Maria and Stephen’s North Carolina June wedding was one that I was
anticipating for several months. I
became friends with Stephen four years ago when he was a student at Carolina
and a member of my church. I got to know
Maria last summer when she interned for me (check out her amazing portfolio!). She spent many hot summer afternoons editing
wedding photos at my kitchen table and shooting alongside me and Justin on the
weekends. Every now and then I would
pick her up from Stephen’s apartment and find them cuddling on his couch,
watching the Office and being generally cuddly and adorable.

Maria and Stephen got married at the First Baptist Church in
downtown Durham and had a lively outdoor reception at the beautiful JC Raulston
Arboretum in Raleigh. Their wedding was
a photographer’s dream, filled with a range of emotions. Reverence throughout the ceremony turned into
slaphappy goofiness with the bridal party afterwards. A quiet, stolen kiss between Maria and
Stephen went unnoticed by a loud and celebrating crowd. The contrast was wonderful and kept me on my
toes.

One of my favorite aspects of the day was shooting Maria +
Stephen’s couples portraits after their exit.
Since Maria is a wedding photographer, she really valued having a
variety of photographs of just her and Stephen and scheduled about an hour for
us to focus on that. It was wonderful to
not have to rush this process! Some of
my favorite photos from they day are from our time walking through the gardens.

Maria and Stephen, thank you so much for giving me the
opportunity to shoot your wedding.
Maria, it was so fun to see you on this side of the camera for
once. J I hope that these wedding photos will remind
you of the joy you experienced together with your loving community on June 15,
2013.

Enjoy!