The wedding, on April 22nd at The Inn at Crestwood Resort in Blowing Rock NC, between Lance and Fiona Martin was the perfect springtime event: kilt, weather, laid-back bride and all. The couple had a small and intimate gathering of friends and family from all over the country and different parts of the world, including friends from Switzerland and Scotland. Only one bridesmaid and one groomsmen were in the wedding party. Each detail was well planned, but when it came to the day, they just trusted everything to go smoothly and as planned. And it did, including the brief arrival of sunshine for a period.
Weather can be dodgy in April, so Fiona wisely chose to have the event indoors. Good thing too, because the Scottish inspired clouds were out and it did rain. Fortunately, it cleared long enough for photos. Even during the ceremony and reception though, the views from the windows were spectacular with Grandfather Mountain in the distance. They could not have chosen a more fitting spot for a groom in Scottish attire and a bride who looked like a Celtic Fairy.Even though the couple are from South Carolina, they are serious cyclists and choose the Inn at Crestwood because of their love for the area. They’ve cycled in this area many, many times and so it was no surprise that they towed their bikes with them for their wedding weekend. The day before the ceremony, they went for a long road ride together along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But I wasn’t kidding about how serious they are as cyclists. To share their love of it with everyone, the couple gave water bottles and bicycle bottle openers as favors to guests.Brides come in all types and temperaments, and Fiona is easily one of the most laid-back relaxed brides we have ever worked with. Her trust in all of her chosen vendors allowed everyone to be relaxed; each of us, from photographers to caterers, were able to take care of them and provide the best service. It’s refreshing when clients have complete trust in your work and don’t give you a list of specifics that sometimes hamper creativity.Lance and Fiona shared that a few of the highlights were when Lance choked up during the ceremony, that they were able to chat with guests out on the patio before the reception started and when the dance floor flooded with ALL the guests who wanted to dance to a song by Average White Band. The reception was a real party!Congrats to these two! We look forward to wishing them a Happy Anniversary this time next year.
If you’re interested in the vendors, Fiona and Lance chose for their wedding, have a look!
Wedding gown: London & Lace, Columbia, SC
Hair & Makeup: Beautiful Bride On Location
Wedding coordinator /planner: Vanessa Hensley at the Inn at Crestwood
Wedding and reception venue: Inn at Crestwood
Flowers: Park Place Florists, Blowing Rock, NC
DJ or band: Mountain Peak Sound
Caterer: Inn at Crestwood
Cake/deserts: Ugga Mugga Bakery
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18 from William Shakespeare
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary! We love you all and hope the year ahead till the next anniversary is adorned with the blooms of prosperity, good health, laughter, devotion and LOVE!
Toward the end of March, I struck out on my own and took a leap outside of my comfort zone to attend a photography workshop and retreat. I love perfecting my craft, learning new techniques, comparing notes, etc., and we all need professional renewal, regardless of what we do. The invitation promised a focus on wedding photography, mastering and using lighting and exposure, and connecting with both your clients and your own desires in life. Tricks of the trade meets self-help meets community and introspection. I’d made excuses for not going in the past and this had an extra element of trepidation – spending 4 days in a house with 9 other women, all strangers. But what’s growth without a bit of surrendering to the unknown?This retreat was hosted by Elly’s Photography and I’ve been a fan of her work for years… another incentive: meet a fellow traveler, working photographer, wife, business woman. As it turns out, Elly’s really a life coach in addition to wonderful photographer and I found that my need to stretch was more important than my fears of hanging with strangers – without Ryan – in a house for 4 days. I needed it more than I knew. Both before and during the retreat, Elly and I spoke for hours so that I’d get the most out of my retreat. She asked questions about what I wanted to learn, what I wanted to see change in our business, how I wanted to connect with our clients. But then there were even harder questions. What are you really passionate about, what drives you, where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years, what is your impact? I did work in “Clearing,” “Dream Casting,” and communication exercises. Photography is easy for me, the personal stuff can be really hard and at times very emotional.
I needed someone to ask me the hard questions. I needed my creativity to be reawakened, to have a new perspective. I needed to have more tools in my tool box to offer our clients. I needed to be surrounded by 9 other creative people that felt the same as me. I ended up having a blast and learning a lot about myself.The best part is that, through all of the personal aspects of the retreat, it was mixed with learning new ways of using my camera and seeing both natural and artificial light differently. Over the past 8 years I’ve become very comfortable with using artificial lighting for photography. I can manipulate light to be what I need it to be in almost any situation. This is a good thing. In fact, Ryan often jokes that I always wish I had one more light to add to the scene no matter how many I have. But what I found during the first half of our workshop is that I had stopped looking at natural light the same way. Natural light can be manipulated. It can be found in sources and locations I have ignored. All of the portrait photos in this blog use natural light and it’s not necessarily sunlight. The dark dramatic head shot photos for example were taken in a bathroom stall with a single overhead light on. The photos are not altered or changed in Photoshop at all. They’re straight out of my camera. I am newly empowered and so excited about using what I’ve learned during portrait photography, weddings, events, day in the life shoots and elsewhere. The next blog will be a continuance of this one, so stay tuned!
On the Windfall, located in Ashe County, North Carolina is a venue we love to photograph. When couples tell us they’ve chosen it, we look forward to seeing the spots we’re familiar with and to tramping around searching for new ones. It’s perfect for a destination wedding, with cottages for the bridal party or others, ideal fly fishing nearby, gorgeous mountain views and a reception hall that when lit at night is about as magical as it gets. (No, I do not get a kick-back for talking up this place. We just love it. It’s in our top 3 for sure.)
I was not kidding about the mountain view for weddings. It’s the very definition of spectacular.
“On the Windfall is part of the Eldreth Homestead circa 1800. The Eldreths farmed the property until the mid 1900s raising cattle, crops, and children. Some of the Eldreth descendants live in Ashe County today.” When George and Carol Ford, the current owners (some of the nicest most accommodating people you will ever meet) envisioned this place, they wanted cabin/cottage meets modern convenience for guests and they succeeded. When shooting weddings there, we see guests wandering in the nearby woods and, depending on time of year, enjoying the many shades of green or the autumn leaves. The site manages to be rustic, fantastical (think tiny white lights), homey, cool, earthy and modern.
This place is as beautiful at night as it is by day and with animals to see, views to enjoy, water to sit by and places to rest and relax, it’s the perfect spot to gather those you love around you to celebrate. We’ve shot several weddings here, including Bonnie & Amanda’s, and Meghan & Josh’s. Couples and their friends alike raved about the venue and how glad they are that they chose it.
Pixels is now booking engagement sessions and weddings for 2017 and 2018. Most brides and grooms who choose our wedding package receive their engagement session FREE. Whether you’re getting married in a church, at On the Windfall or another outdoor venue, we would love to bring our years of experience, inclusive vibe and approach to wedding photography to your celebration.
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.