business needs. Email us at mail@pixelsonpaper.net or call 336.990.0080 to learn more, receive a quote or to let us know how we can put our skills to work for you.

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 ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Wilkes Wedding Expo 2019

We’ll be there again this year with our own booth ready to meet brides-to-be, see other wedding professionals and talk about what we love and have been doing for nearly 15 years.

The Wilkes Wedding Expo
is one of our favorite events because we’ve been a vendor and taken photos of the event for so many years, and met so many brides and couples who’ve become clients, friends and like family to Ryan and me. Those connections have led to such strong bonds that we always look forward to March each year. There’s an enormous amount of expectation and fun in the air and talking photography, venues, spring and summer weddings and big plans gooses us into gear.

The 2017 Wilkes Wedding Expo

Here are the details, but you can visit https://wilkesweddingexpo.weebly.com/ or Bridal Traditions to learn more if you are a bride ready to get organized!

Sunday, March 10, 2019
at The John A. Walker Center
 from 1:00pm until 4:00pm

See you there!


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.

Courtney + Cody’s wedding photography | Family, Nature + Love

Courtney & Cody’s wedding was one that featured so much family heritage throughout and that impressed me once again about these two. It was also very much about the excitement of the day – which was September 22nd at Gambill Estate in Roaring River NC. The ceremony was simple and the day was incredibly special.
For this blog, we chose to use the photo pages directly from their wedding album. Couples rarely get wedding albums anymore. I think it’s important to note that these become heirlooms where a USB thumb-drive does not.  Everyone thinks that they will make a slide show, but they don’t, or they forget to share it, or the older relatives cannot access it. An album lasts and we custom design each album around the couple’s favorite images. Both sets of parents also ordered replica albums.Parker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding Photo

According to the couple, their favorite moment was just after the ceremony, when they realized “we really are married – the dream is real” and could bask in it. A close second and third were being with their families before the ceremony and the reception where everyone could chat, mix, mingle and eat afterwards.

What we loved was how they incorporated so much heritage. Courtney did this for her bridal portraits as well. Generations of family china patterns from both sides were used as the place settings during the reception and the decor used featured orchard and farm elements including homestead doors, ladders, and apple crates.

Parker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoBoth Courtney and Cody were relaxed and excited throughout the entire day and Cody in his normal comedic fashion caused a roar of laughter when he wore a head lamp to remove Courtney’s garter.

Parker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoParker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding PhotoCourtney told us how quickly they felt it all went by, but that – if given the chance for a do-over – they wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Parker / Tevepaugh Pixels On Paper Photography Gambill Estate Outdoor Wedding Photo

Here’s a little more about their vendors:
Wedding Gown: Bridal Traditions
Wedding coordinator /planner:  Cathy Snipes
Wedding and reception venue: Gambill Estate
Videographer: Our Story Video Creations
DJ or band: Block Party Productions
Caterer: Michelle and Mike Mizelle
Flowers, Cake and Desserts: Family


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.

Vendors We Love – Part 1

We hope that right now, you’re out relishing a day off. No one should labor too hard on Labor Day. This long weekend is one of the last siren calls of summer. School is back in session and people are back to a structured schedule of work and perhaps longing for the next thing to look forward to.
For us, it means harvesting items from our garden, chasing our son around who’s threatening daily to walk right out the door and thinking about our clients – old and new – and our vendors. We love the vendors we have the privilege of working with and thought that we’d share a few of them with you. These come highly recommended and not just by Ryan and myself.
Leatherwood Mountain Resort is a pretty spectacular spot for weddings and we’ve photographed our fair share in this amazing location. For more views, and instances of our work at Leatherwood, take a look.
Pixels On Paper Photograhphy High Country NC wedding photographers Leatherwood mountain resort wedding photoFrom the country to the city and that takes us to a pretty glam spot – Holiday Inn Center City Charlotte. If you want a wedding where there is plenty to do over the weekend and a diverse crowd or wedding party who want lots of options for dining and activities, Charlotte, NC is hard to beat. The skyline views also make this Holiday Inn perfect for photos – engagement, bridal or otherwise.

Pixels On Paper Photography Charlotte NC Wedding photography photo
And for the Part 1 finale on vendors (don’t worry, there’s another blog to come), we have to mention Bridal Traditions Wedding & Prom Attire which is located near us in North Wilkesboro. We are friends-like-family with Kelly at BT, and have collaborated with her and her team more times than we can count. Gorgeous gowns, tux options, gifts, and ideas pour out of their doors.

That little number in the gown above just happens to be Kelly, the owner of Bridal Traditions’. She knows what she’s doing.
We love making suggestions, when asked, so if you’re planning your wedding in North Carolina and would like to know more about the vendors we think of highly, please reach out. Vendor Love Part 2 comes soon!


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.