Morning wedding in the courtyard at 21 Main Events – North Myrtle Beach

Wedding Preparations

The courtyard at 21 Main Events in North Myrtle Beach is always a beautiful place for a wedding ceremony. This October wedding, with Kristal and Edgar, was a little unusual for me because it was held at 10am in the morning. I was a little worried about the strong sun during the ceremony and for the pictures after. We ended up having some clouds which helped during the ceremony. I also convinced Kristal and Edgar to come back that evening for sunset pictures with just the two of them. My wife was also with me at this wedding, to run our photo booth, which is always a lot of fun at a wedding.

When we arrived around 8am, we setup the photo booth in the newly remodeled room that is behind the main courtyard, but still not inside the main dining area. They had the bar for the wedding setup in this new space as well. This was a small wedding with just close family and friends. Instead of using the main ballroom, everything was set up outside in the main courtyard. After finishing the photo booth preparations, I started taking detail shots around the courtyard, as well as getting ready pictures with the bride and groom.

Ceremony in the Courtyard

There is a nice balcony at the back of the courtyard at 21 Main Events that overlooks the venue. Even though I was working solo for photography that day, since my wife was there to run the photo booth, she went up and got some shots from the balcony during the ceremony as well. I especially loved the pictures of the flower girl just trying her very best to throw the petals during the ceremony. After the ceremony, Kristal had asked if I could get some group shots from the balcony as well.

After the family and group pictures, we went down to the beach at North Beach Plantation with just the bridal party. The noon sun had decided to come out from behind the clouds, so we had some harsh light to deal with. Using my dual bare bulb studio flash I was able to fill in some of the harsh shadows. This has about 5 times the power of a typical flash.

When we got back to the courtyard at 21 Main Events, the bride and groom went into their first dance. I especially loved the dance with the groom and his mother. She was very tearful and emotional during the dance. I always make sure to walk around during the dances and get shots of the emotions on the faces of the bride’s father and the groom’s mother. Next, they had a yummy brunch style buffet in the courtyard. Then, after a couple of hours of fun and lots of photo booth pictures, they did their grand exit with streamers. The flower girl had a lot of fun with the streamers as well. Continue below for the sunset pictures.

Sunset pictures on the beach

The sun at the beach, around noon time, is some of the worst light you can get. So I recommended that the bride and groom meet me back down for sunset later than evening and they agreed! First of all, we went back to the 21 Main Events courtyard, for some sunset pictures. We took some portraits under the large columns and in front of the beautiful greenery in the courtyard.

Next, we went headed down to North Beach Plantation, for the beach pictures. We started with pictures at the cute gazebo in front of North Beach Plantation. This is a great spot for fun shots, even though a road is right behind the gazebo, with all the bushes in the background it still looks great with the setting sun behind it. On the way down to the beach, a group of guys hanging around the pool wanted to buy to bride and groom a round of drinks. We had some extra time waiting for the sun to set, so they relaxed together with their drinks in front of the dunes.

We had an unusually pretty “almost” full moon that evening. I tried to get as many pictures as possible with the moon in the background of the bride and groom. One of the prettiest pictures below, I actually did a little cheating in photoshop and moved the moon a bit lower into the sky. I don’t like putting fake skies or fake clouds etc. into a picture. However, taking what is already there, and moving it around a bit, doesn’t change the realism of a picture. I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you are having your wedding at 21 Main Events and would like more information please let me know!

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