My Graduation and Our Trip to Miami

The past several days have been a whirlwind! You can follow along with what I've been up to below through a mixture of pictures from my camera and from my phone.

My dad came into town last Thursday morning for my graduation. We had a great time exploring Duke's campus (the chapel is under construction but the campus is still as beautiful as ever!) and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The Duke Gardens are absolutely AMAZING and I loved showing my dad! Seriously, the flowers right now are to die for. If anyone wants to do a session there soon, please let me know! 

On Friday I graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree! I'm still in disbelief that I actually graduated and finished my degree. SEBTS's degree is 90+ hours and has taken me SIX years to complete while working full time! Many people ask me why I got my seminary degree and I hope to write a full post in response to that question at a later date. But for now, I'll just say that I got my degree for the knowledge and because I think every believer (man and woman) should love the Lord with their minds and should pursue theological knowledge. While I'm not going to become a pastor, it is my prayer that this degree will make me a better child of God, mentor, wife, mom, church member, etc. I hope the Lord will use this degree for His glory!

Thank you Jesse Winchester for capturing some of these graduation pictures!!

It was a blessing to be able to graduate with Will, Ryan, and Sean. We have all known each other for many years and have done a discipleship program called "Generation LINK" at Crosspoint Church together. I'm also very thankful for Jeremy Chasteen's influence (pictured in the second image below). Jeremy was my boss for several years (when I was the Assistant Director of Generation LINK) and he has always encouraged me to continue pursuing theological education in the context of the local church. I'm very thankful for his influence and for the influence of Crosspoint Church. Crosspoint made it possible for me to get theological education by paying for a large portion of my degree!

I'm thankful and honored Alex and I got to take a picture with Dr. Finn (pictured above) and that I grabbed a picture with with Danny Akin, President of SEBTS (pictured below). Dr. Finn is one of our favorite professors and is going to be Alex's PhD mentor. 

After graduation we hopped on a plane that evening for Miami! Alex grew up in Miami and moved to South Carolina with his family when he was 15. The church Alex grew up in, Emmanuel Baptist Church, invited him to preach on Sunday morning and Sunday evening. We had an absolutely wonderful trip and I loved seeing where Alex grew up and meeting so many of his friends! Pictured below is an incredible picture that one of Alex's close family friends painted for us of one of our wedding pictures! How amazing is that? I love seeing how a photo can be turned into another beautiful piece of art. I know Alex and I will treasure this painting forever!

Our time in FL was pretty jam packed and we loved getting to see Alex's grandma Jo (unfortunately I didn't get a picture with her) and staying in the Barker's home. We did get away for a few hours on Saturday evening and had an AMAZING seafood dinner on the beach.

Alex did a great job, by God's grace, preaching on Sunday morning and Sunday evening. I was so proud of him! His messages really encouraged and convicted me and I think they encouraged the church as well. If you'd like to listen to or watch his messages, you can find them here.

Thank you for following along with me as I shared our whirlwind weekend! 

For Brides: 6 Things Every Bride Should Get Ready for Her Photographer | NC Wedding Photographer

This post is part of a series for brides (and grooms!) or for those who are helping someone plan a wedding. My goal for this series is to help you make informed and educated decisions about your wedding day so that it will be as beautiful as possible! If you're joining me for the first time, you can catch up here:

1. Should I Do an Engagement Session?
2. What Should I Wear for My Engagement Session?
3. Should I Do Bridal Portraits?
4. Making a Wedding Day Photography Timeline
5. How to Get Great Getting Ready Pictures
6. 6 Things Every Bride Should Get Ready for Her Photographer

I have found that one of the things brides often forget about is getting their details together for their photographer. I completely understand because I know that as a bride you have about a million things going on in your head! However, it really helps to gather all of your details together before your photographer arrives. It's also really important to make sure all of your details are at either the "getting ready" location or the location where you and your photographer have agreed to shoot your details. As I mentioned in an earlier post, making sure your details are ready and that your photographer doesn't have to go searching for them could mean that you get hundreds and maybe even thousands more pictures on your wedding day!

I love taking detail shots and I think they're really important! Details shots add dimension and variety to your photos and to your album. Your details tie the theme and colors of your wedding day together beautifully and create lasting memories of all the beautiful elements that went into your day.

Here's a few of the important details you need to remember to get ready for your photographer:

1. Wedding Dress and Veil
I highly recommend having your wedding hang on a wooden hanger and also consider getting a customized hanger. You've spent a lot of money on your dress and so you want it to be displayed beautifully in your pictures! A nice hanger will look WAY better than  plastic hanger in your pictures! Also be sure not to forget your veil. Detail pictures can look really beautiful placed against a wedding veil.

2. Shoes
Make sure you have your shoes! Pictures of your shoes always look great in albums and they really give a sense of the style and color of your wedding day.

3. Wedding Rings and Other Jewelry
I've found that when I get ready to shoot details, the groom or best man almost always has part or all of the wedding rings. You definitely want to make sure that the bride or one of the bridesmaids has all 3 of the rings for the beginning part of the day so your photographer can get beautiful shots of all three rings together! Also, if you're wearing a necklace, bracelet, earrings or other jewelry have those ready for your photographer. In addition, be sure to include any other keepsakes or family heirlooms you want photographed.

4. Complete Invitation Set
Your invitation set really sets the tone and theme for your wedding. Be sure to have your save the date, invitation set, programs, and any other paper products or textures (like ribbons from your invitation or vintage stamps) you want photographed. I recommend putting all of these details in a zip lock bag or manilla envelope. 

5. The Bouquets and Boutonnières
Most brides have their flowers brought to their wedding venue. If possible, I recommend having them brought to your "getting ready" location or location where you've agreed to have your details shots. I love to incorporate flowers into detail shots and flowers always make gorgeous pictures!

6. Bridesmaid Dresses
I love taking pictures of all the bridesmaids dresses hanging up next to the wedding dress! If possible, I also recommend putting bridesmaid dresses on wooden hangers or personalized hangers. Bridesmaid dresses also make great backgrounds for some of your detail shots because they tie your color scheme together. 

I hope you found this post helpful! Check back next Wednesday for my next post in the "For Brides" series. I'll be answering the question: "Should We Do a First Look?"

For Brides: How to Get Great Getting Ready Pictures | NC Wedding Photographer

This post is part of a series for brides (and grooms!) or for those who are helping someone plan a wedding. My goal for this series is to help you make informed and educated decisions about your wedding day so that it will be as beautiful as possible! If you're joining me for the first time, you can catch up here:

1. Should I Do an Engagement Session?
2. What Should I Wear for My Engagement Session?
3. Should I Do Bridal Portraits?
4. Making a Wedding Day Photography Timeline
5. How to Get Great Getting Ready Pictures

Oftentimes, one of the most overlooked parts of the wedding day is where you get ready. It seems like a small thing, but it can actually make a significant difference in your pictures. Think about it, this is where you'll have pictures that you'll treasure forever of your mom putting you into your dress or your bridesmaids seeing you for the first time. 

Here's a few suggestions for how to get great "getting ready" pictures:

1. Choose a Location With a Lot of Natural Light
For most of the weddings I've shot the bride ends up getting into her dress in a bathroom or some other small, dimly lit room. This is not a good idea! Natural light makes ALL the difference and so you want to make sure you get ready in a room that has plenty of windows. Many venues have a bridal dressing room as part of their package so make sure you look at this room when you're considering your venue and try to get a spacious room with big windows. 

2. Keep Your Room Clutter Free
Communicate with your bridal party beforehand and make sure they know they need to pick up their things and keep them as hidden as possible once your photographer arrives. I recommend designating a bridesmaid or groomsmen to make sure this happens. Having an uncluttered room can make a big difference in your pictures! 

3. Wear Flattering Clothing
During your wedding planning, consider what you and your bridesmaids will be wearing while you get ready. Your "getting ready" outfit may seem like an insignificant detail but if you're going to have several professional pictures of yourself in an outfit, make it a flattering one! Some ideas I've seen are: a white robe or button down shirt for the bride, oversized monogrammed button down shirts for the bridal party, matching tanks, matching PJ's, and matching robes. 

4. Make Sure There's Enough Space
Make sure your room is large enough to fit you and your bridesmaids and to give you enough space to get good shots of you getting into your dress. If you're getting ready at a hotel I highly encourage you to upgrade to a a suite. The extra space is definitely worth it! 

5. Consider the Interior and Exterior Aesthetics 
Getting ready locations with pretty details like unique doors, textured walls, or antique furniture is always a nice, added bonus! Try to find a location to get ready in that matches the style of your wedding day. For example, if your wedding has vintage details try and find an antique or historic venue with vintage details.

