Stacy + Jay tied the knot at the Rigmor House in Chapel Hill on April 22, 2017. This laid-back duo wanted a celebration that felt less like an extravagant production and more like a backyard barbecue.

And they wanted their dog, Pepper, to be the star of the day. They incorporated lawn games, s’mores around the bonfire, and ample room  for Pepper to roam and guests to stretch their legs (and slip her food!).

Do you think they pulled it off? Check out these pics, and sound-off in the comments below!

Are you planning a laid-back outdoor wedding and looking for a photographer who loves cornhole, North Carolina BBQ, and your fur-baby?

Or maybe you’re renovating your home for your backyard wedding and have no idea where to put all the guests? I love helping you clarify + celebrate your true values on your wedding day. Check out my 3 wedding packages and schedule a 30-minute phone discovery session with me by August 15 and receive 10% off your photography package.

A shout-out to our fab vendors who made this day possible:

Photography Assistant: Kasha Ely

Coordinator: Lauren Wilson

Officiant: Kathie McCutcheon

Bride’s Dress: Amy Kuschel, purchased at Lana Addison Bridal

Bride’s Shoes: Imagine by Vince Camuto

Bridesmaid Dresses: Weddington Way

Florist: Tre Bella

Dessert: Nantucket Bakery

Catering: Hillsborough BBQ

Invites: Wedding Paper Diva

DJ: Montgomery Morris

Transportation: Greenway Transit

Caroline + Lex tied the knot on May 21, 2016 in a rustic outdoor wedding at the Chapel Hill Carriage House. Their unconventional wedding featured baby goats, the one-and-only Rameses, and a double-rainbow. No joke.

Read the Q&A with this sweet couple, featured below, to learn more about their wedding inspiration and photography experience! To view all of the photos from their wedding and order prints, please visit their gallery on my online print shop!

1. What are some of your favorite things about your partner? How were these attributes expressed during or leading up to your wedding?

Lex: A few of my favorite things about Caroline are her compassion, her thoughtfulness, and her grace. Our wedding exemplified each of these. She was always thinking about our guests’ comfort during the planning, she ensured every detail of the wedding was perfect, and she was breathtakingly stunning and totally composed throughout the ceremony and reception.

Caroline: I love so many things about Lex and one of them is his steadfastness. He is great at helping me calm down and remember what’s really important, which was hugely helpful during the wedding planning process. He’s also incredibly caring and puts his love into action by finding thoughtful ways to make life easier for other people (ex: waking up at the crack of dawn to take the dog out and doing all the laundry and dishes when he could tell I was a little overwhelmed). He also has such strong and loyal relationships with his friends and family and I loved listening to them reminisce about all their memories together over the weekend. Lastly, his sense of humor is on point and I thought it was reflected in so many little moments of the wedding, like the Princess Bride quote that started off our ceremony.

2. What was most important to you in planning your wedding?

Our primary goal for the wedding was to host a fun event that our guests would enjoy. We also wanted great food and music, and to represent our respective homes, North Carolina and West Virginia. It was important to us to have a wedding that felt in line with our values, especially the ceremony. We wanted to say vows that we felt good about saying and include traditions we were on board with.

3. Are there any details or moments from your wedding that are particularly special to you? (E.g., you wore your momma’s dress, your partner unexpectedly serenaded you, there was a double rainbow all across the sky…).

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with “there was a double rainbow all across the sky!” There was, and it was amazing. Another amazing moment was that Rameses made an appearance during the cocktail hour! As a surprise to us, Caroline’s mom had invited him! We are both huge UNC fans so it was so much fun to get to celebrate and take some photos with Rameses himself. We also will never forget shout-singing Carolina in My Mind, Take Me Home Country Roads, and the UNC fight song on the dance floor with our guests. There were countless other very special moments  – those are just a few that really stand out. It was a perfect night filled with so much joy.

4. Now that you’ve tied the knot (and survived!), what advice would you give to other folks planning their wedding?

Don’t sweat the small stuff and eat dinner, and dessert!

5. What is the first thing you want to do with the images? Wallpaper the hallway? Internet fame?

Lex: Cell phone background and send to family.

Caroline: Add them to our photo album! For a wedding gift, both of our parents made us this amazing photo album that starts with photos and memorabilia of both of us as children and continues with photos of our relationship and years together. I cried happy tears my first time looking at it, and I can’t wait to add photos from our wedding to it.

6. What is next for you as a couple? Any big plans?

Right now we are very happy to explore summer in Pittsburgh together with our much loved puppy Otis. We are also very excited to be going to a wedding in Colorado to celebrate with some of our very best friends! Beyond that, who knows what the future holds?!

7. Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks, Courtney, for doing a great job and being super easy to communicate and work with! And thanks to our amazing parents, families, wedding party, vendors, the Chapel Hill Carriage House team, and all our friends for helping make our wedding so special and wonderful and unforgettable.

Caroline + Lex, thank you for being such a breeze to work with! Your wedding was an absolute blast, and I enjoyed every minute. I hope you love these photos and enjoy them for years to come!

A shout-out to all our fab vendors for making this day possible:

Venue: Chapel Hill Carriage House

Coordinator: Kat Mendenhall  

Photography Assistant: Layson Peters

Bride’s Dress: Rebecca Schoneveld purchased from Glitter & Grit

Groomsmen Clothing: Brooks Brothers

Florist: Petal Pushers 3

Dessert: Simply Cakes

Catering: Sweet Basil’s Catering

Invites: If It’s Paper

Band: Big Fat Gap

Transportation: Ecostyle Transportation

Stephanie + Matt tied the knot on April 2, 2016 at The Great Aunt Stella Center and partied through the night at Roof With a View in Charlotte, NC.

I photographed Stephanie’s sister’s wedding in 2010, so it was a special treat to celebrate another family milestone with them this year! Read the Q&A with this spunky couple, featured below, to learn more about their wedding inspiration and photography experience! To view all of the photos from their wedding and order prints, please visit their gallery on my online print shop!

1. What are some of your favorite things about your partner? How were these attributes expressed using or leading up to your wedding?

Stephanie: Some of my favorite things about Matt is how caring, protective, and generous he is. He’s also the goofiest, most laid back guy I know.  Matt was definitely my calming voice when I was stressing out over wedding planning. He had a way of putting everything into perspective for me during my weekly (or sometimes daily) freak outs.

Matt: I love Steph’s personality, which was shown throughout the entire day of the wedding. From how personable the ceremony was having her brother-in-law marry us to drinking a bottle of champagne out on the dance floor with family and friends. It showed how caring and loving she can be as well as how much fun she really is to be around. I also love her style. Not too flashy but she still grabs your attention with detail and beauty. I saw her style with the locations of the ceremony and reception, her beautiful dress, makeup and hair. The affection between Steph and her friends (including me) really showed on our wedding day. I love how great of a friend she is. I could tell how happy her friends were for us and how they were genuinely excited for her future. You can only get emotions like I saw from being a tremendous friend.

2. What was most important to you in planning your wedding?

The most important thing while planning our wedding was to make the ceremony meaningful for us. Also to have a fun and relaxed atmosphere for all of our guests. Since most of our guests were traveling from out of town I wanted to make sure everyone had an awesome time.

3. Are there any details or moments from your wedding that are particularly special to you? (E.g., you wore your momma’s dress, your partner unexpectedly serenaded you, there was a double rainbow all across the sky…)

Stephanie: I loved everything about our wedding ceremony. Walking down the aisle to my grandparents wedding song and seeing Matt for the first time that day is a moment I’ll always remember. Also having my brother in law marry us made the ceremony even more special because he’s someone I’ve always looked up to. He was able to make the ceremony personal for both of us. And I’ll definitely always remember that Matt had a black eye for our wedding day and the scar he now has from it will make sure he remembers it too!

Matt: One moment that is particularly special to me is when I got a chance to look at my ring. It was my grandfather’s ring, which is very special to my family and I. Then she showed me the Songs of Solomon 3:4 verse engraved on the inside. This verse makes the ring unique to our relationship as well as preserve the 51 years of marriage my grandparents had. Another moment that was special to me was when Steph and her family made light of my wedding day black-eye instead of being mad at me. To have your new family overlook something that worried me all day was a special feeling I will never forget. The groomsmen and I getting “Iced” by the bride and bridesmaids was another moment that was special to me. It is a weird moment to stand out but with a night filled with so many memories, this just reminds me how great our friends are.

4. Now that you have tied the knot (and survived!), what advice do you have for other couples taking the plunge?

The best advice we will pass on is what Steph’s sister told us: “Even if it doesn’t go as planned at the end of the day you’ll still be married.” Because that’s all that really matters, right?!

5. What is the first thing you want to do with the images? Wallpaper the hallway? Internet fame?

The first thing we want to do with our wedding pictures is to create a gallery wall in our family room!

6. What is next for you as a couple? Any big plans?

Our whole relationship has been long distance , so we are loving actually seeing each other everyday! It’s been so fun just hanging out and being a “normal” couple.

Stephanie + Matt, thank you so much for inviting me to document your wedding day! I had so much fun during your engagement session last fall and knew this wedding would be one to remember. Thanks for being such a cool couple and rolling with the punches (quite literally in Matt’s case!).  🙂 I hope you cherish these photos for many happy years to come!

Stephanie and Matt are married in Charlotte, NC on April 2, 2016. All photos (C) Courtney Potter Photography, Inc. 2016

A shout-out to all our fab vendors for making this day possible:

Reception: Roof With a View

Second Photographer: Katy Folk

Officiant: Brian Humphries

Bride’s Dress: Ladies of Lineage

Bride’s Shoes: Antonio Melani

Bridesmaid Dresses: New York Bride and Groom

Groom’s, Groomsmen, Ring Bearer Clothing: New York Bride and Groom

Florist: Annette Reavis

Dessert: The Wow Factor Cakes

Catering: Best Impressions

Programs: Iva Earl (Check for a website here)

Band: Split Second Sound

Heather + Sean tied the knot on April 11, 2015 at the Rigmor House in Chapel Hill, NC. Their wedding was a fun reflection of their laid-back personalities and love of the outdoors. Instead of driving to a hotel after a night of dancing and celebration, friends camped out around a cozy bonfire at The Rigmor House. Read the Q&A below to learn more about Heather + Sean’s wedding day and inspiration! To view all of the photos from Heather + Sean’s wedding and order prints, please visit their wedding gallery on my online print shop!

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1. How did you meet and fall in love? I’d love to hear a little bit more of your story. 🙂

We met in high school. Our wedding was almost exactly 10 years after our first date.

2. Tell me about the inspiration for your wedding celebration. How did the day itself line up with 

your vision and expectations?

We wanted it to feel like a fun, casual, backyard BBQ. Everything lined up perfectly with our

plan! We also loved having our friends camp – that definitely fit with our personalities.

3. What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

Right after dinner when dancing started and we realized we had pulled the whole thing off!

4. What factors other than photos went into your decision on a wedding photographer? Why did 

you pick me?

We really liked the style of your photos, and knew you would be a great choice after meeting

you in person. You felt like you were someone we could be friends with in “real life”, and we would

feel comfortable having you at the wedding. The fact that you had shot at our venue, the Rigmor

House before was a perk as well.

5. Did you foresee any part of your wedding day being difficult logistically or emotionally? Did I 

make it easier? If so, how? 

Everything went so smoothly. We didn’t feel like we had to think much about the photography

because you had it all under control!

6. What is the first thing you want to do with the images? 

Share them with our family.

7. What is next for you as a couple? Any big plans?

Getting “real” jobs; we are both postdocs!

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Heather + Sean, thanks for being such a breeze to work with! I concur with what you said in the Q&A- I feel like we could have met and been friends in “real life.” I haven’t ever photographed wedding guests pitching their tents minutes before the ceremony, so thank you for giving me this fun opportunity! 🙂 I enjoyed making these images, and I hope you love them!

A shout-out to all our fab vendors for making this day possible:

Venue: Rigmor House

Photography Assistant: Katy Folk

Officiant: Robin Renteria

Bride’s Dress: Wtoo by Watters

Catering: Hillsborough BBQ Company