Out with the old, in with the…
…well, you know.
Don’t worry, you’re in the right place: Pixel Dust, the Sweet Life Photo blog. I just felt like changing things up a bit. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
And since a post without a photo is just plain wrong, here’s a sneak peek from Kristina and Wesley’s December wedding. Kristina’s mom Pam was helping her with her jewelry and leaned in to kiss her shoulder. I just about lost it. Don’t you just love weddings?
Alysia and Luther: Married!
First off, I have a new blog management strategy. In order to get control of my back-log of blog posts (or should I say back-blog?) and to keep things current, I've decided to blog the most recent weddings and fill in with 2008 weddings when I can. I've got a little break here until high season begins again in April and I'm really going to work hard to catch up.
Alysia and Luther were married on a beautiful November day, the kind of temperate winter day we're so lucky to enjoy in NC. They were married at Millbrook United Methodist Church here in Raleigh. The church is right on the corner of two busy streets and it can be tough to get a good shot of it -- you practically have to step into oncoming traffic! I love this shot Frank got with that gorgeous winter sun peeking around the corner.
Alysia, her mom and bridesmaids started out the day at Primp Salon Bar on West Street in Raleigh. Primp will forever be one of my favorite salon locations to shoot for the simple reason that they have cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe that they pass around to their clients (and the occasional wedding photographer.) Strawberry is my favorite flavor...no wait -- make that lemon.
Alysia's make-up was done by the talented Rodney Robledo. Rodney's recent move to Raleigh is Miami's loss and Raleigh's gain. I'm such an advocate of having your make-up done by a professional make-up artist for your wedding day. It's a lot of fun, but more importantly, can make a big difference in how you look in your wedding day photographs. Why spend all that money on a dress, veil, shoes, jewelry, hair, etc. and have your face look exactly the way it does every day? A professional make-up artist knows that brows, eyes and lips need special attention to really pop in photograph and photograph. OK, sermon over. Just give Rodney a call. Moving on...
Alysia's mom Ada, her sister and bridesmaids help place her mantilla-style veil in the perfect position.
Beautiful window light.
At the church, Luther gets a little help with his tie from a groomsmen. As you'll see, Luther has a 1000-watt smile that just electrifies the frame when he lets it rip.
See that little black book Luther's holding? That's his wedding gift from his bride-to-be -- photos from a boudoir session we did back in the early Fall at the Matthews House in Cary. Having seen the photos, I can tell you -- Luther is one lucky man. Ladies, if you're looking for a wedding gift that he'll never forget, give me a call to schedule a boudoir session! (Love the socks, too.)
Alysia is pretty lucky, herself.
Preparations complete, Alysia waits upstairs for the ceremony to begin.
The church was super-strict about photography. Luckily, after we promised to be good girls and boys, we were allowed to shoot if we stayed in the back and didn't go crazy.
Extreme temperatures in June meant we had to reschedule Alysia's bridal portrait session not once but twice, so Alysia and Luther decided to swap out that session with a Fearless Bridal session this Spring. I'm so excited about this session, especially since a tight schedule and a wedding beginning at 5:00 pm meant no outdoor couple portraits. Here's a shot of the two of them before heading off to the reception and a close-up of Alysia's stunning bouquet by Stephanie at Wild Bloom Flowers.
The reception was held at the beautiful Capital City Club in downtown Raleigh. I love to shoot here -- it's a lovely location and the staff is terrific. Here's a street-side shot of Alysia and Luther arriving in a Rolls at the reception with the bridal party waiting for them.
A romantic first dance with a great finish:
Sometimes we get lucky. I'd like to say that I planned this sequence of Alysia's dad giving his toast with a shot of the couple, her dad's arm lifted in a toast in the reflection and the bride trying to keep her emotions in check...but I didn't. I'm just glad it happened!
I'm sometimes asked if a room full of windows will pose a lighting problem during the reception. My answer is always a qualified "NO" -- especially when you can get cool reflections and capture the lights of the city at the same time. The only time windows are a problem is when Uncle Bob stands behind me and fires his flash straight into the window! Here's a shot of Alysia & Luther's delicious cake, by the always amazing Lorie at Simply Cakes.
The part of the night that never fails to get me all misty-eyed...
Luther got the party started by surprising Alysia's mom Ada with a special request: dancing to"Low" by Flo-Rida. It was a great moment and set the tone for a very fun party! (Isn't Ada's emerald-green dress to-die-for??)
Do I have the greatest job or what?? Getting to photograph gorgeous people in a swanky setting having a great time?
I love this shot of Luther surprising Alysia with an impromptu lap dance before undertaking the traditional garter-removal expedition. My thanks to the guest responsible for that well-timed flash.
