Posts Tagged: Blowing Rock Wedding Photographers

a church wedding …… literally

Before even stepping foot where the bride, bridesmaids and others were gathered, I heard Adrian’s infectious laugh and knew it was going to be a great day and all was ok.  She was backWhat a joy it was to watch and photograph all that excitement rolled into one tiny, beautiful bride. Throughout the ceremony she literally bounced with joy, giddy and eager to say her vows. 

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

During the days leading up to her wedding day, when I spoke to Adrian she didn’t sound like her usual bubbly self. The typical wedding stress had gotten even to her. I was worried she had lost sight of what the day was all about and was letting the details and responsibility of pulling everything together take over her thoughts. Fortunately, the good juju won the day.

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

Not even one month ago, Adrian Bridges and Banks Church married each other at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, in Wilkesboro, NC. It was the southern, summer wedding some brides dream about and between the tender moments at the ceremony, the beautiful views at Camp Harrison at Herring Ridge where they had their reception, it was pretty sweet all around. 

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

The groom is someone we’ve known for years and he’s way more comfortable in small groups than in crowds. In intimate settings, he’ll share stories of his farm, about his childhood and friends and latest adventures. Having all eyes on him on his wedding day was not optimal, to say the least. The shift in his posture and mood was remarkable though when he saw Adrian. No one else was there once she was by his side. 

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

When asked about the best moments from their wedding, they told us that one was when everyone surrounded them and prayed for their marriage. Honestly, it was pretty amazing to watch. Both families and the entire wedding party joined at the altar, laid hands on Adrian and Banks and prayed for them. The entire congregation held hands and crossed the aisles to join in prayer as well. It’s something we don’t see often and was humbling and powerful and incredibly moving. We talk about corporate prayer, when whole communities come together. The couple’s “community” came together to pray just for them. 

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

Mountain weddings are beautiful and so are mountain receptions. God bless gorgeous scenery and perfect weather. Pixels “does” rain, but it’s pretty fab when we can send our couple in any direction and get something memorable and lovely in our lenses.

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

Adrian and Banks told us that their favorite moments from the reception were the dancing and chatter with friends and family, the beautiful views at Herring Ridge and the ribbon wands everyone waved when they left for their honeymoon. It’s hard to describe other than to say there was just so much joy that day.

Mt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photoMt. Pleasant Church Wedding Wilkesboro NC and Camp Harrison Herring Ridge Reception photos by Pixels On Paper Photography, NC Mountain wedding photographers photo

We hope all brides and grooms can have this kind of love for each other, have those who support them want nothing but cohesion, a Christ-centered marriage and success as a couple. They’ve started out well. Here’s to the next 50 years.

For those of you interested in details from the Bridges-Church wedding, the flowers were from Eden House, Adrian’s dress was from Did Someone Say Party; makeup was provided by Sharla Bance and the videography was captured by Hill City Productions.

 

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 kidsengagements and weddingsbrides 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.

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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.

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photo

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photo

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.

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photo

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.

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photo

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.

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Outdoor garden bridal wedding portrait Winston Salem NC photoWe 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 kidsengagements and weddingsbrides 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 Redux #6 ~ LeClaire & Raynor

wedding advice redux blog pixels on paper photo

Everyone ready for another wedding look-back? A little check-in with a couple who said their I Dos and are still together? Awesome, because here’s Wedding Redux numero 6 from Jessica LeClaire and Chris Raynor, married almost exactly 2 years ago. It’s free-ranging and VERY helpful if you’re planning or helping plan the wedding of someone close to you. Happy Reading!

Having someone help take charge of the wedding festivities who is not a family member is something I would recommend for anyone who has a family (like mine) who feels they need to be in control of everything & provide their opinion for every aspect of the wedding. I love my family, but hiring someone outside of the family help take care of things and make sure there wasn’t anything missing or going wrong made it less stressful for us!

Location… If you have guests coming in from out of town, our advice would be to have a location near a hotel for your guests to stay in or try to keep the traveling to a minimum. We loved having our reception at a hotel because it made it easy for our guests to be able to completely enjoy themselves without having to drive home. This also gave us the ability to spend time with our out-of-town guests after the wedding that evening and the next morning.

