I love to cook. If you know me, know about our house and garden, or if you read the blog from summer 2016, you’re aware that I enjoy growing things, cooking the produce and herbs I’ve grown, trying new recipes, canning veggies, etc. Ryan and I are foodies. And we love craft beer as well.
Before you head down the rabbit holes those hyperlinks can lead you down, let me say: I was thinking while reading through a cookbook recently, how very much cooking and especially baking is like planning a wedding. You need the right ingredients, the right environmental elements, good timing and all sorts of other factors in place in order to end up with something you want to devour and share and photograph. The rub is that you get one shot at a wedding vs. a cookbook author or home cook who can test and test recipes until triumph is inevitable.
Really good recipes begin with a story. The “why” of what’s being prepared. So do relationships. How’d you meet? Who said I love you first? What made you decide that being apart was not an option? Most stories behind recipes have to do with how amazing the combination of ingredients is and why so many generations of cooks or family members have made this or that item.
When we book engagements, one of the first things we do is learn your story. Yes, we ask about locations for the shoot, but we also want to know you and I am confident that we get the photos we get of our clients and we become friends with so many of them because we take learning about you seriously – and discovering the elements and ingredients that make you special as a couple.
No sooner do you mix up the ingredients for an engagement session than it’s time to plan the wedding. As photographers, ours is only one part – albeit an important one.
Who asked for sprinkles??
There is weather to consider when cooking up your wedding day plan; the guest list, the gown purchase and alterations, the suits or tuxes to rent, the choices of chocolate or strawberry, sit down or buffet, band or DJ, mountains or coast, outdoors or church and on it goes. A vanilla cake is a blank canvas and once you’ve chosen your actual wedding date and location – it feels sort of limitless. To my mind, it should be fun. “Please let it be fun – and meaningful” – we pray for our clients. We so hope that it is. Even the elements that don’t come together are rarely noticed by guests. They see the environment, listen to the vows, hear the music, enjoy the experience. Guests don’t worry about the eggs when they’re enjoying the cake, you know?
The outcome is most often lovely and delicious and our job is to capture it. What has been fun these 11+ years is seeing the same elements combined with a variety of results. Church weddings, outdoor weddings, small gatherings, casts of thousands, at the end of the day it’s still a cake, or for my purposes it’s still 2 people who enter that day single and leave it as someone’s spouse.
It’s the end of January and we aren’t the pressuring type, but if you’re planning your wedding for 2017 and haven’t booked your photographer, we hope you will do so and choose us. We are proud to be recognized for our wedding photography by friends and fans and by WeddingWire, among others.
Next week! ONION RINGS….kidding. Contact us with questions. For those of you who know us…. we love you!
There is a rush to this whole getting married thing.
I know, “newsflash,” but I’m going somewhere with this, so stick with me:
Naturally, there is the race to get everything planned, booked, selected, purchased and pulled together. Even if you’re not on a strict timetable, there is still a sense of urgency about making the right choices and not missing any detail that might make your wedding more memorable. That’s not the rush I’m talking about though. I’m thinking of the rush of actually realizing that you’ve done it. Do you see it? See what I’m talking about? Some of it is the group celebration, but it’s also that first look and exhaled “phew!” between husband and wife that we love to capture. Those are often some of our favorite shots (and our clients’ faves as well) …. seeing the anticipation and then afterwards, when the officiant announces that two are now one. There is still so much energy in the space, but it’s new energy. It’s an absolute rush.
You cannot get to that moment though if you haven’t booked your wedding photographers and we would love to be a part of your team that day. Most of our wedding package includes a free engagement portrait session, allowing us to get to know you and help you to get comfortable in front of the camera if you aren’t already. We’re now booking weddings for 2017, 2018 and beyond. Contact us and let’s start planning.
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.
The wedding party was beautiful, small and YOUNG! It consisted of Joey’s two daughters and Jennifer’s two nieces.
The innkeepers at Little Pond Farm, Gaye and Frank Luaces, have created a perfect venue for weddings and gatherings and they’re among our absolute favorite people to work with. The small, intimate and magical setting makes it a pleasure for us to photograph and in late September, the place still shined and the weather was perfect.
Like other weddings we’ve photographed at the Inn, Jennifer and Joey’s was beautifully simple, elegant, small, centered on family, and focused on marriage. Less than 30 people attended, including us and all the venue staff. I LOVE getting to see every guest gathered around one table sharing a meal together! All that in addition to the picturesque French provincial details at every turn make for great images and memories for the bride and groom and their families.
Cake, flowers, and a private chef are all coordinated and arranged by Gaye and she accomplished her customary perfection. Between the venue and the details, this day and wedding were Martha Stewart Magazine worthy, if not better.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.
“Love is the answer”… and there are at least 2 comic endings to that sentence, but you’ll have to look ’em up.
I love a good sonnet as much as the next person, but this month – as I highlight the anniversaries of the couples we’ve photographed – I’m returning to humor. I don’t think we can ever get enough, do you? Just sayin.
“Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet service to see who they really are.” – Will Ferrell
“Honesty is the key to a relationship. If you can fake that, you’re in.” – Richard Jeni
“Being a good husband is like being a stand-up comic. You need 10 years before you can call yourself a beginner.” – Jerry Seinfeld
“My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on.” – Joan Rivers
“Obviously, if I was serious about having a relationship with someone long-term, the last people I would introduce him to would be my family.”- Chelsea Handler
“Love is a lot like a backache, it doesn’t show up on X-rays, but you know it’s there.” – George Burns
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.