durham nc Archives - Courtney Potter Studio https://courtney-potter.com/tag/durham-nc/ Soulful Art for Brave Seekers Tue, 29 May 2018 18:21:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Sejal + Allen | Museum of Life and Science Wedding | Indian-Fusion Wedding Photographer https://courtney-potter.com/sejal-allen-indian-fusion-wedding/ https://courtney-potter.com/sejal-allen-indian-fusion-wedding/#respond Fri, 09 Sep 2016 02:41:15 +0000 http://courtney-potter.com/?p=11282 Sejal + Allen tied the knot on August 5, 2016 at the Hindu Society of North Carolina Temple followed by a hoppin’ dance party at the Museum of Life and Science. This creative couple incorporated traditional Indian and Jewish elements into their multi-day celebration, along with their own quirky flair (such as comic strips and paper swan […]

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Sejal + Allen tied the knot on August 5, 2016 at the Hindu Society of North Carolina Temple followed by a hoppin’ dance party at the Museum of Life and Science.

This creative couple incorporated traditional Indian and Jewish elements into their multi-day celebration, along with their own quirky flair (such as comic strips and paper swan table favors and a nitrogen ice cream demonstration!)

It was a refreshingly unique wedding to photograph, and I’m pumped to share images from their day here!

Join me for a conversation with this unabashedly nerdy and fun couple below to learn what inspired them in planning their Indian-fusion wedding at a Science Museum!


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

Allen: She’s super hot as you can tell by the photos. She’s also very chill and down to earth which kept her from murdering someone during our wedding… although she came close.

Sage: He’s also very chill and down to earth and was able to stop me from constantly freaking out during the weeks leading up to the wedding. He’s also really good at helping me figure out what I actually wanted for the wedding when I was being stupidly indecisive.

Allen: I helped you pick the thing you would have eventually picked anyways. I just helped you get there a little faster

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

Sage: Having good food and making sure everyone had fun!

Allen: Food and alcohol! Also, Honeymoon.

 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…).

Allen: The speeches were incredible. And all the dancing was really fun.

Sage: All the speeches were so incredibly amazing and full of love and I’m honestly close to tearing up just thinking about them! Also, the reception hall (Museum of Life and Science in Durham) had a Pokemon Go close to it, so it was fun seeing my friends fighting over it during dinner!

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

Allen: Don’t have a large wedding. Elope! Just grab your immediate family and 3 close friends and have a wedding with them. If you must have a large wedding, find someone else to pay for it and plan it.

Sage: What Allen said.

 5. What drew you to my photography style? Why did you ultimately decide to hire me? Was it worth it?

Allen: Definitely worth it. You were referred to us by a friend and the pictures on the website looked fun and silly and not as formal.

Sage: So worth it! You were so great and chill through the entire process! I loved that you had a lot of fun and silly pictures on your website, but also the formal ones that older family members always want.

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

Allen: Internet. Then print the best ones as giant wall sized portraits.

Sage: We’re definitely not printing out giant wall sized portraits, but I am going to be tweeting and instagramming all of them!

Allen: We’re going to take the one of us looking like supermodels and we’re going to blow it up and put it above our bed and it will take up the entire wall. It will be beautiful.

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

Allen: Buy a house… eventually.

Sage: Definitely buying a house eventually, but also going to Amsterdam!

Allen: Also, if we eventually have time and money a dog would be nice.


Sejal + Allen, thank you for being such a fun couple to work with! I loved how unabashedly you incorporated your personality into your wedding while still being inclusive of your larger community and families. I enjoyed every minute, and I hope you love these photos!

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

Reception Venue: Museum of Life and Science

Second Photographer: Bri Brough

Videographer: Maadhurya Photography

Allen’s Ties: The Tie Bar

Catering: Sitar

Hair and Make-Up: Patty Mateo and Simply Blushy Artistry, Megan Sandy

Allen’s Suit for Sangeet – Banana Republic with shirt from Express

Allen’s Suit for Reception – Todd Snyder with shirt from Express

Allen’s Shoes – Cole Haan

Bartenders for Reception – Zog’s

DJ for Sangeet – Sohil Karva

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Reagan + Tyler | Classic Church Wedding | Durham Wedding Photographer https://courtney-potter.com/reagan-tyler-church-good-shepherd-wedding/ https://courtney-potter.com/reagan-tyler-church-good-shepherd-wedding/#respond Fri, 22 Jul 2016 21:07:20 +0000 http://courtney-potter.com/?p=11618 Reagan + Tyler tied the knot on June 11, 2016 at Church of the Good Shepherd in Durham, NC. They headed over to University Tower to party late into the night- with a dance floor of epic proportions, and the tastiest wedding meal ever: breakfast for dinner! Read the Q&A with this lively couple, featured below, to learn more about […]

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Reagan + Tyler tied the knot on June 11, 2016 at Church of the Good Shepherd in Durham, NC. They headed over to University Tower to party late into the night- with a dance floor of epic proportions, and the tastiest wedding meal ever: breakfast for dinner!

