Washington Duke Inn: Emily & James: Part II
As promised, here are more images from Emily & James' fabulous Washington Duke Inn wedding!
Emily & James, God bless 'em, decided to see each other before the wedding, proving once and for all how hip they are. As West Coast photographer Jasmine Star says, "all the cool kids are doing it." I'm happy to report that their First Look session didn't trigger any bad luck and the wedding and reception went off without a hitch. The couple remain healthy and happy to this day. Tradition, be damned! :)
Many brides say they don't want their grooms to see them before the wedding so that they can have "That Moment": the moment when he sees you for the first time in your wedding gown. Doing a First Look on your wedding day doesn't mean you can't have that moment; you can, in PRIVATE, without 200+ guests watching. I know it's traditional for the groom not to see the bride before the wedding. But did you also know that, strictly speaking, the groom is supposed to stand at the end of the aisle with his back turned, not looking at the bride until she's right beside him? Why don't we still do that? It's also tradition for the groom to buy the bride's bouquet. Let's start a new tradition: the bride and groom agree to meet in a private location at a certain time. The groom has the bride's bouquet and presents it to her when she arrives. Then the photographer gets to have all the time she needs to get amazing pictures without the giant clock in her head ticking! And no one in the family or bridal party gets restless or ticked-off as we work through a long formals shot list after the wedding when all they really want is to go to the party! And the bride and groom get to go to the cocktail hour and spend more time with their friends! And maybe you save money by not having to have a cocktail hour (which we all know is just busy time for the guests while pictures get taken) at all!
Whew. I'm alright. I'm back now from fantasy land. Let's move on, shall we?
James sees his bride for the first time. Priceless expressions, up close and personal.
Their "posterity" portrait. It's great to have artsy images, but each couple should also have a well-posed, beautifully-lit portrait from their wedding day.
After completing all of the formals, it was time for the ketubah ceremony. In Jewish weddings, the ketubah is the wedding contract between the bride and groom. It is considered a high honor to be invited to the ketubah ceremony. The contract is read and then signed by the couple, the rabbi and two witnesses. Here, the rabbi signs the ketubah, while the maid of honor, the best man and Emily and James look on.
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The candlelight ceremony begins. Emily & James' wedding was held in the round with the huppah in the center. Both the bride and groom are escorted by their parents and circle the guests before processing down the main aisle to the huppah.
In traditional Jewish ceremonies, the bride circles the groom 3 to 7 times to symbolize her commitment to the groom: she creates a circle of love and protection as she walks. Circling as a tradition declined in the recent past with the growth of feminism; some saw the act as a statement of subservience. Circling is making a comeback with modern couples, just with a twist; now the groom circles the bride as well.
Lighting the candle together.
Emily and James: married!
The guest-book table featured wedding shots of family members and the signing book created with images from James & Emily's engagement session.
Greeting their guests during cocktail hour.
I loved the orchids and curly willow on the tables. All of the floral design was done by Kelly Odom.
The first dance to "Shake a Tail Feather" sooo fit Emily and James' personalities.
A picture-perfect big finish:
Emily and her dad after their Father/Daughter dance.
James and his mom. I love the look on her face.
The toasts were funny and sweet. The toasters were full of personality.
Mark grabbed Julia's reading glasses to read his toast. I love it!
Then it was time to party. No, make that, time to par-tay. First, the horah.
I don't think you've truly danced at a wedding reception until you've danced the horah. Everybody should do it at least once in their lifetime. As a matter of fact, if we all danced the horah more often, it might facilitate world peace. Everybody would be too happy and exhausted to fight. Just a suggestion.
Then the band took over, but they didn't get the stage to themselves for long. James and the fellas serenade the ladies with "My Girl."
Then it was the ladies' turn to wow the crowd with their rendition of "Dancing Queen."
A break to cut the cake:
Emily re-takes the stage:
More riotous dancing ensues.
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Ok, I'll admit it: I'm proud of this bouquet-catching shot. I don't know if it is mine or Frank's but it is suh-weet.
Oh, you two: how adorable can one couple be?
The end of the night and a kiss to cap off one helluva wedding, pardon my French. (Don't you just love MOB Julia's expression?)
