Purple Feather Boa

Here is the wedding story of Briana Corke and Matt Pelton. They were wed in a courtyard in front of the Carolina Inn on an unusually temperate, summer day. Briana and Matt really enjoy outdoors activities and as such wanted to be married outside. During the hours that led up to the ceremony there was a steady drizzle and many nervous glances outside. But the timing worked out perfectly as the rain stopped in time for the ceremony. You can find out how a purple, feather boa enters into the story by clicking on the SLIDESHOW below. You can see the whole story in their GALLERY.

I heard this from the happy couple, “We LOVE our wedding story. We are so excited about some of the amazing shots that you took. My dad’s comment was, “Wow, she is really an artist!” Thank you so much.”

One More Week of Summer

I truly cannot believe how fast this summer has gone! It has been absolutely wonderful. Starting on the 25th of this month we will be back to the old grind of waking up at insane-o-clock and waiting for the bus at 7 a.m. A perfect end to a great summer was this evening’s wedding of Alden Miles to Jon Davies. They were happy, funny, in love and absolutely a joy to be around. More images to come once we have sorted through all 2500+ of them! I will be out of the office this week to spend one last quiet week with the kids. Enjoy!

Guest Book

Coming up on September 18th, 2010 I will be photographing the wedding of Priti Rao to Tyler Elkins-Williams. They had the great idea of creating a guest book with their KPO photos. I think that normally folks look at their guest book once post-wedding and it is then relegated permanently to a long lost corner of their closet. This guest book, filled with photos and signatures from their favorite people, will surely become a treasured family item.

Below is a proof of this 12 x 12 inch book. The plan is to include images from their engagement session, photos of Chapel of the Cross, which is very much a part of the story, photos of Fearrington where they will be wed and, finally, images from Priti’s bridal portrait session. The design in simple and light, with lots of white space for guests to sign.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Wedding Photographic Society Award

I know I am biased, but I think photographers are some of the most innovative, creative and interesting people. To choose this profession they have to be willing to work in an unstructured, highly competitive, risk-filled environment. To stay in business they have to constantly stay on top of the latest developments in their field. And to stay inspired they have to stubbornly keep working through their creative process to dig deep and create some incredible images. Well the Wedding Photographic Society is an organization founded and sustained by people like this. By being a member I am surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs, am able to stay abreast of the latest developments in the photographic field and am challenged to keep pushing myself creatively. They sponsor a contest each quarter. I am happy to say that they choose my image for the first prize in the cake category. Thanks, WPS!
The couple is Caroline Swain Strehle and Josh Strehle, You can see their full wedding story HERE. The technical information is that I shot it with a Canon 30D using a 85mm f/1.2 lens. The ISO was 1000 and the exposure was 1/100 second at f/ 2.5. Cake photos used to be the bane of my existence as the flash often exposed the cake well but left the couple dark. Now I pop the light off a wall to the left or right, thus avoiding that problem. This reception was in the Fearrington Barn which is as dark as a cave with brown walls, but somehow it works out! As is my method, this was shot documentary, meaning that I don’t direct the couple at all. This particular couple was so animated and joyous that they were just a pleasure to photograph.

Baby Bird

Celia Pyle and Ben Whited are both accountants, which means they have a lot in common. Now they have even more in common as on the weekend of June 12th, 2010 they were wed at Fearrington Village while surrounded by family and friends. They had planned a garden ceremony but the weather had other plans for them. One of the wonderful things about Fearrington is that even their rain site, the garden terrace, is gorgeous. Of course, right after the ceremony the sun came out so we were able to do their portraits with the rolling hills and cows in the background.

You will see an obvious bird theme to this wedding as Celia’s childhood nickname is baby bird. How great that their reception site is home to many families of barn swallows? You can see their wedding story by clicking on the image below. To see the WHOLE STORY visit their gallery.

Dark clouds were rolling in as we arrived at Fearrington. The cows didn’t seem to mind.

Ben adjusting his bow tie, was quiet and pensive beforehand. Celia was giddy.

The wedding took place in front of the large, stone fireplace in the garden terrace. How nice that even though it is raining all the guests had a dry, comfortable place to sit and the ceremony still took place amid the lush greenery.

It stopped drizzling right after the ceremony. Everyone was in a jubilant mood as the sun came out.

The two Pyle sisters and their husbands.

The sun had just set as Celia and Ben entered the barn for their first dance. You can tell they love to dance together!

Baby birds as cake toppers. This was the most beautiful cake I have ever seen at Fearrington! You can see more photos of it in the wedding story above.

And some real, live baby birds nesting in the barn entryway.

Celia’s dad had the idea of stringing up even more lights on the barn ceiling. Paired with the incredible flowers it was a gorgeous reception.

The happy couple had many moves which thrilled their guests.

This was the first time I have seen a groom carry his bride all the way out of the reception for their farewell. Congratulations, Ben and Celia!!!

I heard back from Celia about her wedding story. This is what she had to say, “The pictures are fabulous!! You captured all of the funny and fun moments I remembered (and the ones I didn’t get to see!) I cannot thank you enough for all that you did on that rainy Saturday ”

And her mother, Sue, said, “You hit it out of the park, Kristin! You captured the emotion of the day. We’re delighted!”

Mr. and Mrs. Doctor

Two doctors marry. They are blessed with three beautiful children, a girl and two boys. Their daughter grows up playing soccer and then attends Duke University. She also becomes a doctor. Then, on May 30, 2010, she marries another doctor. Thus the cycle begins again!

John and Lauren tied the knot in a shady grove at Fearrington Village. Lauren’s bridesmaids wore purple and John’s groomsmen were in the classic- tuxedos with a black tie. The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour in front of the barn and a reception inside with music by The Maxx, a wonderful band I have seen several times. I don’t think the band had ever witnessed such a crazy, fun group of dancers!

To see their WEDDING STORY just click on the slideshow below. You can scroll down further to see some the highlights. If you want the WHOLE STORY visit their WEB GALLERY.

Sarah got this great shot of the engraved rings with her macro lens.

Lauren was one of the most relaxed, smiley brides I have ever worked with. But right before she walked down the aisle she took a moment.

This is my favorite area in Fearrington for ceremonies. It is quiet and shady and accommodates many guests.

The stately crew.

Their friends insisted on a special entry to the barn.

After their first dance folks were seated to eat. I saw that the sun was beginning to set so I asked Lauren and John to come out to grab a few quick photos. Earlier in the day the cows had been out of site and now they were back. Everyone wants photos with those cool cows!

Spontaneous crowd surfing!

I heard back from Lauren about the photos. Here is what she had to say, “The pictures are AMAZING!!! Completely negated all hopes of productivity these past two days Thanks so much, for everything!”

Great Idea for Tables

This past weekend we completed the wedding story of Lauren Simel and John Lewis. We have been photographing them since last year when I met them on the Duke Campus for their engagement portrait. Then, Lauren came to the studio last month for her bridal portrait. Lauren had a great idea for using all these great images in her wedding reception decor. She chose her favorite images from both sessions and had them changed to black and white and and printed to 4 x 6 inches. She then put them in beautiful, pewter frames and placed them on each of her reception tables. It really tied the room together and the framed images could then be used for gifts. They also enlarged their favorite image to 8 x 10 inches and placed a large matt around it so that wedding guests could sign their well wishes. This matted print was surrounded by a family history of framed prints. This display was the first thing guests saw when they entered the reception. I just love it when I can collaborate with a client on such a fun project!


Here are two of my favorites of the newlyweds. More to come, soon!