Posts Tagged: Boone Wedding Photographers
Happy Anniversary – Wedding Portraits of Celebration
Author and environmentalist Rick Bass has a great quote about the seasons of life:
“My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August,
but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July.”
Erica & Mark Makowski, 7 years July 2nd
For each of these couples, in their year, in July, they were in the beginning of their new lives. Childhood was June. But they were entering the July inside of July.
Anna & Jordan Isaacs, 6 years July 9th
Elizabeth & Chris Bankett, 8 years July 11th
Jessica & Jason Clinton, 1 year July 16th
Precious & Damon Murray, 9 years July 18th
Lila & Joseph Duke, 6 years July 23rd
From Jessica and Jason, who were married in 2016, to Precious and Damon who’ve been married for 9 years, we hope that for the best and longest Julys in their lives. August can wait. Keep celebrating. Keep enjoying each other. Keep planting and harvesting, knowing how loved you are. Happy Anniversary, all of you!
Autumn Outdoor Bridal Portraits at Leatherwood Mountain Resort
Just a few weeks ago, we shot another June wedding. Katie Vance married Patrick Carlson at Leatherwood Mountain Resort. We photographed Katie’s bridal portraits on November 4, 2016 at this very same spot. Katie wanted photos at Leatherwood both in the fall as well as in the summer to show off the various scenic views. 
Leatherwood – a place we love and have shot many times for brides and grooms – is a favorite for its bucolic setting and rustic atmosphere. Katie chose it to showcase the opposite. She is more princess than country bride and loves to sparkle. Even the Vans she wore with her gown had purple glitter on them. Katie grew up in Boone and loved being in the glorious mountain views that surrounded her all year. She loved how the mountains could be so massive and still be charming in the details. Her challenge to us was not to photograph the farm’s rustic style but instead to capture the more elegant natural surroundings. We were happy to oblige. 
Wedding photos are coming soon! If you’re interested in Leatherwood, here’s more about this venue from us.
Kendra & Nathan Wed at Elkin’s Barn at Blueberry Hill
On May 20th, we photographed the wedding of Kendra and Nathan as they tied the knot at The Barn at Blueberry Hill in Elkin NC. It was the first time we’ve ever shot a wedding at this venue and we LOVED it. It’s a real barn with a real barn feeling, but with air conditioning (!!) and the owner, event coordinator, setting – everything – was perfect.
What was also perfect was the couple. Even the groom’s goof made the occasion memorable.
Kendra is a lot like me: a Type A personality who wants every single detail to be perfect. She looked gorgeous and so did her bridesmaids in this setting. The weather turned out to be perfect (it rained for 5 days straight after the couple left for their honeymoon) and the guests were so much fun. There were no dull moments!
Groom Nathan teared up watching Kendra walk down the aisle. Kendra: “Most people might have needed a tissue after seeing Nathan become a little emotional as I walked in. I luckily, did not. I had the biggest smile on my face that nothing could wipe away. Why? Because I knew I was moments away from marrying the man of my dreams. Sounds cliché; I know, but it’s true. I had waited on that day for many years and that day, the day I had dreamed about for a long time, had finally arrived.” 
A highlight for the couple (and a laugh moment for the guests) was when the little groomsman just wandered across the aisle while vows were being said. Super cute!!
These two told us that Nathan’s performance really hit the high point when he kept messing up repeating his wedding vows. The pastor finally had to turn the page with the written vows so Nathan could just read them instead of trying to repeat them. 
Other memorable moments, according to the bride, groom and family include: when Nathan’s young cousin Ava walked up to the bridesmaid who’d caught the bouquet and snatched it out of her hands; when the groomsmen took over the photo booth to get shots of them wearing only their underwear and suspenders and when, coming back from their honeymoon, the TSA officer at the airport opened Kendra’s bag and those same underwear shots of the groomsmen were on display. They confiscated her belongings.
Kidding!
The barn vibe was so much fun, along with their photo booth, DJ, barbecue and amazing desserts. There was a LOT of laughter and silliness, dancing, chatter and sheer joy. Between Kendra & Nathan’s family members, there are 303 years of marriage experience surrounding them. This bit of info was shared at the ceremony and we thought it was so lovely. We hope that Kendra and Nathan add a minimum of 50 years to that total and enjoy every moment of it. 
Kendra & Nathan’s wedding vendors:
Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal
Wedding & Reception Venue: The Barn at Blueberry Hill
Flowers: Richard Hincher
Photographers: Pixels On Paper
DJ: Kevin Carter of Dirt Road Entertainment
Caterer: Brushy Mountain Smokehouse
What Makes a Wedding ….. A WOW
If you take an informal poll about which weddings people remember and what made them amazing, you’ll get a few surprising answers, but several themes come quickly into relief. The same goes for reading blogs and checking out WeddingWire. There are exceptions, but mostly the same categories bob to the surface.
The dancing. “Everyone was dancing. When it got late, the shoes came off, but most everyone just stayed on the dance floor.”
The details. “They spent so much time thinking about each element – from the seating, to the little gifts for the wedding party, to their vows.” The food and drink. “My dad kept saying, ‘it’s all about the food and booze and he was right. Our reception was the highlight. Everyone kept telling us how tasty everything was and how much fun they were having.”
As you can see, there’s usually a little bit of everything in the course of a wedding season, especially since the wedding season has become nearly three quarters of the year.
The venue. “We LOVED the views and everyone could roam or go inside to relax and then back outside to eat and dance.”
Ryan and I have shot weddings at some amazing places.
This and the shot above taken at On the Windfall.
Above and the preceding photo taken at Leatherwood Resort.
Those last two were taken in West Jefferson at Twickenham House. The food and music and views matter, but then there is the couple. Often, this is expressed as “how much love everyone felt.” We all need love and many of us cry at weddings, because they are such a fresh, new, pure and unapologetic celebration of it. Marriage is, we all hope, for a lifetime; watching two people say “I do” is a pretty overwhelming.
The final answer if you’re planning your wedding is YOU. You make it special by bringing people you love together to watch you take an enormous step into your future. Plan well, do your homework, work with the best you can find and afford, but remember that surrounding yourself with people who love you and bringing your heart to the party will make it a WOW. We hope to be there to capture every last detail.
Pixels is booking weddings, engagement and bridal portraits now for 2017 and 2018. Contact us! We’d love to work with you.
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 weddings, brides, 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.
Happy Anniversary | February’s One Couple
Lauren & Joshua – Five years on February 11th
I’m going to let my fellow North Carolinian, the late and oh-so-amazing Nina Simone take this one. Enjoy it here.
And Happy Anniversary to Lauren & Joshua Holley – our only February anniversary.
A certain kind of light
I want my whole life to be
To live it with you
Live it with you
Everybody says
Do each and every little thing
What good does it bring
If I ain’t got you, if I ain’t got you
I ain’t got you, I ain’t got you
What it’s like
Baby you don’t
What it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you
Ryan and I say: Amen to that.
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 weddings, brides, 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.