Posts Tagged: Boone Wedding Photographers
Summer 2016 ~ or some of it
This summer, Ryan and I are working, of course. But we’re also “having a summer” and so far it has been filled with some travel, 2 birthdays, a storm that sent tree limbs through the roof of our 100+ year old house and watching our small but mighty (MIGHTY, I SAY) garden yield glorious veggies. Here are some highlights (and lowlights). We love you guys. Hope your summers are safe and fun and plentiful, as well.
lovely enough to be fake, but they’re not. … squash. LOVE IT.
late spring, when we started to get excited
for spaghetti sauce, BLTs, caprese salads or just with a dusting of pepper…
sauce for spaghetti squash supper
Late July and the garden keeps giving.
Our summer has also included a usual southern visitor – storms. North Carolina (both the piedmont and mountains) have seen daily thunderstorms in the afternoons and evenings for days on end and often with the fanfare of thunder and lightening as well. I love what rain does to our garden, but the more harsh storms in Wilkes County have been doozies. One in particular, in early July hit the Pixels homestead. Our neighbors were without power and sustained lots of damage. I thank God for a sturdy husband, no loss of power, crews ready to come in and no personal injuries. It could have been worse, but it wasn’t.
Ryan on the roof checking for damage and creating quick fixes
Food, storms, repair, recovery and …… birthdays. We both have summer birthdays and celebrated with great food and time together away from deadlines.
Of course, we’ve been wandering and spending time with friends as well.
Our lovebug – Chelsea, a Southern girl hanging out on the porch during my birthday and while we were shooting an engagement portrait session in Charleston.
We love to travel all over the states, but southern summers are pretty wonderful. We’re grateful for each other, for our family, friends and clients, for getting to do what we love and for 4 seasons and all they bring with them. Autumn is still “a ways off,” so we’re going to stay in the good company of summer for now.
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.
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 back. What 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 redux #5 ~ hire a planner, avoid stress and dance more!
Did you hear that bell? Well, you know what that means!!! It’s time for another Wedding Redux, where we ask couples whose weddings we photographed to talk candidly (and helpfully) about things they loved and things they would change. It’s in the form of a Q&A, complete with friendly advice and feedback. Today’s couple – Elizabeth & Kyle Bishop – are faves of ours. We shot their engagement and bridal photos and then their amazing March wedding. Pay attention brides and grooms – their input is thoughtful and detailed!
YOU’RE MARRIED. You’ve done it! Now… IF you could plan and execute your wedding day all over again, what would you do more of?
Kyle: “Dancing. I wish we had been able to invite more people that would have danced with us. I think it would have made the reception more festive.”
Elizabeth: “Eating! Even though we tried to make sure ahead of time that we would get something to eat, we still only managed a few bites of the appetizers. We chose such yummy food for our guests and then didn’t get to enjoy any of it.” [PIXELS NOTE: Look for Kyle’s funny addition at the end of this blog about food. And sadly, we see this all the time. Great intentions to eat the food and then it never happens.]
What would you do less of?
Kyle: “Prep work. Hiring a wedding planner would have helped with that.”
Elizabeth: “A wedding planner definitely would have been nice to have, especially with all the other things we had going on while we were planning our wedding.”
This came up a couple of other times during the Q&A with these two. The wedding planner vs. friends and family debate. The Bishops told us how they wish they’d hired a planner to take the stress off of themselves and their many family and friends who stepped in and stepped up to help from the planning all the way through the day. It’s a tough call, when you have a budget, and Ryan and I certainly don’t get a kick-back if a couple decides to hire a planner. We just want happy couples. We’ve seen weddings planned with family and friends that were flawless and relatively stress-free but you never know. The key word is stress. So figure out ways to eliminate as much of it as possible.
What do you wish you’d done, but were afraid to do?
Kyle: “Learn a couples dance to break into for our first dance. That would have been pretty neat.”
Elizabeth: “A choreographed couples dance would have been a lot of fun, but neither of us is very confident in our dancing skills. Our friends and family probably would have loved it though!”
Positive and negative feedback (or advice) on any or all of the following:
Attire?
Elizabeth: “LET YOUR DRESS SHOPPING BE FUN! Going into shopping, I think a lot of brides stress about finding “the one” but we shouldn’t. The right dress at the right price IS out there and you will find it. It may not be at the first or second shop and that’s okay. It also might be at the first shop and that’s okay too. My gown was the third one I tried on and I insisted on trying several others because I thought “‘It can’t be this easy.'”
Food?
Kyle: “We liked the choice of food but the delivery was lackluster. Many people had to wait longer that we would have liked to eat.
Elizabeth: “Food was… a bit of an issue for us. Everything was delicious, but there seemed to be a lot of confusion between what we expected, what we were told we would have, and what we ended up with. Most of our guests didn’t realize there was any issue, but it was a source of stress for us leading up to the event and on the day of. Be sure that you know exactly what you’re getting, how it will be served, and what the kitchen’s plan for timing is.”
Flowers?
Elizabeth: “We were lucky enough to have my sister and maid-of-honor offer to make all of our flowers from various craft paper and book pages. It was a lot of work for her, but it was the prefect addition to our day and not having to worry about picking up flowers on the actual day was a big load off our minds. We did have a live flower bouquet to toss though. I was not about to throw one of my sister’s creations.”
Location?
Kyle: “We had our dream wedding. Boone was the best place for that.”
Elizabeth: “Where do you want to get married? Go there! We knew that no matter where we had our wedding, most of our family was going to have to travel several hours, so we chose somewhere WE wanted to get married. If you do have a wedding away from home, I would suggest providing your guests with a list of favorite restaurants and local activities. Many of our guests arrived the day before and spent time shopping or sight-seeing before our ceremony started.”
Elements of the ceremony?
Kyle: “The chapel was the right place. Again, somewhere special that we always wanted to get married.”
Elizabeth: “Your officiant can really make a big difference. We were lucky enough to have a family member that is also an amazing minister. Find someone that makes the two of you feel comfortable and who can speak to you as a couple.”
Number in the wedding party?
Elizabeth: “I always imagined a small wedding party, maybe three. At most four. I am, however, lucky for have a husband with a lot of friends and a desire to include them all. I admit, it stressed me out a few times along the way, trying to coordinate that many people, but in the end everything worked out well. Kyle’s guys were wonderful about helping with setup and all of my girls were perfect. My biggest piece of advice would be not to worry about tradition too much when it comes to your bridal party. I had a bridesman, who stood on my side and our grandmothers were our flower girls. Everyone loved them!”
Time of year? Time of day?
Kyle: “It was a perfect time of the year. We got snow and sun. What more could we ask for?”
Elizabeth: “I think these things are really personal to each couple. We knew we wanted a big party of a reception and that we wanted it at night, so that dictated our ceremony time. We also knew that we didn’t want our anniversary too close to either of our birthdays or any particularly important holidays. I would advise finding out when the peak wedding season is in your desired area, and then choosing a date a couple of weeks before or after that. Doing that helped us really stretch our budget.”
DJ vs. a band?
Kyle: “Our DJ was the best decision. We were able to pick out the songs that we wanted and direct the flow of the evening to our liking.
Elizabeth: “We wanted so many different kinds of music that a DJ was really the only way for us to go. Ours had a great song selection and managed everything really well. The only thing I would mention here is to make sure ahead of time that your DJ is comfortable announcing things during the reception. We assumed that was part of being a DJ and we were wrong.”
Vows?
Kyle: “Write your own and it will allow you to show how much you care about each other.”
Elizabeth: “We wrote our own and I loved it. I admit, I was nervous to read my own words in front of everyone, but it was ultimately more important to me that Kyle know exactly how I felt. My biggest advice here would be to speak up! I was so nervous and emotional that I wasn’t able to project very well and as a result, not all of our guests heard what I was saying.”
Name 3 things you would do differently, if, by some strange wrinkle in the universe, you could do it all again (to the same person of course):
1. Lock down the schedule of events for the reception so that everything is on time.
2. Hire a wedding planner to lower overall stress.
3. Have a pizza from Capone’s pizza for my grooms cake.
Name 3 things you would not change / would do the same:
1. Location and Time. I feel like our wedding was perfect.
2. Our photographers. They were the best vendor decision of the wedding. [THANKS, GUYS!]
3. The oldest couples dance got some people on the floor dancing that didn’t dance the entire night.
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 redux #4: nice and simple
This wedding, between Jamie Goforth and Daniel Harrison, was windy and gorgeous. The two can coexist, and if you check out their portraits from the day, you’ll see. As part of our series where we ask the bride and groom for feedback to share for future nuptials, here are some insights from Jamie.
“I wish that I had used more flowers in my ceremony and reception, but both locations had lots of natural beauty.
We were married at an outside chapel in Glade Valley, NC. It was windy and cold on the day of the wedding. My bridesmaids wore leggings under their dresses (LOL). I would tell those planning a wedding to remember to think about how the weather will be on the day of your wedding.”
Number in the wedding party and number of guests — any thoughts or changes? “We had 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 1 flower girl and 1 ring bearer. This was a large party but I knew that I wanted and needed them all by my side the day of the wedding. We had around 150 guests and I think that was a nice number, but more than we really wanted. I personally think the smaller the better with the amount of guests.” [As a couple who’ve photographed more weddings than we care to count, we loved the honesty in that answer. It’s important to know who you want and need with you on your wedding day. It will matter later more than you can imagine. Just saying…]
Time of year? Time of day? “We had a fall wedding in the mountains, 4PM and the leaves were beautiful on the trees that time of day. It was a little chilly, as I mentioned, though.”
DJ vs. a band? “I preferred a live band, but they were much more expensive, so I went with a DJ and the reception was great… a LOT of participation on the dance floor!”
Wedding planner or “family-and-friends-all-hands-on-deck” approach to planning? “I think that having a wedding planner is better than all hands on deck. This is so there is only one person to go to for everything. That one person will know what you want in your wedding and if others want to assist they can. Just have the wedding planner approve it.”
Name 3 things you would do differently, if, by some strange wrinkle in the universe, you could do it all again (to the same person of course). “I would have had a cocktail hour while taking our pictures after the ceremony. I feel like the whole day was a blur, I would try to slow down and take it all in. I would have eaten, instead of just taking a few bites, but of course I wanted to talk with all of our guests.”
Most important piece of advice: “Tailor the ceremony to who you are as a couple. Daniel and I love camp fires and s’mores so we had a fire in the fireplace at the reception with a s’mores bar for our guests.
Make the day about what you envision and not what other people want or think it should be. It was honestly the best day of my life and I got to enjoy it with all my family and friends.”
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 redux part 2 ~ MORE SAGE ADVICE
“Don’t worry about pleasing everyone else. It’s YOUR wedding, so do what you want to do!! You will enjoy it even more if it’s everything you imagined it would be.”
Part II of our series, Wedding Redux, takes advantage of the insight of Whitney Pegg Parsons, married last year at Williams Farm. Have a peek at their wedding and then enjoy Whitney’s feedback.
What would you do less?
Stress about the situations you can’t change. Something is going to end up happening which causes some detail to perhaps not turn out the way you wanted. It’s just like life; you have to roll with it.
Positive or negative feelings or comments about any of the following?
Attire.
Do your research! Look at more than one place before deciding who you’ll buy your gown and dresses from.
Gifts.
Go with what is sentimental. You want to look back, with friends and family, and all be able to say ‘I remember that day perfectly.'”
Flowers.
Don’t get stuck on using a florist as your only option. Sometimes asking around, ordering flowers in bulk and decorating yourself can be just as beautiful and more cost effective.
Location.
Choose somewhere that is memorable and most fits your style. Google can be your friend here. There were a lot of local places I would never have known about if I hadn’t looked online. Most importantly, choose the location first. It will determine the date of your wedding and help with other details.
Decorations & Decor.
PINTEREST!!! Everyone has their own ideas of what they want their wedding to look like, but sometimes it’s harder to execute than you think. Enlist the help of those online, your friends and family and they will help you better determine what is going to be the most feasible.
Number in the wedding party?
Choose the few who are most important to you. You shouldn’t feel that just because someone is your friend that it means they have to be in the wedding party. Some friends don’t even feel comfortable being in the party to begin with. Choose people who, when you look back in 50 years, you’ll see the photos and appreciate that they are still your friends and people you still talk to.
Number of guests?
It is always bigger than you think it’s going to be and that is okay! I was so worried because my list kept getting bigger and bigger due to family members and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Some people will never come but just like to get an invitation. I would recommend setting a maximum number of guests and never going above that number.
Time of year?
There is always going to be some weather issue that may possibly get in the way. I’d say choose whatever you want and can handle and then go for it. As for time of day, it depends on the season.
Wedding Planner or “family-and-friends-all-hands-on-deck” approach?
Don’t choose a family member or close friend. Planning a wedding can be stressful and you don’t want to depend on someone you may end up having a falling out with… a falling out over something stupid. Choose someone you can rely on who has experience. They will be able to help you plan out a schedule so you don’t forget any details.
Name 3 things you would do differently if, by some strange wrinkle in the universe, you could do it all again (but with the same spouse):
My main things would be stress less and enjoy more. I would worry less about the little unimportant things and enjoy the big details even more. When the day actually came, I felt like it was over in a matter of minutes and would have loved to have had more time to enjoy it! I would also have done more research on attire for dresses and suits and saved myself a lot of last minute stress!
Name 3 things you would NOT change:
Even though it was stressful at times, it turned out to be a mostly perfect day. One of the most important things I would never change are the people I chose to spend my special day with. They enjoyed it as much as I did! Secondly is the photography. There is no other way to go back to that day other than through the pictures. Choose a photographer who is relatable and whose style you love and you won’t be disappointed (Misty & Ryan, of course)!!
Finally, and most importantly, find the right person – choose the right spouse! If you know that no matter what goes wrong with the wedding that they are with you, it’s all that matters.
It’s only going to happen ONCE, so stand back and take a minute to really live in every little detail that you can.
In case you missed them, click here to read Redux part 1.
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.