Congratulations to Emily and Doug, who were married August 6 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durham. The couple met while students at Duke and spent many happy hours in Duke Gardens, so when thinking about locations for their First Look, the gardens were a natural choice. Mother Nature played coy with us though; heavy rains during the morning were filling my head with alarming visions of muddy wedding gowns, but the rains tapered off as we got closer to the appointed hour. After a few phone calls, the couple decided they wanted to meet in the gardens, muddy paths or no. I'm so glad they did!

One of the benefits of doing a First Look is the chance to get all your formal shots done before the wedding. This was important to Emily and Doug and their parents because they wanted to have a receiving line. Usually, I freak out a little when a receiving line is mentioned for the simple reason that our time between the wedding and reception is often very brief and receiving lines can eat up a chunk of time. I tell all our couples that the Big Clock in my head starts ticking as soon as they kiss and head up the aisle! But the couple made sure we had plenty of time for the receiving line and a few family shots that couldn't be made prior to the ceremony. And I have to admit, I do like the emotion that comes with all those congratulatory hugs and hand-shakes.

Emily wore Doug's mother's veil. I love it.

Bay 7 in the American Tobacco Historic District in Durham is a fantastic venue. Great light, exposed beams and brick and check that metal wall by the stairs. Such a great space! Beautiful floral design by Tre Bella and a classic wedding cake by Cinda's Creative Cakes provided elegant touches.

My favorite shot of the night.

I just have to brag on Frank for a moment. He is THE MAN when it comes to capturing the bouquet toss. Check it out!

You know the mighty Joe Bunn kept the crowd happy and on their feet all evening long.

Enjoy a few more favorites from the wedding day in the couple's slide show. Emily and Doug, we had such a great time photographing your wedding.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your day!

Church: St. Paul's Lutheran Church

Reception: Bay 7

Floral Design: Tre Bella

Cake: Cinda's Creative Cakes

DJ/Entertainment: Joe Bunn, Bunn DJ Company

And now, as promised, Part II of LaToya and Byron's gorgeous July wedding!

For those of you just starting to plan your weddings, here's a tidbit of info to digest: it takes about 200 hours to plan a wedding. That's right: 200 hundred hours. That's five full-time work weeks. If you don't have five full-time work weeks to spare, how on earth are you going to plan a wedding without losing your mind? Easy. Hire a professional wedding planner. With incredibly busy schedules as professional basketball players who spend a good part of the year out of the country, LaToya and Byron knew they would need help to pull off the wedding of their dreams. So they turned to wedding planner extraordinaire Tracy Adams of Adams and Events in Cary. You've heard of some weddings compared to a runaway train? Well, Tracy was the engine that held all the separate "cars" of this wedding together so that it stayed on track.

Floral Design: Greg Warren Flowers

Lighting: Rick Bryda, Total Production Services

Entertainment: Greg Ramsey, Joe Bunn DJ Company

Venue and Catering: Prestonwood Country Club

Cakes and Candy Bar: Cinda's Creative Cakes

Hair and Make-Up: Theresa Williams

LaToya and Byron make a stylish grand entrance into their reception.

Crazy cool cake: check.

I've never see such a reaction to a cake before and it earned every single "ooh" and "aah". There was a parade of guests up the grand staircase to take pictures of it prior to the cake cutting. This was one instance where I think everyone hated for it to be cut! (Compare the two bottom images. The one on the right was shot before Rick with Total Production Services worked his magic with some dramatic red up-lighting. Perfectly fine, but what a difference the lighting makes!)

The surprise groom's cake, a replica of his Carolina-blue Buick.

LaToya and Byron are blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support from family and friends. There was a lot of love in the room!

I especially like these shots from the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances.

Tar Heels on hand! Byron with friends and teammates, past and present. Many of LaToya's teammates from the LA Sparks traveled to celebrate with her as well. And how priceless is the look on the flower girl's face? She looks ready for bed, but look out: she got her groove on shortly after this picture was taken. Maybe she was just tired of having a camera in her face!

LaToya's maid of honor Christina gave the sweetest toast. The two have been friends for a long time...long enough for Christina to have seen quite a few of LaToya's boyfriends come and go. She was describing how she knew Byron was the right one for her best friend when she said something about how many guys LaToya had knocking on her door in high school. Byron turned to LaToya and did a mock-serious "I've got my eyes on you" move while her mom and dad were in stitches.

One bouquet and garter toss later, it was time to dance!

To close out this blog post, I leave you with a shot of LaToya and Byron posing with their cardboard twins (a 7-foot cut-out specially made from one of their engagement session pics). If you'd like to see more Photobooth mayhem, check out their album on the Sweet Life Photo Facebook page (just "Like" to be able to view the images and leave comments). We had such a great time photographing this wedding! LaToya and Bryon, we wish you a future of "nothing but net". Thanks for everything!

