Posts Tagged: Blowing Rock Wedding Photography
Madi and Preston’s Jefferson NC Mountains Outdoor Wedding
Madison Ball and Preston Roberts made it official on July 8th of this year in a small ceremony followed by an epic, large reception. The ceremony was intimate and romantic, and on the groom’s family farm in Warrensville, near a bend in the river, surrounded by 30 or so of their nearest and dearest. No rain, but some tears while they were saying their vows. The reception with 200 guests was held later at Jefferson Landing Country Club in Jefferson, NC and included lots and LOTS of dancing, drinking, karaoke and laughter. 
The attention to detail was amazing. Every item was thoughtfully planned and held special meaning. Preston’s family’s farm has been in the family for several generations, so it was saturated with memories. In fact, Preston’s gift to Madi was a horseshoe that he found while preparing the property for the ceremony. Family members believed that it probably belonged to his great-grandfathers’ mare. They plan to hang it in their home for continued good luck. Madi’s gift to Preston was equally thoughtful and cool: she gave him a hand-crafted watch, made from wood with a special inscription on the back. The beautiful details were everywhere. What was not at the wedding were their rings. They’d been left behind in someone’s car. So they improvised and used Preston’s father Tom’s ring for him and Preston’s sister Meghann’s ring for Madi. It was too funny – and sweet!
Favorite memories of this day for the bride and groom include when they were reading their vows, first seeing each other when Madi and crew made their gorgeous river side entrance and when Preston sang the song he wrote for Madi. Karaoke, drinking and dancing were obviously on the list as well. The reception was an absolute celebration.
Madi told us that they wouldn’t change a thing about their wedding day. In fact, she said her only advice to future brides and grooms would be to make the party last longer and do not hesitate to take it all in. “It flies by!” We’re so happy for you guys! Thanks for letting us a be a part of what was a truly great day and part of your family. We love you two!
Interested in their vendors? Here’s a list:
Wedding Gown: New York Bride and Groom, Charlotte, NC
Hair: Jamie Ball, Shear Shakti, Boone, NC
Makeup: Lorna Vega, The Cutters Edge, West Jefferson, NC
Reception Venue: Jefferson Landing Country Club, Jefferson, NC
Flowers: Four Gals and A Florist, West Jefferson, NC
Flowers: Nic Ball, High Country Greenhouses, Jefferson NC
Cakes/Desserts: Ugga Mugga Bakery, Blowing Rock, NC
DJ or Band: John Hawkins, Boone, NC
Caterer: Jefferson Landing Country Club, Jefferson, NC
Videographer: Honey Dew Films, Greensboro, NC
Kendra & Nathan Wed at Elkin’s Barn at Blueberry Hill
On May 20th, we photographed the wedding of Kendra and Nathan as they tied the knot at The Barn at Blueberry Hill in Elkin NC. It was the first time we’ve ever shot a wedding at this venue and we LOVED it. It’s a real barn with a real barn feeling, but with air conditioning (!!) and the owner, event coordinator, setting – everything – was perfect.
What was also perfect was the couple. Even the groom’s goof made the occasion memorable.
Kendra is a lot like me: a Type A personality who wants every single detail to be perfect. She looked gorgeous and so did her bridesmaids in this setting. The weather turned out to be perfect (it rained for 5 days straight after the couple left for their honeymoon) and the guests were so much fun. There were no dull moments!
Groom Nathan teared up watching Kendra walk down the aisle. Kendra: “Most people might have needed a tissue after seeing Nathan become a little emotional as I walked in. I luckily, did not. I had the biggest smile on my face that nothing could wipe away. Why? Because I knew I was moments away from marrying the man of my dreams. Sounds cliché; I know, but it’s true. I had waited on that day for many years and that day, the day I had dreamed about for a long time, had finally arrived.” 
A highlight for the couple (and a laugh moment for the guests) was when the little groomsman just wandered across the aisle while vows were being said. Super cute!!
These two told us that Nathan’s performance really hit the high point when he kept messing up repeating his wedding vows. The pastor finally had to turn the page with the written vows so Nathan could just read them instead of trying to repeat them. 