I hope you found this post helpful! Check back next Wednesday for my next post in the "For Brides" series. I'll be giving you a bridal detail checklist with all the important things you need to think through in order to get beautiful wedding detail shots.

For Brides: Making a Wedding Day Photography Timeline | NC Wedding Photographer

This post is part of a series for brides (and grooms!) or for those who are helping someone plan a wedding. My goal for this series is to help you make informed and educated decisions about your wedding day so that it will be as beautiful as possible! If you're joining me for the first time, you can catch up here:

1. Should I Do an Engagement Session?
2. What Should I Wear for My Engagement Session?
3. Should I Do Bridal Portraits?
4. Making a Wedding Day Photography Timeline

Making a wedding day photography timeline may sound like a daunting task but it's very manageable once you have an idea of how much time your photographer needs to shoot each aspect of your wedding day. I meet with each of my couples a month before their wedding to help them finalize their timeline and then I try to stick to the timeline as closely as possible on their wedding day. Timelines are SO important because they help everything stay on track and organized on your wedding day and they enable your photographer to capture everything they need to get. Unexpected things always happen and a timeline is rarely followed exactly, but it is an extremely helpful guideline and it's important to stick to it as much as possible. Here's a few elements you need to consider when planning a timeline:

1. Start from the Reception and Work Backwards
When I'm planning a wedding day photography timeline, I find it helpful to start from the reception and work backwards in my planning. When you start thinking through your timeline, you won't necessarily know what time your photographer should arrive and so that's why I like to work backwards.

2. Plan in Some Buffer Time
I always try and plan in a little more time then I actually need to get all of my shots. That way, I have a chance to be a little more creative and get as many beautiful images as possible! Also, things almost never run perfectly on time and so if you plan in some buffer time it won't be a big deal if everything doesn't go as planned. 

3. Make Sure Your Details Are Ready
When I arrive on a wedding day I usually shoot details first. Often times I find that no one has any idea where the brides' shoes, jewelry, wedding rings, flowers, invitations, and other details I need to photograph are located. It is absolutely crucial that you have all of these items ready for your for your photographer! I can compare weddings I've shot where the bride had all the details ready for me and weddings where they didn't and the difference is often hundreds of pictures! I'm able to get hundreds more pictures when everything is ready and a timeline is closely followed.

4. Communicate Your Timeline
Make sure that every wedding vendor, member of the bridal party, and family member knows your timeline. This is crucial. The photographer and bride may know the timeline but if the makeup artist doesn't know when to get your makeup done and your Grandma Sally doesn't know when to show up for family pictures, the timeline doesn't matter. I can't stress this enough. Please, please, please do yourself and your photographer a favor and communicate your timeline to everyone.

5. Make Sure Hair and Makeup is Done On Time
Things often get delayed on wedding days because hair and makeup isn't done on time and brides and bridesmaids aren't ready for their pictures. I encourage you to tell your makeup and hair people to have everyone ready at least an hour before they actually need to be ready for pictures. They way you and your bridal party can relax and have plenty of time to prepare for pictures.

5. Take Travel Time into Account
Make sure you account for travel time and over-estimate the amount of time you think you'll need. What if there's traffic on the drive to your venue or what if something unexpected happens? It's always better to have more time than you need.

6. Consider Lighting
I'll be talking about this a lot more in later posts but consider lighting when you make your timeline. For example, if you plan an outdoor ceremony at noon you're planning your ceremony during the worst possible lighting. Or if you're getting ready in a dark space with no natural light, your "getting ready" pictures will not have good lighting. Make sure there is a lot of natural light where you're wedding party is getting ready and make sure you consider lighting when planning your ceremony. I also always encourage couples to consider stepping away from their reception for 15 minutes to allow me to get some romantic portraits just before sunset. Even though I always take romantic portraits before the reception, the hour before sunset (it's called the "golden hour") is the best time to take pictures with the most beautiful light. And trust me, light makes ALL the difference in your photography.

Here's the tentative amount of time you'll need for each step of your wedding with and without a first look in the order I usually schedule my timelines (Please note: Every photographer does things a little differently and these timelines are just my own estimates based on how I work. Also, these timelines do not take travel time into account.):

Weddings With a First Look:
1. Getting Ready: 45 minutes
2. Details: 45 minutes
3. Bridal Prep (Bride getting in dress and bridal portraits): 30 minutes
4. First Look: 15 minutes
5. Bride and Groom Portraits: 30 minutes
6. Bridal Party Pictures: 45-60 minutes
7. Party in Hiding/Reception Detail Shots: 30 minutes
8. Ceremony: 30 minutes
9. Family Portraits: 30 minutes
10. Reception: varies
11. Optional Extra Bride and Groom Portraits at Sunset: 15 minutes

Weddings Without a First Look:
1. Getting Ready: 45 minutes
2. Details: 45 minutes
3. Bridal Prep (Bride getting in dress and bridal portraits): 30 minutes
4. Bridesmaid/Groomsmen Pictures: 45-60 minutes
5. Party in Hiding/Reception Detail Shots: 30 minutes
6. Ceremony: 30 minutes
7. Family Portraits: 30 minutes
8. Whole Bridal Party Pictures: 10 minutes
9. Bride and Groom Portraits: 30 minutes
10. Reception: varies
11. Optional Extra Bride and Groom Portraits at Sunset: 15 minutes

I hope this post helped you think through your wedding day photography timeline a little better! Check back next Wednesday for my next post in my "For Brides" series on how to get beautiful "getting ready" pictures.

For Brides: What Should I Wear for My Engagement Session? | NC Wedding Photographer

This post is part of a series for brides (and grooms!) or for those who are helping someone plan a wedding. My goal for this series is to help you make informed and educated decisions about your wedding day so that it will be as beautiful as possible! If you're joining me for the first time, you can catch up here:

1. Should I Do an Engagement Session?
2. What Should I Wear for My Engagement Session?

I get asked this question a lot and after planning my own engagement session last spring, I totally understand why! I spent days trying to decide on what to wear for my engagement session and I changed my mind several times. It's a difficult decision! Here's a few tips I hope will help in your decision making process:

Choose Different and Diverse Outfits
I always recommend choosing one "dressy" outfit and one "casual" outfit. You certainly don't have to do that but I think it gives you some good options and diversity in your pictures. I also recommend choosing two outfits that have different colors.

Complement Each Other
Consider complementing outfits for you and your fiancé instead of outfits that match. You could wear different shades of the same color (for example navy blue and light blue) or one could wear a solid and one could wear a pattern with some similar colors.

Wear Flattering Styles and Colors
This sounds obvious but it's really important to remember! Consider what clothing styles and colors flatter your body and your skin tone. You may be tempted to wear something really different than what you'd normally wear but just make sure it's something that's flattering!

Don't Be Afraid of (Some) Patterns
A lot of times people are afraid to wear any patterns for their pictures because they don't want to look too busy. I think patterns can look great and are a fun way to show off your personality! If you decide to wear a pattern, I would encourage you to have your fiancé wear a solid or vice versa. 

Be Yourself
Wear clothes that are true to your unique personality and style! I love creativity and I love people who have their own unique style! Don't be afraid to wear something that's a little "different" if it reflects your personality.

Make Sure You Feel Comfortable and Confident
Please make sure you feel comfortable and confident in your outfit! I don't mean you shouldn't wear something dressy, I just mean that you want to make sure that you're covered in the places you want to be covered and that you feel confident in what you're wearing! If you don't feel confident in your outfit or you feel uncomfortable, it will show in your pictures.

When In Doubt, Choose Something Timeless
If you're unsure of what to wear or you're torn between a few outfits, the safest choice is to choose something timeless. While I love fun, trendy, and unique outfits, just realize these will be the pictures you have for years to come and so you don't want to regret what you wore. Styles will inevitably change but if you choose something classy, timeless, and beautiful, you should love your outfit choice for years to come.

Accessorize!
Accessories can be a fun way to add a splash of color or a little uniqueness to your outfit. Especially if you're wearing fairly plain and neutral clothes, consider adding a little pop of color with your jewelry or shoes.

Utilize Pinterest
Pinterest is a wonderful tool for things like this! Make a board of the outfits and clothes that you love. Try and notice patterns and use your board to discern your taste. When you look through my "Fashion Inspiration" Pinterest board, you can quickly tell that I love clothes with a vintage, feminine, soft, romantic, classic style (and also that I just recently bought a black gingham shirt!). 

I even made a Pinterest board of engagement picture outfit ideas for you!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Check back next Wednesday for my next post. I'll be discussing whether or not I think you should do bridal portraits.