Emily & James, we are so thrilled, awed, humbled and just plain gob-smacked to have been able to share this day with you, your friends and your families. We wish you loads and loads of love, laughter, luck and lots of dancing in the future!
Emily and James: Part I
There's so much I want to say about Emily and James and so many photos I want to share that I think I have a bad case of blogger's block. I guess the best place to start is at the beginning: the engagement session. I hadn't met with Emily and James until the morning of their session. Up until that point, I'd been working with Emily's amazing mom, Julia, on all the brass-tacks details, since Emily and James live in D.C. I've said it here on the blog so many times, but it bears repeating: I love engagement sessions. They're fun, relaxed and (hopefully for everyone) stress-free. But more importantly, this time together gives me a chance to get to know you as a couple, find out how comfortable (or not) you are in front of the camera, discover your best angles, what makes you laugh and just generally prepare you for the experience of being photographed relentlessly on the wedding day. Just like you have a multiple dress-fittings, tux fittings, make-up and hair trials, the e:session is like a photography "trial" before the wedding.
Even though I'd never met them before, I knew in a flash that not only were Emily and James going to be great to work with, they had an amazing chemistry and -- just, well, happiness -- and that it was going to be a great shoot. And it was. So without further ado, I give you...Emily and James.
That about sums it up. Happy, goofy, expressive and in love. I could stop here, but I'm not going to.
They have 1,000 mega-watt smiles...it took days for my vision to recover.
Emily and James met at Raleigh Charter High, so of course we had to go there for some photo ops.
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Texture, angles, pretty people...life is good.
This is what you call working with the sun. Boy, was it bright that morning (and it was early, too).
After RCHS, we headed downtown. If you live in Raleigh, you know what this is.
If not, I'm sorry you're not lucky enough to live in Raleigh. Come visit us and find out.
If you haven't figured it out by now...Emily + James = FABULOSITY. Want more? I thought you would.
Emily and James got married on January 3 at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham. What would turn out to be one of my favorite weddings ever started early in Emily's suite. Usually, this is a pretty chaotic part of the day, but it was quiet and peaceful as Emily was getting glammed-up.
All of the floral design for the wedding was done by the always top-notch Kelly Odom, including Julia's peacock-feather-fabulous hair piece. Julia, in case I didn't tell you that day because it was so busy, you absolutely ROCKED that dress and only you could make that hair piece prettier.
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The shoes, the dress, the just-right-ness.
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I don't know why exactly, but I LOVE this shot of Emily putting on her shoes. No fuss, no muss, just gettin' it done.
Maybe it's that awesome window light.
Julia and Mark get the first look at their beautiful daughter in her wedding gown.
Mark's help was needed to tie the perfect square-knot in the sash. Dad's are handy for things like that. (Happy Father's Day!)
Perfection.
My favorite. (Just FYI, I did NO retouching on this shot. That's how awesome Emily's skin is and why photographers go a little nuts when the light is right. It makes all the difference in the world.)
Time for a little blog love for James.
Thank goodness the tux shop has a Bowtie Hotline 24-7.
James, you handsome devil, you.
Is there anything better than nine handsome guys in tuxes all following directions?
Yes. One glowing bride and seven gorgeous bridesmaids. (Sorry guys, you lose.)
Yes, I love it. Yes, it's on permanent rotation in the blog-header. All you other bridesmaids out there, time to step up your game.
(Off topic, but hey, it's my blog: look how the flowers form a pretty wavy line-like shape. You girls rock).
Flowers so pretty I could just eat them up.
Stay tuned for Part 2 (it's a blog cliff-hanger!): more portraits, James and Emily's First Look,
(Gasp! They saw each other BEFORE the wedding? Oh no, they di'nt...oh yes, they di'id!) and the reason
we're all gathered here today (erm, then): the ceremony.
Alison and Brent: Married!
Alison and Brent were married way back in May in a beautiful ceremony at Duke Gardens. The day started out heavily overcast and threatening to rain. By the time Alison emerged from the Washington Duke Inn to get into the limo, all traces of gray had vanished from the sky. The rest of the day was just as wonderful. Alison was so calm -- I'll remember her as the Zen Bride. To me, this shot epitomizes how calm she was all day.
