Katie & Brian at Lavender Oaks

The summer wedding season ended with Katie & Brian on the 28th at Lavender Oaks Farm, which is a gorgeous venue in Chapel Hill. Just look at it up there under the stars (and there’s more of the comfy casual reception attire too!)

These two lawyers actually got married last year, but still had a great ceremony before the party with all their friends and family. Make sure you go through this whole post, because there are so many great moments from singing in the bridal suite all the way through to the hora at the end of the night.

And a big thanks to the team:

Venue: Lavender Oaks Farm
Hair & Makeup: The Bardot
Florals: Bowerbird Flowers
Officiant: Judge David Norton
Catering: The Catering Company of Chapel Hill
Cake: Publix
Band: Soul Jam

I love how they incorporated lavender into their invitation suite!

buttoned up and the shoes on (yay team flats!)

And now, time for the bridesmaids to see Katie all done up. I love reactions like this.

The second first look was with Katie’s dad. He had a great reaction and gave her a great big hug.

Unfortunately, during that hug, one of her straps popped. My second shooter Rebecca came to the rescue with a safety pin though and all was well.

Time for the third and final first look: with Brian, her husband of over a year already 🙂

The way the sun was glinting off the hops at Lavender Oaks was warm and lovely, but not quite as much as these happy smiles.

After some group photos, we headed inside for the Ketubah signing. Katie had to practice signing with her maiden name, since it had been a while since she used it.

But look at how pretty the artwork on the Ketubah is. This is going to be such a lovely addition to their home.

Then we headed back outside for the ceremony under the Lavender Oaks pavilion.

Both of their smiles are so great!

The bright sunlight coming through the slats in the pavilion roof made some tricky shadow lines, but Katie managed to pull Brian right into this patch of light for the kiss and that’s just pure magic.

Inside, the barn was decorated for the reception, with a delicious looking dessert table and a bar ready for signature cocktails named after the couple’s dogs.

After important dances and toasts we snuck out to Lavender Oaks’ large pasture for some golden hour portraits. I love when I can get golden skies, bright blue, and deep blue/purples all in a 15 minute stretch of time.

Back at the barn Soul Jam was getting the party going after dinner.

And Brian hit the dance floor in this incredible orange velour ensemble.

Katie & Brian’s guests were fans of the portable fans the couple had gotten to stave off the August heat.

Want to know what’s happening here? Hands, touching hands….

…reaching out, touching you…

touching me!!!! SWEET CAROLINE

Only the best brides start dance trains.

What’s that interesting looking scarf Katie’s dad’s got now?

Well, it’s a hem of one of the bridesmaids dresses. You gotta free the feet up for dancing!

Hey look, Katie had an outfit change too!! Her two piece short set was the perfect way to cool off on the dance floor. Especially when something as high energy as the hora is about to start.

This crowd got them high and quite literally bouncing out of their seats.

Parents of course got in on the fun too.

Those faces of joy are the sign of a wonderful day!!! All the congrats to Katie & Brian on a fun party. So glad you got to finally celebrate your marriage with your friends and family 🙂

But before we close this post, major shout out to these two incredible women! I managed to get half a dozen yellow jacket stings trying to get an awesome angle during the ceremony, but I was lucky enough that Katie had a doctor and a nurse in her wedding party, and these two (Natalia & Erica if I’m remembering correctly?) took such great care of me. Thank you ladies <3

We believe that love is fun and colorful, and your wedding photographs should be too.

Kivus & Camera are Raleigh Wedding photographers who create bold, colorful, magical memories of your wedding day with beautiful, artistic portraits AND enthusiastic, genuine moments. Your unique love story deserves to be told through unforgettable, breath-taking photographs that stand out from the crowd. Kivus & Camera love creating that magic. After all, as past bride Courtney says, we are photography sorcerers.

And though we call ourselves Raleigh wedding photographers, we definitely photograph Durham weddings, Chapel Hill weddings, Cary weddings, etc. We’re all over the Triangle area, and we’re happy to head to the beach or mountains and even to places outside of North Carolina! Just let us know where your love story is headed.

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