It’s a great time of year, to be burning the candle on both side’s of North Carolina. Last week’s blog featured the year’s first NC mountain wedding, and this week we’re heading to the Outer Banks for the year’s first beach wedding. And what better place than the popular Emerald Isle / Indian Beach with Mallory & Andrew.

As I mentioned a few posts back, the Bride’s I work with are so genuinely happy to get married – they’re just beaming on their wedding day – and Mallory was no exception. Getting ready in their family home on the beach, I saw tears, huge smiles, laughs -  a perfect way to start the day.

I had a hard time deciding between which dress shot to use. It was either the one you see, or a similar one with the flower girl in the lower left. I ended up using the one without her, as I found this “dress only” shot to be a bit more peaceful, and a softer way to start the series. As former brides know, I don’t use flash until the reception, so this is all beautiful side light from the window on the right. The slightly off symmetry is balanced by the dress, and using the home’s decor was important, since it is Mallory’s family home and ultimately everything there has important memories.

A good selection of shots of Mallory getting ready follow. The second shot is in the bathroom, with some great light coming in from a high window. It’s really the start to the day. She is watching a bridesmaid get her hair done. You can see it in her eyes, too, and tears of happiness started about 2 minutes after this was taken. Beautiful quiet moments, only a few people in the bathroom noticed.

A great moment in the living room was the flower girl, who had TONS of personality – a diva in the making for sure. She was standing next to me when the ring bearer showed up. As any good diva would, she grabbed him, brought him in for a full on kiss, and let him go. Right place, right time, gives a photo that shows her poor father he can expect gray hair a lot sooner than he was expecting.

The ceremony on the beach was beautiful, even with the strong winds that day. My favorite coastal wedding planner, Rachel Munro of Bridal by the Sea, along with her team with Angie & Carrie, did a great job with the flowers and setting up the ceremony site. The most obvious and unique part of the site was the extra long stairs over the dunes down to the beach. The shots with the groomsmen show it off nicely, and contrasted is the shot of just Mallory and her father coming down. Specifically framed so you can see not only the heads of other guests, but also Andrew to the right of Mallory, and his Best Man / Father, on the left. You can follow Mallory’s eyes and see she is finally getting a closer look at everyone. I like not only the sense you’re part of the crowd, but also that the off center stairs help show the space, and Mallory at the bottom of the stairs help show the height of the stairs.

A few shots later you can see the view from the top of the stairs. I’m fond of this shot as well because you can see the curvature of the earth along the horizon, along with a few bystanders watching in swimsuits at the bottom of the photo. It’s a nice view we don’t normally get to see, to show how vast the beach is, and really how quiet it is.

Thanks to another great friend (and staff), Deb Barts who runs all the weddings at the Ocean Club, for helping with golf carts so we could get photos both at the ocean and on the sound behind the club. A quick, but effective shoot on the sand, plus carts across the street to the sound side, and we got some beautiful photos. Mallory loves the sound side, so we spend more time there, but all in all, what you see, and more, was done in about 1 hour, including family photos. I’m very happy with all of these, especially how the sunset colors  complimented Mallory & Andrew’s skin tones so perfectly. The family shots you see were very fun with true genuine smiles and personalities. We got a total of about 10 “immediate family” photos in about 5 minutes walking on the pier back to the club for the grand entrance.

I should mention the bridal party photos. We did a great tight set on the sand, and then these two you see here, on the sound side. Credit goes to everyone for doing a great job on this shot. It wasn’t easy squeezing everyone in, and with the distance and wind, it was hard for anyone to know what I was doing, or when I was taking the shot. Hand signals worked great, and we got some fantastic group photos. In the one with the guys and girls, note the baby, Andrew’s nephew. Poor guy is screaming his head off lol. I think it’s so funny looking. I’m sure 25-30 years from now, at his own wedding, someone will make a joke about this. :)

A few more things to point out: The wedding cake by Marci _____ (last name trying to find, please email if you know her lol) was beautiful. The nicest beach theme cake I’ve seen. And the hand carved wooden toppers were fantastic.  The first dance was under the sunset between the palm trees in the back. Perfect.

One of my favorite shots is the father daughter dance. In this case, I was on the other side of the pool when I saw the most beautiful moment you could ask for. Look close – Mallory’s head in her father’s chest, his eyes closed, both in the moment, and move right and you see Andrew looking on and smiling, and his mom, looking up at him, with the perfect look of admiration, pride, love, happiness and sadness, all rolled into one – and all lit by 3 small candles. No flash, just candlelight, and some spill from the DJ lights on the far left.

This is immediately followed by the Mother / Son dance. From the same spot, but with a beautiful moment where Andrew’s brother joins in for a bit of a group hug / group dance. What more could a mom ask for than a great moment with both her sons – and really, a testament to a great kinship between two brothers. No competition, just love.

As always, it was a beautiful weddings, it ended with a splash, and everyone, myself included, had a fantastic time.

Let’s enjoy the photos, and cheers to Mallory & Andrew!

Vendors include:

1. Wedding Coordinator: Bridal by the Sea
2. Ceremony / Reception Site: The Ocean Club
3. Hair & Makeup: Alyse Hardy
4. DJ: DJ Professionals
5. Catering: Carlton’s
6. Invitations: Paper Divas