BELLAMY MANSION WEDDING, WILMINGTON, NC

I used to photograph weddings quite often at the Bellamy. It's been awhile since so many other wedding venues have popped up in Wilmington, NC. This was a small boutique type wedding at the Bellamy Mansion. The Groom is an active duty Marine Officer and when the Bride set the date she didn't realize it was the Marine Corps Birthday. Guarantee he'll never forget his anniversary. The Bellamy was on the cusp of being Antebellum as it was built right around 1860. Courtyard weddings are beautiful at the Bellamy, but indoor wedding tend to get a little crowded. The rooms are small but with high ceilings and keeping your guests together is a little like herding cats. For a small wedding it's ideal though as it has an intimate feel which feels more like your having a little house party rather than a wedding. Intimate and Beautiful is how I would describe this landmark venue. To make it even a little spicier it's also allegedly haunted. Here are a few photos from this wedding.


                                                                   

FAUX PHOTO BOOTH

Another idea for a photo booth. I recently had a Bride who had a great idea. This only works if you have a photographer who gets into the mix a little. A photographer who shoots lot's of pictures and isn't afraid to get guests together to look at the camera and have their picture taken. (Sorta like me!) :) What she did was the last hour of the reception when all the her guest were having a really good time...she brought out this huge cardboard box full of hats, glasses, boas and fake mustaches. She dumped the box on the dance floor and her guests immediately put them on and started to dance. I took ton's of pictures of them cutting up w/ the props and when she received her pictures (in 10 days) she had all these great goofy pictures of her friends and family at her wedding. As good as a real photo booth? Probably not. I great way to save money and get some great pics...absolutely! Here is a few of the pics from the event.


                                                                                   

IPAD PHOTO BOOTH

Photo booths can be great. Really can get the party moving, and allow great little goofy pictures for the Bride & Groom to enjoy for years. The downside is that they're expensive. If you have an unlimited budget...go for it. If not here is an alternative.

Ipad Photo Booth
I photographed a wedding in Charlotte last year and the wedding planner had an ingenious idea. About an hour into the reception after the guests had eaten and the DJ was just really getting going, she announced that the photo booth was open for business. Photo Booth? I had been through the entire reception area and didn't see a photo booth. What the ???? There was a small room in the back of the reception hall. She had mounted an ipad to a wooden frame  threw up a background and added a small can light (about $30 bucks) to the top of the frame. The Bride had gone to a dollar store and got a bunch of boa's, funny hats, glasses and a chalk board.  The guests had so much fun with this. Instead of getting a filmstrip (which a lot of people lose at a regular photo booth) they were able to email the picture to themselves right after taking it. Another advantage is that as the photo booth wound down, the props ended up on the dance floor turning the reception into an adhoc mardi gras ball. Easy to setup. For guests to email pictures you'd have to have the ipad with 4g. The wifi edition wouldn't work unless you had access at the venue. You'd also have to get a  photo booth app which is free or at little cost depending on which one you get. What I really liked about this was that it didn't take a lot of time away from the dance floor. People just kinda flowed in and out. Great idea.
     Another advantage to this is that you own the props. I've seen commercial photo booths where the boa's and hats etc., look like they've been used at a 1000 other events. If you buy your own stuff you know it's clean. You don't even have to take it home with you...your guests will take care of that! If you want to know more about the just google Ipad Photo Booth, their are a ton of websites that show this w/ a lot of different mounting options. You can even get a wireless printer, but I think that would slow up the process. You want your friends celebrating with you and not fiddling with a printer all night. The best reason of all perhaps is this is a great excuse to buy or upgrade an Ipad.

                                                                   

SOUNDSIDE PARK WEDDING AT SURF CITY ON TOPSAIL ISLAND, NC

First time I've shot here. I thought I'd seen just about every venue in Eastern North Carolina, but never thought of Soundside Park for a Wedding. The Couple had about 100 guests and it was perfect. We had great weather, and a lot of options as to where to hold the wedding. Soundside Park is absolutely gorgeous, with a long catwalk to take pictures on. They held the reception at the Surf City Visitors Center, which was great for 100 guests...if you have more guests their are other options on the Island. We were also close to the beach, so we managed to get some nice photos at sunset, which to me, made their timing perfect. I really loved this wedding and the couple was great. I took a handful of pictures and created a little slide show to give you an idea of how nice this wedding was.