Getting married in a church was important to us, but we would have preferred not to have had communion during our ceremony. It was a requirement of our church and out of respect, we dealt with it, but if we could have avoided it to make our ceremony a bit shorter we would have. We loved the rest of our ceremony; it was traditional which is what we wanted.

It’s hard to decide who’s going to be in your bridal party vs. just being a guest at your wedding. As you start thinking about who you want in your bridal party, there are always more and more names that come to mind. We took the time to really narrow it down to who was closest to us, plus we made sure all our good friends were invited, so they were included in the celebration. We had 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen.

With attire, we wanted everyone to be comfortable since we had a May wedding. We wanted lighter colors and Jess wanted the girls in short dresses because long ones would be too hot. Of course everyone’s wedding day is about the bride & groom, but if you have people in your bridal party helping share your day and you’ve asked them to spend money on clothes or shoes or taking trips with you, you should make sure they feel comfortable at all times on the day of your wedding. Our advice would be to include others’ opinions because it will make them feel even more included in your day.

Number of Guests? We had 150 people at our wedding and we were given a total of 175 by Jess’s parents & after responses it came down to 150. We send out 2 rounds of invitations to make sure we invited all family, our parents’ “requirements,” family friends and then our friends. We were able to have almost all of our loved ones (for those who could make it) and we were able to say hello to every single person that came to our wedding. This was the best part for us.

We had a spring wedding because we wanted good weather & pretty flowers and sunshine for our pictures which is exactly what we got. Additionally, we had a 2-hour window after the ceremony that gave us enough time to take great pictures and not feel rushed into our reception. Then a cocktail hour from 5-6pm, and a 4-hour reception which was a perfect amount of time for dancing and spending time with our guests. We wanted an afternoon evening wedding so we could party into the night.

We loved the food at our reception. We had a tasting months before the wedding which was extremely helpful and included Jess’s parents & sister & Chris’s dad. We wanted to have several people’s opinions to make sure we chose options that we felt all our guests would enjoy. The tasting definitely allowed us to decide exactly what we wanted.

We didn’t want to spend tons of money on flowers, as beautiful as they are; we felt putting more finances into other areas like our photography and having a photo booth was more important since we really wanted to create everlasting memories.

Having a DJ was no question. We love bands, but we didn’t feel it was the best decision for our wedding. We feel we got a better sound & dance feel from having a DJ.

We were very lucky and blessed that several of our vendors were friends of ours. Included were Ryan & Misty as our amazing wedding photographers who captured every beautiful moment from our perfect day; our DJ was a good friend of ours and our photo booth was done by one of the bridesmaids brothers (who we’ve known since college) and our wedding planner was a good friend of Chris’. Not only did we have great vendors but we had extra love coming from them because they were friends of ours.

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 kidsengagements and weddingsbrides 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.

vendor spotlight: winding creek wedding barn

Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photo

Misty spent an amazing day at Winding Creek Wedding Barn – a destination wedding location in Yadkin County, NC, doing a photo shoot complete with models, catering, clothing, makeup and hair. Winding Creek touts its scenery, laid-back feel, on site bridal salon, rolling farmland and rustic elegance.
The place is beautiful.
Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoWe love outdoor photo shoots and a scan of our wedding and engagement sessions (in fact our family portraits as well) italicizes this. Winding Creek is a PERFECT outdoor wedding venue.
Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoHelping to create the mood for the day at Winding Creek were several other fabulous vendors. Clothing and accessories were provided by Bridal Traditions; hair and makeup styles were created by Cali Stott; the cake was made by Sweet Thing Bakery & Café and the catering was from Third Branch Café. All of these vendors are definitely worth a look if you’re planning your wedding.
Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photoPixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photo

Winding Creek Wedding Barn is a find for those who are interested in a place that caters to what wedding parties need and want, with a relaxed yet stunning vibe.
Pixels On Paper wedding photographers. Winding Creek Farm outdoor wedding Hamptonville NC photo
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 kidsengagements and weddingsbrides 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.

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