Read the Q&A with this lively 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?

Reagan: One of my favorite attributes of Tyler that I’ve seen throughout our relationship, is his easy-going personality, and jovial spirit. It comes as no surprise, then, that these attributes were present leading up to, and during our wedding day. He loves having a good time, and cares immensely for those he holds close. When any hiccups arose during the process, he was the first to put things into perspective and calm my nerves. He, with his big grin, greeted all of his family with big hugs, and danced his heart out with his friends on the dance floor. He was the best partner to go through the wedding planning process with, loving me every step of the way and reassuring me only even more so that he was the best possible guy I could ever have chosen to be my husband.

Tyler: She’ll be the first to tell you she loves her lists. She really took the reigns when it came to wedding planning, and despite the incredible amount of work and energy it took to pull off, she did everything with a smile and a level head about her. Nothing fell through the cracks, and the wedding literally couldn’t have been more perfect, and she made it all look so easy. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate her hard work and drive. She inspires me to do more and be more productive in my down time. She’s pretty much superwoman.

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

In planning our wedding, we most importantly wanted it to be a true celebration of our love for each other, and to glorify the Lord through our joy. We hoped our story and union would be a testimony of Christ’s love for the church, which we can only pray was expressed through the ceremony service. We also hoped that everyone would have a great time letting loose and celebrating joyfully with us this gift of marriage we get to enjoy, knowing how much we appreciated them celebrating with us!

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…).

There were so many sweet moments that we will cherish in our memories of our day together, but one of the most fun memories was on the dance floor towards the end of the night. The DJ from Making Memories DJ Service played “Turn Down For What.” Everyone was ready to jump around like crazy, but immediately a mosh pit of Tyler’s groomsmen and college-aged guys formed in the middle of the dance floor, flailing and banging their heads and all bumping into each other with the biggest smiles you can imagine. Everyone else backed away, knowing those boys fully deserved to own the dance floor in that moment. It was fantastic.

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

The biggest advice we can give to those planning a wedding is to focus on what is important to you, and make that happen above all else. There is a lot of etiquette that is cool to learn about and can be fun to keep up with, but ultimately this day is for you, so find ways to personalize it and make it unique to who you are as a couple. And something else to keep in mind is that while weddings are so wonderful and they are big and memorable days, when things get stressful with all of the details, remember that is IS just one day, while marriage is a lifetime. Try not to lose sight of the marriage you’re going to enjoy for a lifetime beyond the wedding day itself.

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 the photos are make a huge album that we can personalize and treasure forever. I can’t wait to look back through the album years from now and remember the sweetness of that day, as the pictures portray!

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

Our next big step as a married couple is that we are moving to an apartment complex in Durham, where I will be starting graduate school to become a Speech-Language Reagan is very organized and driven. She is a task oriented person and Pathologist, and Tyler will be wrapping up his undergraduate career at NCSU while starting his career in civil engineering! There are a lot of transitions for us ahead, but we’re so thrilled to finally be able to go through them all together!

7.     Anything else you’d like to add about your wedding, photography experience, or anything else?

Courtney Potter is super organized and professional to work with. She’ll stick to the schedule and keep things moving along nicely as well as undoubtedly capture the beauty and fun of your day through her gifted photography skills. I recommend her to anyone in the area who is looking for a fun and talented photographer!

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Reagan +Tyler, thanks for throwing such a fun, spirited wedding celebration! I loved how you blended traditional elements with things I’ve never seen before- breakfast for dinner! Y’all were so much fun to photograph, and I hope that you love these photos as much as I do! 🙂 Enjoy!

Reagan + Tyler are married at Church of the Good Shepherd in Durham, NC on June 11, 2016. All photos © Courtney Potter Photography, Inc. 2016.

Reagan + Tyler are married at Church of the Good Shepherd in Durham, NC on June 11, 2016. All photos (C) Courtney Potter Photography, Inc. 2016.

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

Ceremony Venue: Church of the Good Shepherd

Reception Venue: University Tower

Photography Assistant: Katy Hall

Videographer: Ye Tun

Bride’s Dress: David’s Bridal

Shoes: David’s Bridal

Bridesmaid Dresses: JJ’s House

Groom’s Clothing: Men’s Warehouse

Groomsmen Clothing: Men’s Warehouse

Florist: Victoria Park Florist

Dessert: Sugarland

Catering: University Club

Invites: Papyrus

DJ: Making Memories DJ Service

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Ashley + Mark | Cotton Room Wedding | Durham Wedding Photographer https://courtney-potter.com/ashley-mark-cotton-room-wedding/ https://courtney-potter.com/ashley-mark-cotton-room-wedding/#respond Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:21:37 +0000 http://courtney-potter.com/?p=12117 Ashley + Mark tied the knot on January 9, 2016 in a cozy wintry wedding at The Cotton Room in Durham, NC. January should be the new June in North Carolina for weddings- the cooler weather (and lack of nasty humidity!) allowed for some lovely outdoor portraits. Even their puppy, Olivia, agrees, who made a cameo appearance […]

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Ashley + Mark tied the knot on January 9, 2016 in a cozy wintry wedding at The Cotton Room in Durham, NC. January should be the new June in North Carolina for weddings- the cooler weather (and lack of nasty humidity!) allowed for some lovely outdoor portraits. Even their puppy, Olivia, agrees, who made a cameo appearance in many of the portraits. 🙂

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!

