Three Micro Weddings in one Weekend

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”

— Mae West

Well this weekend was quite the blur! Friday morning started with Amy and Jeff’s Micro Wedding at McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte. They were one of my Covid Wedding Reschedules and decided last minute (literally one month ago) to go ahead with a small elopement. Lucky for them and me, I already had a small backyard Micro Wedding scheduled in Charlotte that afternoon with Audrey and Anderson! We were able to work out the timing and capture both!

Fast forward to the next day, Tara and Erika had their Raleigh Wedding planned at the Tucker House! I had so much fun doing all three of these back to back and thought it would be awesome to combine them into one blog post.

Amy and Jeff were finally able to tie the knot at The McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte. Rain threatened all week, but pulled it together at the last minute and gave us a perfect afternoon. Their sweet family helped them pull everything together at the last minute to make sure everything came out perfect and they were so happy to see everything work out for the best.

Audrey and Anderson chose her parent’s backyard for their elopement. And in just the sweetest southern form ever, they were married by her grandfather who also officiated her parents wedding, which was held in his backyard. These two were high school sweet hearts and they said about a year into dating they became pregnant and honestly didn’t think they would make it through being young parents but they did and they couldn’t be happier! The entire family rallied around them and offered full support this weekend.

Tara and Erika chose the Tucker House in downtown Raleigh for their intimate ceremony. We had so much fun getting to know each other as we pulled together all the final details. We hadn’t had a chance to meet before the wedding because they live in North Dakota but we had the best time. They love to travel around Europe and want to live there permanently. After the wedding they plan to expand their family of three and work towards moving to France in the near future. They incorporated that with the most adorable map set up so their guests could pin where they wanted them to go. It came complete with luggage tags and airplane mini bottles as favors!

Coordinator: Marina with The Royal Ribbon

Make Up: Bria

Florist: Teacup Floral

Officiant: Kayelily Middleton

Cake: Love Cake

Each of you, thank you so much for including me in your special weekend! I wish you all the very best now and in all the years yet to come.

Anna and Steve's Elopement at Rough Ridge

“Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime full of adventures”

— Lewis Carroll -Alice in Wonderland

I became friends with Anna when I started shooting her bother’s family photos a few years ago. We’ve since hung out several times and I must say I have never seen her as happy as I did this weekend. Steve just gets her in a way that makes her feel free and adored and it brought me so much joy to capture these moments for them.

We had to change around the plans a little since the mountain weather was being a little finicky, but we did the first look and ceremony at their cabin and followed up a couple days later with a hike a Rough Ridge Hiking Trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway at sunrise.

I am obsessed with their Wooden Flowers from Forever Floral! They were so easy to tote around everywhere we went and never lost one petal. The wood is actually really soft and nearly feels like actual flower petals somehow.

They *might have kissed a half a dozen times throughout the ceremony, but we didn’t mind ;)

It was 42 degrees at sunrise but they weren’t afraid. She threw on some leggings and hiking boots under her Rustic Grace dress and blazed down the trail. Definitely my kind of people. ;)

Anna I cannot tell you how much joy it brought me to see you so happy this weekend! Thank you for including me on such a special day! SO happy for you both!

WRAL Azalea Gardens Elopement | Dawn and Darren

“Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

“Your smile just jumped off the paged and captured me,” Darren shared with Dawn as he read his vows with a tear rolling down his cheek. They had met on a dating site and he shared with her that from her photo she glowed from within and spoke to him in a way that he couldn’t explain, and he loved her for it.

“I’ve never told you this before, but you make me feel safe. More than I have ever felt in my life.” Dawn too, read her vows through tears and each of their friends and I cried right along with her.

I’ve not had the opportunity to shoot many elopements, but it was so special to be so close to them the entire ceremony and hear every word so clearly and feel each emotion as they felt them. These two share a bond that is hard to match and it was palpable as they laughed and cried together throughout the ceremony.

We began the day with a few casual portraits at JC Raulston Arboretum and Darren arrived first explaining Dawn’s map had sent her another direction. So we took a few headshots and chatted about how they met and such. The sweetest moment for me, however, was when Dawn arrived and got out of the car, Darren couldn’t help but say allowed, “Wow, look how beautiful she looks.” She couldn’t hear him and I don’t think he even realized I could, he just had to state allowed what he felt and the look on his face as he did was filled with so much love. I knew the rest of the day would be magical.

We hadn’t planned any sort of first look moment, but it just worked out that Darren was finished setting up right as Dawn was arriving and with a few quick adjustments I was able to hide Dawn before he saw her and set it up properly. The added anticipation made the moment so much more special. They couldn’t wait to see each other!

The running joke during the ceremony, (besides the fact that Darren wrote a novel) was that they couldn’t stop touching or kissing each other. They were so excited they couldn’t wait until they were “allowed” to. So precious!

Their first date was at Second Empire so they decided to celebrate there as a way to start off their official married life as well. Congratulations again you guys! I’m so happy for you both, thank you for letting me participate in your sweet day!

The Vendors who made the day possible:

Photographer: Cynthia Viola

Ceremony Venue: WRAL Azalea Gardens

Reception Venue: Second Empire

Dress: Adrianna Papell

Rings: Gabriel & Co. of NY

Officiant: Rev. Robert Chalnick