There is so much fabulousness (is that even a word?) to LaToya and Byron's July wedding at Prestonwood Country Club that I have to break this blog post up into two parts. There's just so much to show you! And it was so magnificent it's best to take it slowly and spread it out. (Kinda like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or Twilight, Parts I and II...if one movie is good, two must be better, right? And that's the last pop culture reference you'll get today, promise.) The wedding was planned and coordinated by one of my favorite wedding professionals, Tracy Adams of Adams and Events.

LaToya and Byron met while they were both students at UNC-Chapel Hill. To say basketball is a shared passion is to put it mildly. Born and raised in Mississippi, Byron was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year before playing for the Tarheels. Carolina fans will recognize him as a member of the 2005 National Championship team. Byron is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. He currently plays for the Lugano Tigers in Switzerland, the Swiss league champions in 2011. LaToya was born in Germany while her parents served in the US military.  She also played four years at UNC from 2004-2008 and was the 13th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft, going to the Phoenix Mercury. She is currently playing for the LA Sparks in the WNBA and in the Turkish Professional Leagues. That's right: Byron plays for Switzerland. LaToya plays for Turkey. When we met for their engagement session, we talked a little bit about what it was like to be apart for a good chunk of the year. Needless to say, it's tough. It's also a challenge for LaToya to live in a country so unlike her own. But she said that going to visit Byron in Switzerland helped to make up for it, especially since she would fly into the Milan airport and spend at least part of each trip shopping in the fashion capital of the world! Byron and LaToya are the kind of people you'd love to hang out with. Imagine the stories they could tell.  We didn't get to spend nearly enough time with them!

On to the photographs! I'm just going to get the hyperbole out of the way now: Magnificent. Opulent. Warm. Emotional. Funny. Real. That pretty much sums it up!

Byron and his groomsmen. Have you seen a sharper-looking bunch of guys? Oh, to be a red rose boutonniere. :)

I could have photographed LaToya all day. Side-view, profile, up-close, far away, looking up, looking down: beautiful from every angle! Her hair and make-up was expertly done by Theresa Williams, who is, no question about it, one of my favorite make-up artists working in the Triangle. If you'd like her contact info, leave a comment or send me an email. Theresa, you are a true pro!

The three cymbidium orchids in LaToya's bouquet by Greg Warren Flowers were in memory of much-loved family members not in attendance, but close by in memory. Tears weren't far from the surface, especially when LaToya's father saw her in her gown for the first time. But there was plenty of happiness and laughter, especially when Byron's on-the-spot groomsman helped him out with a little breath pick-me-up before the big kiss!

Stay tuned...Part II is coming up tomorrow!

Meet Kristin and Zack. Among their many talents, looking cool in 100+ weather is right up at the top. How did they do it? I was a sweaty mess. The only glow off these two was, well, the glow of LOVE. Say it with me now...awwww!

Kristin and Zack met while students at NC Sate. After graduating this Spring, the couple moved to New York where Kristin works as the Assistant Manager at the American Eagle Outfitters flagship store in Times Square and Zack as a Sales Manager at C.H. Robinson. Kristin grew up in Pinehurst, NC and Zack loves golf. If you know anything about Pinehurst, you know it's close to heaven for golf enthusiasts. So naturally, the golf course just seemed like the perfect location for their engagement session. We started out at the Carolina Hotel where she'll be getting ready on the day of the wedding, then took a short trip down the road to end up at the Pinehurst Resort for some photos on the veranda and the course. It was so hot that prior to the session I thought there was no way we'd be shooting for more than an hour. But this adorable couple was so fun, I was surprised to find 2 1/2 hours had passed since the first click of the shutter. Hopefully, this heat dome will have dissipated by the time the wedding rolls around on August 27th, but if not, I know these two will weather the temperatures well.

To see more images from Kristin and Zack's engagement session, take a few moments and enjoy the slide show!

The most challenging thing about photographing Jeff and Lizzy? Finding a day that wasn't blisteringly, cook-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot. (The weather this summer has caused me to reschedule so many sessions I'm finally getting serious about finding the perfect studio space.) Luckily for me, Lizzy had the foresight to check the forecast and noticed a brief break in the weather three days before our scheduled session. Thanks to the couple's flexibility, we were able to move the session and caught such a lucky break -- it was ONLY in the 80's on the day we met downtown for one of my favorite engagement sessions ever. How adorable is Lizzy's hot pink one-shoulder dress? And Jeff made me laugh talking about the search for the perfect blue short-sleeve shirt. I love it when couples put lots of thought into what they're going to wear -- it makes such a difference!

We're really looking forward to January, when we'll meet Jeff and Lizzy again for their wedding at Sacred Heart Cathedral and reception at the Marriott City Center. Any guess which day they'll tie the knot?

Enjoy more images from this fun session here: