Posts Tagged: WNC wedding and engagment photographers
A Full Circle
We want to believe that “things come full circle.” In fact, we say it with a spirit of hopefulness. There is continuity in life: births, deaths, struggles, triumphs, remembrances, redemption, connection and repatriation. It takes age, wisdom and being observant to realize it and I would like to believe that Ryan and I are those people. We certainly try to be!
There is also the idea of creating a large and full circle of people around you: those who inspire and challenge you, have your back, love and celebrate with you and hold you up when you just cannot do it alone. Ryan and I have both in our lives: that sense that things are coming full circle as we prepare to be first time parents AND that we’re surrounded, literally and figuratively, by people ready to help, support and love us in this new chapter.
Over the last 14 years, we’ve been blessed to be a part of your lives (and we have no plans to stop). But as we get ready to greet our son (the full circle in my belly at the moment), I’m reminded of all the chapters of your lives we’ve captured on film and those chapters we’re about to embark on ourselves. We’ve learned so much watching you all.
We’ve photographed engagement portraits in all sorts of settings, celebrating the beginnings of new marriages. We’ve taken bridal portraits inside and outside with brides in sneakers or cowboy boots, in gardens, in tiaras, on staircases and in the woods. Those moments absolutely take us back to our own engagement, wedding and first years together.
And the weddings themselves we’ve photographed – too many to count – where there is the crush of emotion and relief and joy and then “let’s get out of here and go on a honeymoon!”
Children. This one is particularly tender for obvious reasons, but watching you all as we took maternity photos, newborn portraits, first birthdays, new siblings and the growth of your families has been the best. You hunker down during the hard stuff and laugh out loud during the silly bits, but your commitment to family is something we understand completely.
We love living our lives in the open amongst such amazing friends, colleagues, and family – those by blood and those forged from common interests, trust and deep connections. While we may need to hibernate a bit when our little man arrives, we’ll be happy to share stories, ask questions and continue to watch our lives come full circle. We love you all so much and thank each of you for the part you play in our lives.
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Celebrating June Wedding Anniversaries | Pixels On Paper NC Wedding Photographers
Ever heard of a June wedding? Me, either, but apparently they are really popular.
Pixels very first wedding was a June wedding – that of Sandy & Mark Sherill on June 18th 2005. That’s where it all began.
Sarah & Jeremy Caudle, 4 years June 1st
Winters & Greg Androney, 10 years June 2nd
Erin & Brad Farmer, 6 years June 4th
Kristy & Rob McConnell, 7 years June 5th
Shannon & Lance Townsend, 8 years June 6th
Jordan & Chris Ferguson, 7 years June 6th
Jordan & Matt DeFlon, 9 years June 7th
Kirsten & Nate Smith, 6 years June 11th
Kelsey & Andy Schuster, 7 years June 12th
Amber & Clark Schlinsog, 4 years June 15th
So now to Sandy and Mark – our very first wedding shoot. Sandy and I were middle school youth group leaders together as well as friends. She watched for a few years when Ryan and I would take candid photos whenever we were with the youth group. When it came time for her own wedding she asked us a few times if we’d photograph her wedding. We kept saying “no way.” She finally put her foot down after asking four or so times. “You two are going to shoot my wedding.” She was sweet and we caved and it was on. The only complication is that her wedding was at the end of a week that we were chaperones for our youth group’s annual mission trip to the Pittsburgh Project. We left PA early to head to the wedding in Norfolk, VA with a car full of middle school girls who were also attendants in their wedding. YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! With equipment that was far from professional, packed in suitcases with our mission clothing, we made it and photographed our very first wedding together. 12 years later Sandy and Mark (just below) still love their photos and we’re still friends. Sandy even hired us to photograph her oldest daughter’s wedding years later.
Sandy & Mark Sherrill, 12 years June 18th
Katie & Tim Mahon, 1 year June 18th
Candace & Ken Bloch, 9 years June 20th
Robin & Nick Schroote, 8 years June 20th
Vicki & Brandon High, 3 years on June 21
Looking through these June weddings makes me smile. Each one represents a day that changed the trajectory of that couple’s lives forever and there we were, pulling those indelible moments out of the air and making sure they made it on film. So many stories!
Erica & Andrew Walecka, 6 years June 25th
Adrian & Banks Church, 1 year June 25th
Hali & Jim Pyles, 7 years June 26th
Sherae & David Johnson, 2 years June 26th
Neely & Eric Westbrook, 9 years June 28th
Lauren & Patrick Allen, 3 years June 28th
Meghan & Jeremy Arnold, 5 years June 30th
By my count, that is 22 and we added new ones to the list this year. Happy Anniversary to each one of you. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives and keep celebrating! We love you!
