Meghan & Preston: March 1, 2008

Meghan and Preston were married on March 1 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church  in Cary, NC.  Meghan and I have something in common: we both love photography and bald guys! (OK, Frank, nearly bald. Plus, Preston surprised me by showing up at our pre-wedding meeting with hair on his head.) I shot Meghan and Preston's engagement session back in the Fall and never got around to blogging about it, so here's the link to view their slide show.

I loved Meghan's dress. I don't know how to describe the color but it was gorgeous and suited her perfectly.

 

I just love a pick-up skirt! It photographs so nicely. Here's another view of the dress that shows the embroidery on the bodice:

Meghan's mom and dad once owned a florist shop. Naturally, they created the beautiful flowers for the wedding. The flowers themselves came from the Flower Cupboard, then the bride's mom worked her magic.

St. Michael's has recently been renovated and the interior is lovely. It was refreshing to shoot in a church with yellow walls and blue carpet! Plus, it was obvious that someone had put a lot of thought into the lighting inside the church. It was perfect.  I love how the light is on Meghan's face as she listens to the words of the priest. He was one cool dude.

Mission accomplished! I love the feel of forward motion in this image.

We didn't have long inside the church, so after a few quick formals, the wedding party and immediate family headed over to Duke Gardens for photographs before the reception.  Here's a shot of the groom, his new wedding ring shining.

Preston with his mom. Moments like these are why I feel so lucky to have the job that I have.

One of my favorite things about Duke Gardens is the stone used throughout.  Here's a shot of Meghan by one of the two little stone houses on either side of the main terraces.  The gold and blue tones in the stone are so unusual, but so lovely and warm.  Frank will tell you that I drive him crazy at home insisting on symmetry in the way I hang pictures on the wall and arrange items on the mantel, but when it comes to photographs, I really love asymmetry, for things to be off-center.  I use the rule of thirds a lot, visually dividing an image into thirds using two horizontal lines and two vertical lines then placing the subject of the image at or near the intersection of any of the four resulting points.   I really like having the bride's face off-center in this image. Not only does it allow the beauty of the stone to shine, but her lovely features seem to pop right out of the image. I think Meghan made an absolutely stunning bride. By the way, her make-up was done by MAC in Nordstrom's at Southpoint.

A sweet moment between the newlyweds under the most perfect trees...

After pictures, we all headed over to Maggiano's  in Durham for the reception. What a fun place for a reception and a great place to photograph!

There was some incredibly enthusiastic dancing at Meghan and Preston's reception and I found myself grinning from ear-to-ear while I was working. How many people can say that they come home from their job and their face hurts from smiling so much? We are so lucky. Here's a shot of Preston getting in to the great music provided by Tracy Telenko fromBowtie Mobile DJ and Sound.  

Guess which song is playing in this shot.  "YMCA", maybe?

There were so many great moments from Meghan and Preston's reception that I could go on and on. Here's the slide show so you can check them out for yourself. Look for the shot of the guys standing around looking at the garter on the floor. They must think it's infected with smallpox...nobody is picking that thing up!

Meghan and Preston, we had such a blast photographing your wedding.  We wish you great love and happiness in future!