Enjoying Moonshine with Holly and Roger

Talk about timing, Holly and Roger ( and Charlie) and I hiked up to Black Balsam for some e-session shots and it turns out we stuble across a once in a few years occurence, when a full moon is rising just as the sun sets. This made for some really wild lighting as one horizon had cool moonlight and the other warm sunlight. It was really neat to see that. Holly and Roger will be hosting an ecco- themed wedding at Claxton Farm in May. Seems like I heard rumor that Charlie may join us.

E-sessions Heather and Brent

Heather and Brent came up from Florida with their puppies along too! We had a great time in my backyard over here in Transylvania County for their e-session. We were able to find a cool field and get some river shots and of course how could you come to Translyvania and not see a waterfall or two? I will be joining these two at The Fields at Blackberry Cove for their 2010 wedding. This will be my first wedding there, so I am really looking forward to sharing that with a wonderful couple that I get along with so well!

Cameron and Grant and The Claxton Farm

Well over a year before the wedding Cameron and Grant began to assemble their "dream team" of vendors to compliment their October wedding at Claxton Farm. I met up with the gals at the Dragonfly Salon in downtown Asheville while A.M. joined up with the guys at the Crowne Plaza.

At the farm Cameron waited by the lake while Grant made his way down the road for their 1st glimpse of each other. This was a really sweet moment as they had a beautiful spot away from guests to just enjoy each other. A.M. and I photographed from a distance and of course the background is awesome at every angle up there.

The ceremony was officiated by Howard Hanger who added a touch a warmth and humor like only he can. The rain held off and even though it was chilly, we were able to have some fun with more portraits and group shots. Then we made our way to the old barn , where we enjoyed the super decor from Aria Florist. Cameron and Grant enjoyed their 1st dance in the barn as well as some tear jerking toasts from dear friends. Then everyone warmed up the chilly night by dancing outside and finally sending Cameron and Grant off to the honeymoon by way of Sparklers. See more here !!

Just a little over a week later we lost the 100 yr old barn to fire. I am glad I have good memories of my last time there seeing Grant and Cameron dancing and enjoying themselves there. For those that don't know work is under way as I type to cut trees right from the farm and rebuild a barn that will be ready for more wedding fun by the spring of 2010.

Caroline and Chad

I sure do hate to have to go the awesome NC coast and photograph great couples, but someone has to! So A.M. and myself loaded up the Passat and made our way to the Morehead City/Atlantic Beach area for Caroline and Chad's Sept wedding. I had got to know them a bit when we did their e-session in Raleigh and then we had a great time doing Caroline's bridal shots, many of them right in her childhood neighborhood, then at the beach. It is really cool that Caroline spent many years as one of the busiest wedding photographers in Raleigh before moving on to Interior Design. We had a lot of fun with her sporting her red Christian Louboutins. Being a bit of a shoe connoisseur myself, I was very impressed.

The wedding day was a perfect early fall day with clear skies. We were treated to a ride in an old double decker English bus from the ceremony to the Ocean front Dunes Club, where we enjoyed a festive reception with a killer live band, TFC. Caroline came up with an incredible color scheme for the wedding. Perhaps the most impressive display of the colors was at the "candy bar". It looked so perfect I did not want to see it disturbed. It was truly one of a kind.

You can see more of the wedding story by clicking HERE!!! Enjoy!

Midlake coming to Asheville 1/11/10

Just bought my tix for Midlake at the Grey Eagle. They may very well be the best band you have never heard of. The show is open to all ages and should be a great one!!! Hope to see you there!!!

Heather and Nick ROCK the Castle

A. Morrell

A. Morrell

Nick and Heather came down from Minnesota to rock Castle Ladyhawke with their October wedding. Aaron Morrell and myself had shot at the Castle Ladyhawke for their website but this was our first wedding. We had a fantastic time. If their is a more elagant bridal room in the area I would like to see it, the Castle is incredible. I normally do not rate one wedding against others but I have to say that this was the most dancing-est wedding I have ever had, and that says allot. Dylan Skidmore was bringing the heat from his DJ post. There were some gals there that are likely still dancing, like the energizer bunny, non stop. It was much fun and we drove through our 1st snow of the season on the way home. You can see more photos from the day HERE.

Aleece and Nathan's anniversary session

Nothing makes us happier than hearing from our couples who are still in love and enjoying life, so Ericka and I were happy that Nathan and Aleece were back in Brevard for a few days and took time for quick and I do mean quick anniversary session, but I thought we did real well and had a great time. Nathan is a Cowboys fan but we still like him. They now reside in Kentucky. If you scroll back far enough you can see some of their shots from the Porter Center here in Brevard Town. Congrats and may you have many, many more!

Tigers and Gamecocks can get along (sometimes)

Looking at my backlog for weddings to blog about, it seems perfect timing to tell you about Jenelle and Michael's USC themed wedding, since USC will host my fav team Clemson in less than 2 weeks. Back in the summer we all put aside our differences and came together for an awesome day on the USC campus in Cola Town SC. Aaron Morrell joined me and as always did a bang up job.

We began the day at their incredible suite on campus and then made our way to the famous Horseshoe area of the Campus for the ceremony. The rock'n reception was actually inside the party box in William Brice Stadium. They had their entertainment handpicked and flown in from England via California. The stadium hold some great memories for me, 1st being when I saw U2 there in '93 ( great show) and then 2 years ago I saw the Tigers overcome a 1st and 35 to squeeze out a narrow victory. And now I have this very unique wedding to add to my WB experience. Best wishes and thanks for having us along!

PS If anyone has tickets to the annual CU/USC game next week let me know!!!

Grand Bohemian Hotel

Many have asked if I have shot at the Grand Bohemian Hotel and now I have! I was honored to be part of Caroline and John's all star line up of photo and video professionals. What a cool hotel right here in Biltmore. Nice!!!!

Kim and Evan

hmmmmm where to begin, when you're so far behind on the blog. I'll start with an awesome June wedding of Kim and Evan. One reason I wanted to post this is because just as soon as Zac and I became a familiar sight at wedding venues across the South, he picks up and moves out west. So allot of folks want to know how jobs are going now that I am Zacless. While I miss him tons, things are great thanks to very talented associates such as my wife, and mainly Aaron Morrell. This was one of our first weddings together and it went great. We met up with Kim a month or two before the wedding and had a super bridal session that included her awesome horse. From the session Kim had a really nice canvas gallery wrap made to display at the reception, which everyone loved!

On the wedding day Aaron M followed Evan and his crazy gang to their local hang outs in Enka including in ( not at but in ) Biltmore Lake. This is one advantage of having a 2nd photographer is gettng the guys wedding day story told too. Of course I was with Kim and the gals and while we did not jump in any lakes we did have fun.

The ceremony and reception were awesome, but as in many wedding days we did not have much time for portraits , which is where session #2 came in handy. Kim and Evan swapped their engagement session for an after the wedding couple/trash the dress session. This was just last week and even though the leaves were pretty much gone, we were blessed with some incredible evening light and then we ended by being in the ( frigid) creek for a few.

Congrats to Kim and Evan and go here to see more www.aaronimaging.com/evan

Also thanks to Aaron M who had my back like Zac in Black. Great job!