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.
a church wedding | two cultures and two families come together
Our hearts go out to the parents of brides and grooms. I think about this every time that Ryan and I shoot a wedding. God Bless the parents. They are exhilarated and stressed, proud and nervous, but mostly in love with their kids – who are no longer kids. How do you go from diapers to driving and then big decisions? How do you go from watching them choose a sport in middle school to a spouse for life? And with grace? To the parents, this must feel like it happens in 72 hours rather than a couple of decades. We honor the parents and love watching them love a celebration of their kids.
The tender moments included watching Ashley’s father place a pearl necklace around her and seeing them both in tears. The mind goes to the number of times they stood that close together as he watched her grow up and now, here she was: a bride.
While Ashley Caudill and Oscar Orozco married young (please read about their engagement to learn how they met), their wedding showed astonishing wisdom, love and faith. Prior to the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom were blindfolded and they joined hands while Oscar prayed for them. I (Misty) was the only other person in the room and it was incredibly touching. I wish that there was a recording of the words in Oscar’s prayer for them, because they were filled with humility, grace and wisdom far beyond his years. 
Both Ashley and Oscar agree that the best moment of the day was seeing each other for the first time. Neither of them could hold back crying tears of joy and reflect on those moments whenever they look back and talk about their wedding day. 
A lasso binding ceremony is part of the Orozco’s culture. A beautiful rhinestone cross lasso was placed around Ashley & Oscar by their parents symbolizing a binding unity as they prayed together and said their vows. We would love to see how the lasso will be used in future generations as an heirloom.
Another outward gesture of unity and symbol of their faith was a binding of three cords which Ashley & Oscar created and performed representing the scripture verse from Ecclesiastes 4:12 “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Oscar’s family is from Mexico, and they speak Spanish primarily, but it was amazing to see how these two families, two cultures and two language barriers were brought together in love. They combined elements from both into the wedding ceremony and the reception.
When asked, Ashley and Oscar said there isn’t one thing that they would change about their wedding day. The most memorable moments for them that they want to hold on to forever included performing the cross ceremony during the wedding, spending time with each other during pictures after the ceremony and of course Oscar said the vision of Ashley in her wedding dress.
Ashley and Oscar both recall laughing when seeing Oscar’s car covered in toilet paper after their reception exit.
Ashley was the couple’s wedding planner and she also hand-made all of the flowers, bouquets and center pieces, but their other vendors included:
Wedding Attire: Bridal Traditions
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Thanks Be To Calvary Baptist Church, Elkin NC
Cellist for the Ceremony: Steve Holman
Caterer: Oscar’s Father
Desserts: Kathy’s Creations in Sparta
Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brid
the angel in the details of your wedding
If you’re getting married in 2017, or any time for that matter, you start with the logistical planning and then little fairies of inspiration invade the whole process. I’m only sort of kidding. Ideas will come from every direction and while some of you will hire planners, you’ll be seeing great ideas everywhere and collecting them. They say that the devil is in the details, but really it’s more about having a few good people on your side to help you with working through everything.
As we book engagement sessions and weddings, we hope you’ll be thinking about where you want these taken: in a special setting, near a site or pond or vista you love. We’ve done a little bit of everything and a lot of many things and we’re in for the challenge, the haul and the laughs.
There’s the place, the people, the food and music to be worked out, but there is also the magic that will happen just because it’s your day. As wedding photographers for over a decade, we love the details … those you point out and tell us about and those we see because we’re paying attention. Is the handkerchief around your bouquet you are carrying your great-grandmothers? Were the flowers in your bouquet made from pages of favorite novels and poetry? Do all the groomsmen have on the same striped socks with team colors? Is the processional a song you listened to with your parents every summer? We love it all.
Cowboy boots, cathedral length veils, mountain destination or church, sit down dinner or buffet, summer suits or tuxes, big or small, if you have people around you to help you, people you trust and photographers who’ve gotten to know you, you’re three quarters of the way there. Most couples who book our wedding packages receive a complimentary engagement portrait session. It gives us an opportunity to get to know you, figure out your style and mojo, what makes you and your relationship special and how to help you relax “the day of” so we get the very best memories for you.We’d love to be the photographers to capture your engagement and every special detail of your wedding day. Get in touch with us and let’s start detail collecting.
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.