"Getting Ready" is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day to document. Shots like this one, with all the bridesmaids gathered around, each one working on some aspect of the process, make me think of all the brides throughout history who've had their close female family and friends around to help them prepare for this day. Back in the days of "Ladies' maids" I guess it wasn't such a big deal -- the simple act of getting dressed in the morning was a pretty elaborate process that required the help of at least one other person. Now that we can just throw on jeans and a T-shirt -- well, it makes the act of getting into what is most likely the single most elaborate dress we'll ever wear even more monumental. Couldn't this same shot (with minor allowances for fashion) have been taken 50, 100 or 200 years ago? I love, love, LOVE that beautiful window light!
The end result. Isn't she simply stunning?
The guys have it easier...although Frank reports that the button covers flummox at least one of them every time. Here's Brent, working on the tie. Granted, I've never had to tie a tie in my life...so who am I to pass judgement?
A shot of Brent and then one of all the guys...pretty darn spiffy, if you ask me.
One quick note about all the black and white images in this post: Alison and Brent's wedding was so classic and elegant. All day I kept thinking that it could have taken place in any era -- the gown, the tuxes, the details, the setting -- it was just timeless. There was something about so many of their images that just screamed "Convert me to B&W!!!" I don't have a fixed plan or set rules about which images to convert to black and white. There's no percentage of total images delivered that have to be in black and white. It's true that I prefer the documentary images to be in black and white (many wedding photographers call this photo-journalism. I call it documentary because that's what I'm doing -- documenting the details, sights and emotions of the wedding day.) Most of the time it's just a feeling I get about a particular image...maybe it's the composition, maybe it's the ratio of highlight areas to shadow areas, maybe there's just a weird color cast that I don't like in the original (that happens with digital images sometimes). Whatever it is, it's one of the things I like best about shooting digital: having the choice to convert an image to Black and White when I feel like it!
Alison and the ladies, waiting for the word to head down to the lower gardens for the ceremony to begin.
Oh my gosh, how I love a long veil. Such drama!
Alison doesn't know this (at least I think she doesn't) but right before she and her dad began the walk down the steps to the fish pond, a mother mouse and several mouse babies ran right across the pathway. I'm pretty sure her dad spotted them, too -- we exchanged a quick look of surprise (or was it horror?) followed by a shared understanding that we shouldn't react at all. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised -- it was Spring after all and we were in a garden. Still...not something you expect to see right before the bride begins her walk down the aisle!
The energy from their combined smiles as they met at the altar could have powered a small village for the day.
A detail shot of the sand ceremony. In case you've been hiding out under a rock (or crash weddings nearly every weekend), the sand ceremony is quickly gaining ground on the unity candle as the perfect way to symbolize the act of hitching your life to someone else's for all eternity. (Although I do wonder what happens the first time you move house -- how do you keep the sand from getting jostled all around and losing that pretty pattern?) Still, I love it and it makes a lot of sense for an outdoor ceremony -- no worries about the wind snuffing out the candles.
Tah Dah! Alison and Brent are MARRIED!!!
With every wedding, I try to have at least one shot of the bride and groom that is completely classic...if someone found the image 300 years from today, they wouldn't know when it had been taken. They'd just see two people in fancy clothes and in LOVE.
Some details from the reception at the Washington Duke.
First dance as husband and wife!
I think of this shot as Part II of the first image. :)
Jason, the best man, was a riot. Here he is giving the toast. I think this was right before he told Brent to take Alison's hand and cover it with his own. He then solemnly pronounced: "This is the last time in your married life that you will ever have the upper hand."
Action...
...reaction.
I have a 20x30 canvas of this in my office -- it's one of my all-time favorites.
Ken Holmes with Joe Bunn DJ Company did a great job with the tunes. Can't you tell?
A white tent under the mid-day sun...perfect light for portraits!
Last shot of a perfectly wonderful day. Thanks to Alison (for always being happy and relaxed) and Brent (for putting up with all the pictures.) We wish you both a long, long life full of love and happiness!