Other memorable moments, according to the bride, groom and family include: when Nathan’s young cousin Ava walked up to the bridesmaid who’d caught the bouquet and snatched it out of her hands; when the groomsmen took over the photo booth to get shots of them wearing only their underwear and suspenders and when, coming back from their honeymoon, the TSA officer at the airport opened Kendra’s bag and those same underwear shots of the groomsmen were on display. They confiscated her belongings.
Kidding!
The barn vibe was so much fun, along with their photo booth, DJ, barbecue and amazing desserts. There was a LOT of laughter and silliness, dancing, chatter and sheer joy. Between Kendra & Nathan’s family members, there are 303 years of marriage experience surrounding them. This bit of info was shared at the ceremony and we thought it was so lovely. We hope that Kendra and Nathan add a minimum of 50 years to that total and enjoy every moment of it. 
Kendra & Nathan’s wedding vendors:
Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal
Wedding & Reception Venue: The Barn at Blueberry Hill
Flowers: Richard Hincher
Photographers: Pixels On Paper
DJ: Kevin Carter of Dirt Road Entertainment
Caterer: Brushy Mountain Smokehouse
april anniversaries | celebrate love & spring
Caroline & Andy – 4 years April 6th
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
And amen to that. Spring is for poetry and love and poems about love. Musicals with singing birds and otherwise sane people bursting into song, etc, etc. The key is not to waste it. Sometimes winter feels like months of interminable chill and spring more like a single afternoon.
These couples are celebrating April anniversaries and we had the pleasure of being the documenters of their favorite spring day.
Jill & Brent – 9 years April 11th
Kristen & Dustin – 6 years April 16th
Michelle & Bradley – 7 years April 17th
Anna & Brad – 8 years April 18th
Ashley & Phillip – 4 years April 20th
Rachel & Brandon – 10 years April 21
Lisa & Charlie – 8 years April 25
Sabrina & Brian – 9 years April 26th
Bailey & Phillip – 5 years April 28th
Ernest Hemingway – not known for his poetry, or his gravitas for that matter – wrote: “When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people…” LOL!! These sweethearts didn’t have that problem, clearly.
CHEERS to you all! Ryan and I raise our glasses on your behalf and to decades more springs together.
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.
What Makes a Wedding ….. A WOW
If you take an informal poll about which weddings people remember and what made them amazing, you’ll get a few surprising answers, but several themes come quickly into relief. The same goes for reading blogs and checking out WeddingWire. There are exceptions, but mostly the same categories bob to the surface.
The dancing. “Everyone was dancing. When it got late, the shoes came off, but most everyone just stayed on the dance floor.”
The details. “They spent so much time thinking about each element – from the seating, to the little gifts for the wedding party, to their vows.” The food and drink. “My dad kept saying, ‘it’s all about the food and booze and he was right. Our reception was the highlight. Everyone kept telling us how tasty everything was and how much fun they were having.”
As you can see, there’s usually a little bit of everything in the course of a wedding season, especially since the wedding season has become nearly three quarters of the year.
The venue. “We LOVED the views and everyone could roam or go inside to relax and then back outside to eat and dance.”
Ryan and I have shot weddings at some amazing places.
This and the shot above taken at On the Windfall.
Above and the preceding photo taken at Leatherwood Resort.
Those last two were taken in West Jefferson at Twickenham House. The food and music and views matter, but then there is the couple. Often, this is expressed as “how much love everyone felt.” We all need love and many of us cry at weddings, because they are such a fresh, new, pure and unapologetic celebration of it. Marriage is, we all hope, for a lifetime; watching two people say “I do” is a pretty overwhelming.
The final answer if you’re planning your wedding is YOU. You make it special by bringing people you love together to watch you take an enormous step into your future. Plan well, do your homework, work with the best you can find and afford, but remember that surrounding yourself with people who love you and bringing your heart to the party will make it a WOW. We hope to be there to capture every last detail.
Pixels is booking weddings, engagement and bridal portraits now for 2017 and 2018. Contact us! We’d love to work with you.
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.
Bonnie & Amanda | Married… On The Windfall | Lansing NC
Have you ever procrastinated because you’re afraid you’ll never do justice to WHATEVER IT IS? You’re sort of paralyzed by a yearning for perfection? Well, join us won’t you as we attempt to describe this couple, this wedding, this day and everything it symbolized. We feel confident in this: it meant something not just to Amanda and Bonnie – the newlyweds – but to everyone who witnessed their marriage and saw their journey culminate in the official, legal “I Dos.” 
Bonnie Hostetler & Amanda Walling were married on October 14, 2016 at On the Windfall in Lansing, NC. Fall outdoor weddings bring life and birth during a time when the earth rests from blooming and we all turn our thoughts to warmth, fires and the holidays. This couple wanted their celebration to be that: the beginning, the birth of their union as a sanctioned and sacred thing. And it was from the first note to the last hug.
Watching Bonnie and Amanda’s nerves and anticipation of seeing each other for the first time at the ceremony was incredibly sweet and then seeing them each walk down the aisle as individuals, and then later back up the aisle as a couple is something I’ll never forget. Because we had two brides, it was special to see twice the amount of emotion, excitement and attention to detail that what we normally witness and photograph. Grooms typically tend to be laid back and go with the flow. They told us that finally being face-to-face was the best moment of the day.
The vows are by their very nature the most tender and moving part of any wedding ceremony and these were no exception. The extraordinary display of emotion from not only Bonnie & Amanda but also every single guest that was there was, I believe, what seemed to make this wedding so unbelievably affecting. It was a group realization of how much harder it is for a same sex couples to marry each other. It’s as if they’ve already defied so many odds and barriers and now could demonstrate their love and commitment to each other surrounded by their friends, family and biggest fans. We could all see how much they love each other and what they would go through for each other. When it was finally possible to say, “this is us. we did it!,” there was even more reason to celebrate. 
So, this couple… where to begin? Amanda is incredibly attentive to the needs of everyone around her, most especially Bonnie’s. She’s driven and competitive, but in the good ways, you know? She’s positive and she’s organized and you want her on your team.
Bonnie brings the wattage. She’s full of light, laughter and smiles. She cares deeply for people, is the girlie girl with a tom boy’s heart and she looked amazing in her gown. Bonnie dreams big and pulls others into that spirit. Together, these two love the outdoors as much as they enjoy being with others. If you read their engagement blog, you know they have a camper and love to travel and camp in it – just the two of them. 
Fun Fact: The officiant accidentally said “wing” instead of “ring” during the ceremony. It was hilarious and the brides especially thought so. If you’ve seen “The Princess Bride,” you get it.
On the Windfall is a magical spot. We’ve shot many a wedding there and Bonnie and Amanda chose well. They told us that they’d been hyping it to guests for months as this gorgeous venue and perfect spot for their wedding. Sure enough, people kept telling them during the reception how amazed they were once they got to be there in person and see it, enjoy walking the grounds and taking in the autumn views. 
The reception and meeting all of their friends…. we loved it. We were welcomed like family, which felt wonderful. Professionally, we’d looked forward to the wedding day for such a long time and had high expectations about what we were going to be able to do with the couple and at this location. When we walked away that night, all of our expectations were exceeded. These two are so completely in love and they really took the time to make their day as special, beautiful, fun and interesting as they are.
Great receptions mean great guests and so many different types of people were brought together for this wedding. Regardless of color, sex, age, religion, education, etc., there we all were celebrating. It speaks volumes to the type of people that Amanda and Bonnie are and how many people love them.
If I wrote down every detail and used all the adjectives that come to mind in this blog, you’d be finished reading it around Easter, so I will just say this:
We love these two.
Amanda and Bonnie are wonderful people and they matter so much to those who are able to be in their lives and world. What we witnessed on October 14th was a shared dream that came true. It was a celebration in the truest sense. It was history making for them, but it was also about a single wish to be together forever. We saw joy, community, families and a family being forged, fairness and justice in manners of the heart played out, and we saw what love can be if you let it.
For those of you planning, here’s the Vendor Roundup! Each of these did an amazing job to make Amanda and Bonnie’s day gorgeous and memorable.
Location: On The Windfall
Planner/Coordinator: Megan Drake of The Elegant Event
Hair/Makeup: Canvas Beauty Bar Boone
Flowers: Fuschia Moss
Cake: Ugga Mugga
Music: Mountain Peak Sound
Specialty Rentals: A Bushel & A Peck Vintage Rentals
Caterers: Stacey Pierce & Julie Weldon of Charleston SC
We are now booking engagement sessions and wedding dates for 2017. Contact us to schedule yours.
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.