Boats & Brides

There isn't much I haven't done when it comes to weddings and engagements, but last week was a first for me... an engagement session on a boat! Brooke and John live in Mooresville and are getting married in their native Maryland later this year. One of their favorite pasttimes is cruising the waves of Lake Norman during the week, so we thought it would make for a fitting background for their engagement shoot.

John works for my favorite NASCAR driver, Ryan Newman (a fellow Boilermaker), and is gone most weekends as a result. The lake was so nice and calm on a Tuesday night. Basically I got paid to take a two hour cruise on a beautiful lake doing what I love. I have a pretty cool job, I must say!

Sunset on Lake Norman

Island Living

I love the unscripted moments...

~

In other news, this past weekend my sister Michelle got married just outside Knoxville, TN. I took a few photos here and there, but was very busy as the MOH so I'm glad my good buddy Rolf could officially document the day. The backdrop of green rolling hills in East Tennessee was simply gorgeous. I can't wait to see all of the pictures! Here are a few I took of Michelle and my daughter Ava, who was the flower girl.

My beautiful Ava. Everyone compliments her big blues. (Got those from Daddy.)

Michelle getting dressed just minutes before the wedding started.

Colors were chocolate, pink, and green. She went monogram happy!

Happy bride :)

Portrait Bonanza

Well, I'm just falling behind here... life is just too busy! I thoroughly enjoyed my Mother's Day today though. In fact, the whole weekend's been great. In-laws are in town, the neighborhood pool opened, we finally found a kick ass double stroller we like... (once you young people have kids you'll understand.)

I have the best hubby. While I enjoy a few high end luxuries in my life, I'm a frugal person at heart. I get shoppers guilt very easily. He is the opposite. Jim never buys anything, but when he does, he's goes big. I can spend $100 on "nothing" at Target, but cannot bring myself to spend more than about $40 on a single item for myself. So what did I get for Mother's Day??? ...a nice big gift card to Coach! Gaffney, here I come! (see, I can't even shop at the SouthPark store, I must go to the outlet.)

Ok, so back to photography. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph Emily and Brian's engagement uptown. They are a fun, very laid-back couple who are getting married in May at the Whitewater Center (can't wait for that!) We had a good time and they were perfect at following my instruction of ignoring me unless told otherwise.

This past Friday I got to head over to one of my June bride's (Amanda's) house for her bridal portrait. Her house had amazingly huge windows that let in some great light which I quickly took advantage of before the sun set. We then took it outside for a few breezy shots. Her fiance Lyndon is just going to fall over next month when he sees her for the first time as "bride." What a beauty! I think she looks so grown up, but she just graduated college last week!

Last but not least, tomorrow night I'm heading up to Lake Norman. I have a couple who is not getting married in NC, but want engagement photos none the less. Their neighborhood is having a dock slip party tomorrow night, so we're going to head out on their boat. How fun! This will be a first for me, but I'm not scared... I can swim. and the cameras are insured :)