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Joanne + Patrick | Apex, NC Engagement Portraits | Cloer Family Vineyards

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:44:20 +0000

I had so much fun at this engagement session and Cloer Family Vineyards! Joanne and Patrick were a dream team to work with! Joanne put a lot of time and effort into planning props and scenery for the engagement session and did an AMAZING job! Not to mention, she is a natural in front of the camera! Patrick must have been consulting all of his GQ magazines because he worked all of his modeling moves for the session! They did great! Patrick and Joanne are getting married Labor Day weekend at Shady Wagon Farm in New Hill, NC and I can’t wait to work with them again!

Brittany + John | Engagement Portraits | Rand-Bryan House Garner, NC

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:26:23 +0000

These two are TOO sweet together! Like I am talking eaten too much cake and ice cream and makes you a little sick to your stomach they are so stinking sweet together! Brittany and John and I met up at the Rand-Bryan House in Garner, NC (where they will be getting married later this year) for their engagement pictures. They were so natural and cute with each other during the session that I think I was in a constant state of, “Awwwwwwww! You guys are too cute!” The Rand-Bryan House has so many pretty locations on their property to shoot and I can’t wait for the wedding day because Brittany has already promised me to get in that awesome tall grass in her wedding dress and it is going to be amazing!! Oh, and as a side note, I know that Brittany and John are going to have wonderful luck with their wedding and marriage because as we were laying in a bed of clovers taking pictures, John said, “Hey! I wonder if we could find a four-leaf clover?” and he literally looked straight down and immediately found one right in front of him! I would say that that is a sign of good things to come!!

Lindsey + Chance | Mt. Pisgah Covered Bridge Engagement Photography

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:12:55 +0000

I feel like this session was a long time a coming! Lindsey and I first met at the first bridal show that Dave and I participated in in August 2010. We then ran into each other again when I had the pleasure of participating in an open house at The Cotton Room in January 2011 at which time they booked us to shoot their wedding on May 19th! I knew from the moment I met Lindsey, that we would get along fabulously! Lindsey recently finished her Master’s program for social work and you know that I LOVE my social workers! I had the pleasure of driving down to the Mt. Pisgah Covered Bridge with Lindsey and Chance and it was so nice to have the time to just chit chat and get to know more about their lives and their relationship. I CANNOT wait for their wedding next weekend! I cannot think of a sweeter couple to spend my birthday with!!

Sarah + Matt | Chapel Hill, NC Engagement Portraits

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:57:46 +0000

It is so funny being able to work with so many different people- with different styles, with different personalities, with different comfort levels in front of the camera. With a lot of people, it takes a while to get comfortable in front of the camera before you know you are getting the “real” interactions and/or the “real” smiles. Sarah and Matt were complete NATURALS!! From the moment we started, they both seemed confident and at ease and they just relaxed into each other and loved on one another and we were golden! Sarah is so naturally and classically beautiful (not to mention she has eyes and skin to die for!) and the camera just loved her! I was particularly impressed with Matt because typically grooms tend be really nervous and sometimes stiff but he was totally up for anything I asked him to do and seemed very relaxed and natural. One of the reasons why I love engagement sessions is that it not only gives me an opportunity to get to know a couple before their wedding day, but it also lets me know how much “coaching”, if any, that a couple will need on their wedding day in order for us to get awesome portraits of them in a short amount of time. Sarah and Matt… they’ve got “it” and there will be very little coaching needed- they will make our jobs very easy! We can’t wait for their October wedding at The Cotton Room in Durham, NC! It is sure to be an amazing day!

Brad + Ashley | Wilmington, NC Engagement Portraits

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:26:28 +0000

I have known Brad for a LONG time! In fact, I consider him my oldest friend that I still see regularly and that means a lot to me. Because my dad was in the military when I was younger, we moved around a lot when I was young so I didn’t really get to keep my friends for a long time. My dad retired from the military right before I started sixth grade and we moved to Wilmington, NC. Brad and I met in the sixth grade and I am not sure that you would say that we hit it off right off the bat. In fact, I think there were moments where we downright disliked each other! Haha! Brad took great pride in taunting me on our school bus rides home and I took great pride in putting him in his place in that bratty middle school girl way! Brad moved to a different school for 7th and 8th grade so imagine my surprise when I entered the first day of Mrs. Craig’s Advanced Geometry class during my freshman year of high school to hear someone say, “Tara Stroehl!!” and I turned to see Brad sitting across the aisle from me. I don’t know that I was totally excited to see him at the time after the memories from middle school, but we grew to be great friends from that point on. Brad was one of a group of guys I fondly refer to as “The Boys”. We shared a lot of the same classes throughout high school and Brad was always good for a laugh, usually at our physics teacher’s expense. Good ole’ Ms. Skipper!

Brad and I did not go to the same college, but I would often make the trek to Raleigh to visit “The Boys” to see what shenanigans they were getting into. I had some rough years when I was in college, and I could always count on Brad and the other boys when things were rough and I hope that they knew that they could always count on me when things were rough for them too. I am not sure that any of them will ever know how much our friendship has meant to me over the years and I am so grateful that we are still all friends after we have started our “grown up” lives!

My husband, Dave, loves to say how much he hates Brad! Haha! He doesn’t really hate him, but he wishes he could hate him. Dave doesn’t feel that it is fair that Brad is so intelligent, successful, good looking, has a great personality AND he also gets to be such an incredibly nice guy! I guess you would say that Brad is a catch! Given the catch that he is, there wasn’t a girl that came along that was able to catch him… until Ashley. I was fortunate enough to be there the first time that Ashley and Brad went out. I knew the first time that I met Ashley, that she would be a perfect match for Brad. She, too, is successful, intelligent, beautiful and INCREDIBLY sweet! She is exactly the sweet, and southern lady that Brad always needed. Brad and Ashley dated for a long time, and we all wondered if the engagement was ever going to happen, but Brad FINALLY got smart and asked Ashley to spend the rest of her life with him and she was smart and said YES! When I heard the news of their engagement, I couldn’t have been more thrilled for my oldest friend!

Dave and I met Brad and Ashley (and their wonder dog, Bella), down in our hometown, Wilmington, for their engagement session. Brad has always LIVED for boating, fishing, and really anything water related so I thought it would only be fitting to start the session at the marina before we traveled down to Fort Fisher to finish up the session. Dave and I had a blast spending the afternoon with Brad and Ashley and it was an honor to capture this moment in their relationship as they start their lives together! Congratulations, Brad and Ashley! We can’t wait for the wedding!!

Anna + Dan | Engaged | Durham, NC Photographer

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:14:49 +0000

Anna and Dan currently live in Texas but will be getting married in Durham in June! Anna contacted me last summer regarding shooting their wedding at Duke Chapel with their reception following at The Cotton Room in Durham, NC. I am often nervous about booking weddings without being able to meet the bride and groom in person because I feel like it is really important for a couple and their wedding photographer to click. I also think it is just as important that I am comfortable with the bride and groom as it is that the bride and groom are comfortable with me. Just by talking on the phone, I knew that I would LOVE Anna! I could tell by our short phone conversation, that she was the kind of bride that I would love to spend a day with! When she and Dan flew up from Texas for their engagement session in February, my feelings were confirmed and I found that I love Dan every bit as much as I love Anna! Not to mention, I love them together!! I can’t wait until they come back in June for the wedding!

Walker + Viviana | Chapel Hill NC Photographer

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:08:22 +0000

I met with Walker and Viviana back in January to shoot their engagement portraits on the campus of UNC. They were such a sweet couple and I so enjoyed getting to know them a bit during their engagement session. Walker reminded me so much of a young Brian Austin Green and Viviana had the sweetest, quiet disposition…. not to mention dimples that people would kill for! Walker and Viviana don’t plan on setting their wedding date for a while but I hope that I hear from them again when they set the date for the big day! They will make a beautiful bride and groom!

Katie + Chris | Raleigh, NC Engagement Portraits

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:09:33 +0000

When we were talking about ideas for Chris and Katie’s engagement session, Katie gave me a list of ideas that she had and somewhere within the list there was “DOT’s plane hangar”. HELLO?!?!?! OF COURSE we should shoot at the DOT plane hangar! Chris is an engineer for the Department of Transportation so he was able to gain us access to the hangar for part of the engagement session. It is nice to know people in high places! I loved getting to know Katie and Chris a little better at their engagement session! I CANNOT WAIT for their May wedding for two reasons. The first reason is because they are getting married at Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC! I have never been there but I have seen pictures of it and it looks AH-MAZING! The second reason I cannot wait is because Katie and I both follow one another’s Pinterest boards and we share the very same tastes and often pin a lot of the same things. As I have watched her develop her wedding inspiration boards, I cannot wait to see her ideas come to fruition on their wedding day! It is sure to be a photographer’s playground! I can’t wait!

How many people get to take their engagement pictures with the Governor of North Carolina’s helicopter?!

Ashleigh + Lawrence | Cary, NC Engagement Portraits

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:52:34 +0000

What do you get when you combine gorgeous fall leaves, some mustaches that rival Mario and Luigi, some awesomely funny trucker hats, lots of running and acrobatics, a kick buttocks dog, and a WHOLE LOT of laughter? You have an unforgettable engagement session with Ashleigh and Lawrence!! We met a couple of months ago during PERFECT timing for some fall colors. I could tell during our initial consultation that Ashleigh and Lawrence were a couple who liked to have fun but I had no idea what I was in for! IT.WAS.SO.MUCH.FUN!! Seriously! I had a stomach ache at the end of the session from laughing so hard!! Ashleigh and Lawrence will be getting married two months from today at the Angus Barn Pavilion and I couldn’t be more excited because as I have said before, really fun couples have really fun friends!

What is an engagement session without a little planking??!! We can’t wait until March, Ash and Law! It will be amazing!

Jade + Jay | Durham, NC Engagement Portraits

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:32:18 +0000

Things were so hectic during the end of 2011, that we have gotten behind on our blogging! It’s a new year and it is time to get caught up! Jade, Jay and I got together in Durham, NC during the end of October for their engagement session. We started at Duke Gardens hoping to get some fall foliage in the shots but the leaves changed unseasonably late this year so we were still a bit too early even at the very end of October! Regardless of the lack of fall colors, we still had a great time and got to know one another a little better! Jade and Jay will be getting married in Durham in July of this year. We are really looking forward to it!