Dip back for a kiss on the golf course - River Ridge Golf Club

Spring wedding at River Ridge Golf Club in Raleigh, NC

This was my first time traveling to Raleigh, NC for a wedding. Even though the golf club was a 3 hour drive for me, it’s always nice to visit a new location for a wedding and to get to know new wedding vendors. I met the bride and groom, Ornelie and Matt, doing engagement pictures for them here in Myrtle Beach. They loved the engagement pictures so they wanted me to travel to Raleigh for their wedding photography as well! When I arrived the bride was just finishing up her makeup in the upstairs room, and the groom was getting …

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Black and white of couple kissing with sunlight reflecting on the beach grass - Holden Beach

Beach house wedding at Holden Beach, one of my favorite beach locations.

This is the second time I’ve been to this beach house in Holden Beach, NC, for a wedding. Because of my earlier wedding there, I was told I came highly recommended, which is always nice. I’ve been to many different beach locations for weddings, and this one is pretty unique. Almost anywhere you go around this area, the houses are built right up next to the ocean, and in some spots at high tide, there is hardly any beach even left. In this area, the beach houses were built far back from the ocean. A long walk down to the beach through …

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Documenting a wedding reception with candid photography

What is the most important part of a wedding for a photographer? What might come to mind is the ceremony, or first kiss, or pictures of the couple after the wedding, even the special dances.  So when I put up a blog post, photography of these things is what I’m usually concentrating on.  But really, what I spend probably half or more of my time at a wedding doing, is just keeping a close eye on the couple and trying to document the event.  I want to catch the emotions and the natural expressions of everyone there.  But at the …

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Fun sunset pictures with the bride and groom at Holden Beach, NC

This is the first time I’ve been up to Holden Beach in NC for a wedding. This wedding was for a couple that was bringing together their two families with adult children. Everyone just seemed really happy and got along great. That always makes things easier for me. The wedding was held at a really pretty private home on the ocean. It was quite a long walk from the beach house down to the actual ocean. The area behind the house was huge and just full of dunes and sea oats, as well as a small lake surrounded by tall …

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Highlights from the last few weeks and the importance of a good DJ

I haven’t made a wedding-specific blog post recently, and I’ve wanted to put up something new. I always get so busy in the summer. So I just decided to quickly pull out of my collection a few shots I liked from the last few weeks of August. These come from family beach pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park, the mother of a bride I had last year getting married at the Grande Dunes Member’s Club, a wedding for a military groom at Brunswick Plantation in NC, and a wedding reception in Florence, SC. There is a lot in this one …

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Wedding and reception on Bald Head Island, NC

This was an exciting wedding for me, this was my first time to Bald Head Island, NC and it is a very beautiful area. If you are unfamiliar, the island is an almost 2-hour trip north of Myrtle Beach. To get onto the island you have to park and leave your car and take about a half-hour ferry ride out. There are no cars on the island, just a lot of golf carts, bikes, and shuttles. The actual area of the wedding ceremony was called the old baldy lighthouse.  That is where you see that shot of the bride in …

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After reception trash the dress at a wedding in Ocean Isle Beach

I had a lot of fun after the wedding reception with this couple.  They planned it so they could go to the reception for a couple of hours, then do a trash-the-dress session at sunset before leaving for the evening.  I’ve never had a bride and groom get completely in the ocean like they did.  The only problem we had was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I don’t let anything stop me when I was shooting.  The poor bride in the first picture below had scratches that I had to Photoshop out on her arms because of getting bitten. …

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