Posts in Category: Bridals
Wedding & Bridal Shows coming up | See you there!
We’ve met more wonderful clients at bridal shows and expos than we can count. We’ve set up our area and then spent the day chatting with brides-to-be, their moms and friends and future mothers-in-law and booking weddings, bridal portraits and Quinceañeras. But honestly, we’ve booked all sorts of other events and portrait sessions, so if you’re planning an event in 2017, either of these shows would be worth your time as you build on ideas and search for excellent vendors.
Some serious lifelong friendships were born in little wedding expo booths, so we’re proud to announce two that are coming up in a few weeks. The Ashe Bridal and Special Event Fair is Sunday March 5th from 12-4 at Ashe County High School – less than a month away.
The Wilkes Wedding Expo is another special event we’ve loved to participate in and we’ll be there again this year. Join us on March 12 from 1-4 at The John A Walker Center in Wilkesboro. Click here for tickets to the Wilkes Wedding Expo.
Our pals from Bridal Traditions wedding & prom attire, 2015
Fun at the photo booth, Wilkes Wedding Expo
Later in April, you can visit us at The High South Wedding Expo held on Sunday April 23rd, 2017 at the Boone Mall in partnership with Savor Blowing Rock from 1:00pm – 4:00pm.
Even if you’re just beginning to plan, it’s never too early to start making connections with all the different types of vendors you’ll need for your wedding day and all of us are eager to hear your story and work with you to make sure that everything happens just the way you want it. We look forward to seeing you at one or both of these expos, but we’d also love to chat with you more personally, so feel free to contact us any time.
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.
southern belle bridal portraits ~ beauty among the botanicals
If you’re ever standing at a dinner party in, say, …….Prague… and someone asks you to describe a Southern Belle, Adrian Bridges Church should be your brain’s go-to reference point. We’re not talking the overdone, over-the-top caricature or the Ersatz Southern Lady one meets from time to time in the New South. Adrian is authentic – almost to the point of seeming as if she really is a belle from that era in the American South…….. minus of course, the strife and angst that comes from civil war and the fact that you can’t vote and whatnot.
Adrian’s belle comes out almost immediately in her sense of graciousness, sweetness and hospitality. She could have shown up for her bridal portraits in a hoop skirt and bonnet and we wouldn’t have blinked. Let’s just say she’d have given Melanie Wilkes a run for her money. When we were discussing her wedding photography (we’ll share soon!!), she mentioned that since her wedding was going to be more on the country/rustic side that she really wanted her bridal portraits to be more formal, elegant and in a blooming spring garden, filled with the lushness that comes with the season. There’s just one problem – the weather in the mountains of NC in the spring can be dodgy and sometimes it feels like late October. The solution? Head east toward warmth. And that’s what we did.
The botanical gardens near Winston-Salem were in bloom and they were absolutely gorgeous, making a perfect setting for this bride. When we can bend to make our clients happy, we do it and this was the case with Adrian. When she emerged from the car for her session in early April (after hours of travel for hair and makeup and then more time to get to the gardens), she actually squealed. The combination of her gown and glow, the green of the gardens, purple wisteria, moss and sunshine made our job that day a breeze.
Adrian told us that we’d made her dream of garden portraits come true by locating this spot. LOVE IT when that happens. This belle deserved a setting as genteel and elegant as she is, so we were thrilled to deliver.
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 babies and kids, 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.
bridal portraits embracing romance, imagination, and books
Do you ever look at a photo and think about the zillion captions that could be written? There are contests out there and most are about funny photos or cartoons, but this shot below evokes so many thoughts.
What would her groom write? “Hurry to me!!”
Or her father? “There goes my girl….”
What would her big sister say? “Wait up!” or “I miss her already.”
Or her great-great grandmother if she could see this photo? “How romantic.”But she’s off and this image of Elizabeth (Eli) Rickard walking down the steps has become one of my favorite bridal portraits to date. It’s another image that I conceived once I saw this stairway in the Green Park Inn. I described my thoughts to Ryan and along with Eli’s sister Kari, we made my vision come true. I like it because it’s different from many other bridal portraits we’ve taken. For me it portrays movement, anticipation, and represents the marriage journey that Eli was embarking on. It’s always deeply rewarding to try something creative when you have a bride so deeply ensconced and in love with her favorite things – in this case, books, fantasy, romance and Kyle.
Elizabeth is a classic romantic, a dreamer, a lover of fantasy, has a super hero spirit and a smile that’s as big as her heart. She just married her beloved Kyle Bishop on March 5th (portraits and blog to come), but these bridals were taken indoors due to rainy and cold January weather. Elizabeth loves to read (this will be this week’s understatement), so the historic Green Park Inn’s library made a perfect setting. To note: Eli’s favorite book is Black Beauty and the horse portrait fit brilliantly. Her sister Kari used pages from Black Beauty to create Elizabeth’s bouquet.
Books were incorporated throughout the wedding details (and we STRONGLY encourage you to check out their engagement photos to fill in more of the story).
I always encourage brides to include friends and family in the portrait session and day. It’s fun to witness the relationships, and time with each other on these days is often the most time they’ll get since the wedding day itself can be whirlwind. For Eli, this session included her mother, sister and niece, all of whom came in from out of town. It was a girl’s day to play dress up and they were, to the person, emotional and giddy throughout the portrait session.
Our caption for this photo above would be “She’s ready.” We promise when the wedding photos have been processed and we can share bouquets of books and the stories that made their day the fairytale that it was – you’ll be the second to see them.
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 babies and kids, 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.
wedding expos ~ get ready, ya’ll!!
[with the oh-so-familiar backup music] “It’s the MOST won-der-ful tiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeeeear!”
Ok, actually that was Christmas and it’s over, people. Valentine’s Day is also over and we hope it went well for ya. Spring is around the corner and that means – for those of us in the business and those out there who are engaged – Wedding Season. It’s a time when brides, friends of the bride, mothers of brides, coworkers of the bride and All God’s Children are making haste to get to a bridal show or wedding expo.
Expos are where you get ideas and find the people you want to work with as you plan your wedding. At Pixels, it’s where we can show who we are and what we will do to make your day exactly what you want it to be. We love meeting brides, couples and families while visiting with favorite and new vendors. And it’s where we meet YOU. Some of our favorite clients were met at bridal and wedding expos.
We believe in cross pollination when it comes to ideas. Good ideas come from everywhere, and if you’re a photographer it could be an ad, something overheard or read. It could be a headline we saw in the airport on the cover of Outside Magazine. Seriously. You never know where your next idea will come from, so part of going to wedding expos is to get inspiration.
Pixels will be participating in the following upcoming wedding expos, displaying photos, meeting couples, and accepting clients for 2015 & 2016 wedding dates.
March 13th Wilkes Wedding Expo, Wilkesboro NC
1:00-4:00 at The John A Walker Center
$5.00 when bride registers online, $8 at the door
March 20th High South Wedding Expo, Boone NC
1:00-4:00 at Boone Shopping Mall
$8 at the door
Below is our booth at the High Country Wedding Expo in 2015. Keep an eye out for us. We’d love to meet you.
now booking winter portrait photography throughout the nc mountains
It’s winter. It hasn’t felt like it completely yet, but the cold is coming and winter in the NC mountains is stunning. Snow on the ground, leafless trees, broad meadows and our awesome mountains make a perfect landscape. This time of year is an opportunity for portraits that are unique, creative and cool (insert snarky laugh track here).
Honestly, we wish more brides would consider portraits this time of year and not shy away from the elements. We’re all accustomed to the greens, yellows, and pinks of spring, but winter white is breathtaking and bridal portraits this time of year turn out to be singular, and with an equally beautiful palette. Barren trees and dormant grounds can still be amazing in the dead of winter. A beautiful bride will stand out even more against such a backdrop.
Even though not much snow remained on the ground during these shots, we set up this shoot with our gorgeous model, Tiffany Roope and once accessorized, she was the winter princess of each portrait.
We live in a part of the country that knocks our socks off, and then requires that we promptly put them right back on. BE BOLD! Have you thought about bridal portraits that are different from what you’ve seen or taken into consideration engagement portraits that creatively showcase a fall or winter landscape? Don’t be afraid to try something that might not have occurred to you before. The results can be unforgettable. Our reviews will tell you that we are creative and adventurous, but we are friends and guides also. We will not steer you wrong.
Contact us for bridal portraits by phone – 336.990.0080 – or email. We’re booking and would love a chance to work with you to do something new!
By the way – Tiffany’s dress & accessories were provided by Bridal Traditions Wedding Attire.