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Engagements, Weddings

January 22, 2018

2017 Year in Review – Weddings & Engagements

2017 Year in Review

Weddings & Engagements

We photographed A LOT this year! And I haven’t blogged even half of what I should have. BUT! It’s a new year. I know we’re more than halfway through January, but it’s still January, so I’m still in season for posting our 2017 Year in Review, couples edition. The 2017 Year in Review, Kivii Life edition may not be done until February though </sheepish face>. So, here are our amazing 2017 couples:

I started the year with an awesome contest win! The gorgeous lady below was my model for Portrait Palooza, a fun event put on by the Wedding & Portrait Society, where each photographer has 10 minutes to create bridal portraits. The one on the left is one of the two I submitted for judging, and it came in third overall.

Also early in the year, we had some great downtown Raleigh engagement sessions – Chelsea & Mark in Historic Oakwood, and Jenna & Leo in and among the taller buildings. As you know, I have a love affair with parking garage roofs. 

Our first wedding of 2017 was on April Fool’s Day at All Saints Chapel. The wedding ended in time for the happy couple, Hannah & Galen, to watch the Heels in the Final Four. I’m still convinced these two Carolina grads getting hitched was a good luck charm for our team going on to win the championship 😀

Next up were Sara & Stephen, who are getting married later this year. We did their engagement session at JC Raulston Arboretum, which is one of my favorite locations.

Abbe & David had a sweet backyard wedding with about a dozen of their closest friends!

In May, Jacky & Ashton (remember them from the hurricane engagement session?) helped kick off the summer heat with an amazing party!

Our brave couples willing to sweat it out during an NC summer engagement session included Kelli & Brian and Jamie & Hal. (plus their pups!)

Down in Charlotte, we photographed Sarah & Daisuke’s first wedding ceremony at Riverwood Manor (the second was in Japan a couple weeks later). 

Erin & Jesse, who got married at Alamance Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, helped me realize that swings are my new favorite setting! 

Another one of my favorite venues, Merry Hill in Mebane, hosted Jamie & Hal, who were blessed with the most beautiful light.

Another 2018 wedding couple, Maura & Patrick, hung out with us until the moon showed up over Duke Gardens for their engagement session. 

Courtney & Ben got married under a nebula, invited dinosaurs, and made their escape in a yellow submarine. GIVE ME ALL THE GREENSBORO SCIENCE CENTER WEDDINGS!!!

During our busiest weekend of the year we started off in Asheville at Fontaine Vineyards for Katie & William’s wedding…

…got up before dawn to have a sunrise engagement session with Baylee & James…

…and made it back to Raleigh for Michelle & Stan’s nuptials at Melrose Knitting Mill (the most amazing detailed wedding).

Sarah & Josh helped me check off a bucket list item: engagement session at the N.C. State Fair

And Emily & Matt gave me a great reason to hang out in Chapel Hill for their engagement session. 

This fall included a lot of engagement sessions, which means that we have a lot of weddings in 2018!!! Allie & Paul (first couple here) are set for May, but Katie & Jack are actually a 2019 couple. They are on the ball!

On Veteran’s Day, I participated in the amazing brainchild of Katherine Edwards, Vows for Vets. I had the amazing opportunity to photograph Jennifer & Matt’s vow renewal. 

On 11/11 I wished for an awesome wedding couple, and my wish totally came true. Dana & Raj got married at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, and that beautiful owl you see below was their ring bearer. I’m always a big fan of costume changes too 🙂

Next we ran around downtown Durham with the super fashionable Safa & Jon, who were troopers even when it started to rain. 

It took some effort, but I managed to find Tara & Dwayne in the woods (see what I did there) and their love exuded so much warmth that we all made it through the chilly November engagement session. 

Chelsea & Mark’s winter wonderland wedding at the Cotton Room was the perfect wedding to end our year on!

But we still had one more engagement session – two days before Christmas, Haley & Clark met us at American Tobacco Campus for our last couple’s session of the year. 

Thank you so much to all the couples we worked with in 2017! You’ll see some of these faces again in 2018 for their weddings, along with some new cuties! Here we gooooooooo (that was in a Peter Pan voice)

-E

  1. […] happy place!), drank plenty of good beer, and photographed lots of wonderful people. Check out the 2017 Year in Review-Couples Edition for some of that goodness. Here are some of the highlights from when we weren’t hanging out […]

  2. […] pup Wallace was there hanging out (We got to meet him during their engagement session last year). The bridal prep suite that the Cotton Room makes available is one of the best out there – […]

  3. […] first met Baylee & James in the mountains for their engagement session last fall, so spending an evening at the Crest Center Asheville for their wedding this fall was perfection. […]