Nicole and Trey were from opposite worlds - he from Duke and she from UNC. The longer I live in Chapel Hill, the more I get what that means!! They now live in Houston, where Nicole is in management and getting her MBA and Trey is an orthopaedic surgeon. I was so pleasantly surprised when I met them - they are not only two very gorgeous people, but they are so fun and easygoing and smart, a genuine pleasure to be around in an everyday situation, but even more so on the day of their wedding. I love the "getting ready" part of the wedding - whether it's at someone's home, the church, the cabin of a yacht, or the Presidential Suite at Washington Duke, there's always an awesome sense of excitement and anticipation...

And Nicole was so emotional, laughing & crying at the same time:

Dr. Trey was seriously all smiles. This is one very happy groom...

How I do love the little faces in their fancy clothes!

Duke Chapel, no where else around here quite like it...

The ceremony was full of wisdom, love and such affection.

I can't decide which of the two following images is my favorite - the giddiness over signing the official document or the one where he's looking at her with that expression: Look how smokin' hot my WIFE is!

We had some fantastic sunshine...

Over to Duke Gardens for some beautiful light...

We went to Cameron Indoor Stadium for some very fun, more athletically-inspired shots - I thought the sign out front said it all on this amazing day with all the people they loved:

Did I mention that they were high-energy???

Their reception ballroom at the Umstead was strikingly created in red, gold & creams with such great lighting design:

The lounge area:

First dances....

How slick was this mother/son dance?

And then everyone got into it...

Trey delivered the most incredible toast to his wife. He's a pretty incredible public speaker, and this expression on both of their faces spoke to how meaningful his words were.

I mean, seriously, I couldn't find an angle that didn't work for them...

I'd wish you luck in your marriage, but I cannot imagine what you'd need it for - Congratulations, Nicole & Trey!!

I technically returned from Wichita this morning, arriving home around 1am after a whirlwind 2 1/2 days of shooting. I had the great pleasure of photographing The Gorecki family again, as well as a few of her wonderful friends and families. I met The Goreckis through the beautiful spa they own, Healing Waters, which is actually located right next to our studio (across from Southpoint Mall). I love their spa services!!! I had photographed their North Carolinian spa here for their marketing team, and I was able to photograph their more established Kansas spa this past weekend, in addition to their awesome new product line, PureMD. I am still cataloging all the images I just shot - but here are a few fun photographs from another recent shoot, just a couple months ago. Sweet little Ocean resting on Papa's legs:

This powerful image of Ireland printed so strikingly as a mounted metallic foil print:

Big sister Alexis, shot with filtered natural light to really show off her soft complexion:

A sweet moment between mother & child:

The two sisters - Ireland was just cracking up at this reverse game of peek-a-boo!

This was an hysterical end to our shoot, Ireland's very dramatic display of exhaustion. She just popped her pacifier in, dropped to the cushion and sighed heavily with this great gesture of weariness...

I first met Donnabeth & Barry nearly two years ago, when they bid on a gift certificate that I had donated to an auction for an excellent cause. I photographed the two of them with their immensely precocious son and struck up a great conversation with Donnabeth about a variety of topics, not least of which was the significant life transfer of Big City Corporate Woman to Mom in North Carolina. It's interesting to love your life and love who you spend your time with but still not forget who you were and kinda still are. Anyway, fast forward to a year later, they once again bid on and win the same auction, but this time Donnabeth wanted to focus a session on just her & Barry, to showcase the fact that they have been married for over a decade and are still not only very much in love but also best friends. It's fun to walk into their house because Barry is, like, The Man over at NBC (I think his actual title is more official-sounding), and they have a shelf full of Emmy's, which is just a rare thing to see in most homes throughout North Carolina!! One of their favorite rituals is to read the New York Times together over coffee... so of course we just had to capture them in the natural habitat :)

Their multi-talented son helped out with this image immensely by not only holding a reflecting object for some great evening out of the spotty afternoon light, but by also leaping into their field of vision intermittently to help me capture these great expressions...

The fantastic golden sunlight (diffused by some handy green leafy trees) brought out these striking highlights in Donnabeth's hair...

And a very dramatic silhouette in their windowed doorway for our last image: