We're so excited that LaToya and Byron's July wedding was featured recently in the Real Weddings section of Southern Bride and Groom's Winter/Spring edition! Seeing the spread in the magazine brought back such great memories. Check out the feature in the magazine online here. LaToya and Byron were on the blog back in July, but if you missed it, here's Part I and Part II. Enjoy!

It's the time of year when it seems that everyone is making "Best Of" lists. Best movies, best songs, best books. Lots of photographers make "Best Of" lists, too.  I don't do it every year; some years I'm just too over-whelmed by the process of trying to narrow down my favorite images to finish the list once I start. It's a little like trying to pick your favorite child. You can't. This year, after being inspired by a friend and colleague's "Best Of" blog post, I sat down at the computer, determined to do the same. Forty-eight hours later (not all in a row, I do have to eat), I've finally finished. There was simply no way to include them all in one blog post, so a slide show will have to do. (Scroll down to the end of the post to view it.) You'll see a few of my favorites below. I hope you love them as much as I do.

A word about how I compiled our list. To make the cut, only two things had to be true: the image had to be made in 2011 and I had to love it. That's it. What follows are not images from our favorite weddings or shots of our favorite couples. If we were blessed to work with you the past year and one of your images isn't represented here, know for sure that it's not because your wedding wasn't wonderful or you didn't measure up in some way. Nothing could be further from the truth. I gave myself a deadline and resolved to stick to it. The laundry's piling up, the Christmas decorations are still everywhere and the dog needs to be walked. Time to get up from my desk.

Throughout this process, I was reminded time and time again how very fortunate we are to do this work. How very lucky to witness, 20 weekends out of the year, the hope-filled celebration that is a wedding. Know that at each and every wedding, there was a moment where my heart was in my throat and I had to blink back tears. Many nights I left wedding receptions with my face aching from smiling and laughing along with you and your guests. Wedding photography, in my opinion, isn't about creating art to fulfill some sort of need in myself. It's about documenting a rite of passage, a momentous day in the life of two families, a leap of faith made when two people stand up together and make their promises. If we can give that day back to you in images that help you remember, we've done our job. And we consider ourselves lucky.

-- Elizabeth

Meet Caroline and Mathew and their dogs, Philmont and Toby! Frank and I caught up with them on Hillsborough Street outside Mitch's Tavern, the place where they first set eyes on each other. When Caroline told me she wanted to start at Mitch's I was all for it since I spent quite a bit of time there back when I was an undergrad at Meredith (hello, NC State guys!). I have such good memories of that place from my college days; surprisingly, they're not hazy at all. ;) (Fun fact: Mitch's is ranked by MSN as one of the top ten taverns in the county and was featured in the movie Bull Durham.) The bride-to-be told me she really wanted a shot of them under the Mitch's Tavern sign with the dogs. Here you go, Caroline! Then it was off to hit some of our favorite spots on the NC State campus, their Alma mater.

A quick outfit change and it was off to the NC Museum of Art. Mathew proposed in Museum Park near the three giant rings (fitting, huh?). The plan was to get a shot on the bench where he proposed, but interlopers in a hammock strung between two trees near the bench foiled our plan. We figured they wanted some privacy and we had plenty of space to roam. (Another fun fact: the museum's best known piece of outdoor sculpture is called Gyre, which refers to the sense of circular motion you get when viewing the rings from just the right angle.) I love how a simple change of outfit, scenery and time of day can give you a whole different feeling to images. We loved photographing these two -- they have such an easy way of being together, making each other laugh one minute, getting close and sweet another. We can't wait for their wedding next July!

Kiss me with rain on your eyelashes,
come on, let us sway together,
under the trees...”
-- Edwin Morgan

It's what every bride and groom who want to get married outside dread: rain. When you're choosing a garden venue or the beautiful grounds of an old historic house like Haywood Hall in Raleigh, you only imagine how glorious it will be on your wedding day, with the sunlight dappled through the trees. So you plan for the possibility of rain, but you don't think about it much and then only with a whispered prayer that it will stay away on your day. And then the wedding week arrives and the forecast is...well, not good. Rain is likely. So what do you do? You pull out the rain plan and if you're like the lovely Carly, you buy really adorable umbrellas that seem to have been made just for your wedding day, so perfect is the design and color. (When I saw those umbrellas, they were so right I knew we were going to be using them in photos, even if it didn't rain one single drop.)

Maybe more nerve-wracking than a steady rain is a rain that starts and stops. Will we get married outside this beautiful old house or under a dark tent? What if we call it now and and the rain stops ten minutes before the ceremony? It made me nervous, the teasing quality of the start-and-stop rain. Carly and Bill had elected to do a First Look and Frank and I had found the perfect (and perhaps only private) place on the grounds, but it was entirely dependent upon the rain holding off. Luck was with us and we had the time we needed. I love Carly and Bill's First Look, so you'll see a boat-load (ark-load?) of pictures from their time together.

Thankfully, the heavy rain held off and everyone, from the wedding party to the guests, were good-natured about braving a steady misting of the wet stuff to allow the couple the wedding they wanted on the front lawn with the Rev. Barbara Lodge officiating. Thank goodness we'd done the bulk of the photographs before the ceremony. We had just enough time to get the combined family portraits done before the rain started in earnest. Protected under a series of tents in the back yard, family and friends enthusiastically celebrated until late into the evening. Before heading downtown to continue the party, Bill and Carly slipped away with us for a few final shots. Enjoy some of our favorites from this lovely wedding day.

Time for the First Look. I don't know which I love more: Bill's sweet expressions or Carly's emotional reaction to seeing her groom for the first time on their wedding day. Carly and Bill, we felt lucky to be there with you!

How perfect is it when even the greenery on the porch coordinates with the teal in your bridesmaids' dresses...and those two colors just happen to be your wedding colors? Carly is a graphic designer, so I'm betting none of that was an accident. :)

(Loved working with this wedding party! What a fun-loving group.)

Catering Works provided the floral design and catering, with special touches provided by the bride.

Carly and Bill, we thoroughly loved every minute of your wedding day. We wish you thousands of sunny days together...with enough rain thrown in to make the flowers bloom!

Starting Friday, October 14, we're offering a 25% discount on press-printed coffee table books for one week only!

These are professionally printed, hardcover books with fully customized designs. Because the pages lay flat when opened, with no seam between the pages, these books are a great way to showcase your images. We can create books that would make great holiday gifts for the extra-special people in your life — parents, grandparents, spouses, kids, best friends and of course YOU yourself! And there are lots of interesting options for these books: glossy pages, matte pages, leather covers, cover images that wrap around the spine, etc. The discount works on pre-orders as well. Shoot me a message and I’d be happy to give you all the details: Elizabeth@sweetlifephoto.com.