Mission accomplished!
All too soon, it was time for the final dance and one last toast.
Alysia and Luther, it was such an honor to be share this celebration with you. We wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness!
Reason #5,299 why I love my job.
Alysia and Luther were married on November 8. Everything about their wedding was so elegant and fun and they are such a great couple. I love this shot of two of them right after their cake cutting -- that spontaneous kiss was so sweet! I'll be blogging about them soon (hopefully), so stay tuned. In the meantime, congratulations you two!
(Some of) My favorite un-blogged images from 2008.
I'll let you in on a little secret: blogging is hard for me. I know there are plenty of photographers out there who have no problem summarizing a wedding or coming up with pithy little captions for their photos, but I'm not one of them. I agonize over what I'm going to write: I'd hate to bore anyone. It's one of the reasons I only post about once a week. I love that there are folks out there who read Pixel Dust and nothing trips my trigger like getting comments (hint, hint), but it's a lot of pressure! Don't get me wrong -- I love the concept of the blog and it's cool that I can quickly get new stuff online. Somehow it always happens that blogging gets pushed to the bottom of the To-Do list. I promise to try to do better in 2009! Being a better blogger is the only New Year's resolution I'm going to make and I'm making it here, so I'll trust my loyal readers to hold me to my promise.
Since there's nothing like New Year's to bring out the list-maker in all of us, I thought I'd make a list of some of my favorite images from the year from weddings, bridals and engagement sessions that haven't made it on to the blog yet. These are images that resonate with me personally -- ones that I'm proud to say are Sweet Life photos. With any luck and some time, you'll see more where these came from in the coming weeks! So here, starting with some engagement photos and progressing through the wedding day are some of my favorite images of 2008.
It usually (but not always) starts with a ring.
Emily and Jonathan, if you only knew how long I've seen this shot in my head. Thanks for going into that cornfield for me!
Two shots from Erica and Allen's e:session made it onto the list. How awesome is the color of that wall they're standing in front of?
This may be one of my favorite engagement session images ever. E-V-E-R.
I adore this shot of Siobhan's stylish wedges and Mario's Vans. It sums up their personalities...and how crazy they are about each other!
Ya'll know how I feel about the shoes. There's some gorgeous bridal footwear out there and I'll admit, each time I slip on my clunky black go-shoot-a-wedding-on-my-feet-for-10-hours shoes, I'm jealous.
From simple to holey-moley gorgeous, the flowers this year were amazing. There've been a few times that I've tried to come up with a quick bouquet for a bridal portrait and the results were pretty sad -- so my hat is off to all those florists out there who, every weekend, come up with amazing, gorgeous floral creations like this one.
And this one:
All that getting ready stuff is worth it when you get results like this:
It started pouring rain about 30 minutes into Lindsey's bridal portrait session, so we made sure to get some fun shots on the wedding day. Here's one of my favorites.
Just imagine me singing: "Looooovvvvve IT!"
Gotta give up a little space for the guys:
I must admit: I'm so over the whole "don't see the bride before the wedding" thing. But I love this image and yep, you guessed it, it's the moment Jeremy caught sight of his bride Melissa for the first time on their wedding day. Curse you, Jeremy...there goes my plan to convince all my 2009 couples to see each other before the ceremony so that we have more time for photography!
Just a few of the wonderful couples we've been blessed to work with:
Large bridal parties are always a challenge to shoot creatively...here's one of my "scores" for the year.
I really like the angle of this first dance shot -- it lets you see those adorable white lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Plus, awesome light!
Andrea and her dad. Love, love, LOVE it. This is Frank's shot and I'm so jealous he got it and not me!
Yum...my favorite job perk: cake. Cupcakes were big this year. I love
this shot of the cupcakes from Andrea and Nate's wedding. Isn't the
color of that orchid amazing?
We got to go to some great parties this year. How lucky am I? I love the colors and motion in this shot from Patricia and Jeff's wedding in July. That's Patricia's dad dancing with her with that great smile on his face.
Sometimes it's the little things; here are a few of my favorite detail shots.
A few dance shots I love:
And then, before you know it, it's over...or just beginning, depending on your point of view.
I think I'm definitely going to have to do a "Favorite un-blogged images: 2008 Part TWO." If you didn't make it into this post, rest assured your day in the Pixel Dust spotlight is coming!
I'll wrap it up by saying how humbled we are to have worked with each and every one of the amazing, wonderful, crazy-in-love couples we've met over the past year, not to mention their families and friends. Not to get too mushy, but I'm so grateful I have the opportunity to witness so many happy celebrations of family, life and love. You have our thanks, love and best wishes. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