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

We wrote our own vows for the ceremony that included what we loved about each other and what led us to committing to spend the rest of our lives together.

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

Making sure that we stayed true to what we wanted. We wanted it to be a big party for our friends and family and didn’t want to get stuck in doing certain wedding traditions just because it is what everyone else does. We wanted the music, food, and drinks to be unique and out of the ordinary, so we went with a cover band (who rocked!), for beer selection we only chose ones from North Carolina, and the food was definitely not the standard wedding menu (i.e. chicken and waffles on a stick.)

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…)

Ashley- For me, it was unexpectedly the wedding ceremony. When I had thought about my wedding I never thought the ceremony would end up being my favorite part. Before everyone came I got a chance to go upstairs and see it all decorated. It was so unbelievably beautiful and perfect that I was speechless and couldn’t control my emotions. Every part of our ceremony was truly us from the acoustic songs played to our vows that we each wrote.

Mark- My favorite part was seeing everyone who I care about in the same place. It was great just having all our family and friends in one place. Also our first look was very emotional to me. I’m not really an emotional guy…but when I got to see Ashley in her dress for the first time I teared up a little. Everything right was in that moment.

4. What drew you to my photography style? What was it like to work with me?

Courtney’s photography looks very authentic and truly captures the spirit and emotions of what is happening in the moment. Sometimes wedding photography can appear staged. Of course you need some posed portraits, but some of the best photos I’ve seen from weddings is when the person doesn’t realize they are being photographed. Courtney and her second shooter were great to work with! They rolled with whatever was going on and went along with whatever goofy thing we wanted to do. Courtney knew the venue well, and I like where she put us for “the first look.”

5. What was the silliest moment of your wedding day? The sweetest?

Ashley- Silliest was when our ring-bearer/nephew decided he wanted to play ring around the rosy around our officiant’s legs (officiant is also our nephew’s father) while he tried to conduct the ceremony. Everyone was laughing as family members were trying to hell him to stop and get control of him. It definitely lightened the mood. Sweetest was watching Mark say his vows to me. I could tell how much effort he put into writing and trying to memorize them. Mark doesn’t get emotional very often, and it was so special to see him get that way during our vows.

Mark- Yeah the silliest part was probably my nephew during the ceremony. Another crazy moment was when my groomsmen had me do a keg stand behind the bar while no one was looking. Hopefully my in-laws don’t read this. The sweetest is a tie between Ashely and I exchanging our vows and the Father/Daughter dance. You could see how much that moment meant to Ashley and her dad.

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

We are so excited to see the photos! Especially since it goes by so quickly, and it’s really difficult to keep track of what is going on throughout the night. We definitely plan to print many of them and put them throughout our home. Probably create some sort of wall collage. We will also be sending them out as gifts.

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

We have big plans in the works currently! We are searching for a home to buy in Durham and are planning to go on our honeymoon to France some time in May.

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Ashley + Mark, thank you for being such fun and laid-back clients. I enjoyed every minute with you (and your cute pup!) and hope that these photos memorialize your celebration for years to come!

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

Venue: The Cotton Room

Second Photographer: Bri Brough

Officiant: Jonathan Weber

Bride’s Dress: White by Vera Wang, purchased at David’s Bridal

Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade

Bridesmaid Dresses: Alfred Sung

Flower Girl Dresses: made by groom’s mother

Groomsmen Clothing: Men’s Wearhouse

Florist: Tre Bella

Dessert: Cinda’s Creative Cakes

Catering: Triangle Catering

Invites: Wedding Paper Divas

Band: The Scarlet Band

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Jessie | Cotton Room Bridal Portraits | Durham Portrait Photographer https://courtney-potter.com/20156jessie-cotton-room-bridal-portraits/ https://courtney-potter.com/20156jessie-cotton-room-bridal-portraits/#respond Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:13:19 +0000 http://courtney-potter.com/20156jessie-cotton-room-bridal-portraits/ Now that Jessie + Eric have tied the knot, I am excited to share the images from Jessie’s bridal session last month. Jessie and Eric win the award for being our most adventurous couple- they agreed to an engagement session submerged in the Eno River last summer. Justin and I scratched our heads wondering how […]

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Now that Jessie + Eric have tied the knot, I am excited to share the images from Jessie’s bridal session last month.

Jessie and Eric win the award for being our most adventurous couple- they agreed to an engagement session submerged in the Eno River last summer. Justin and I scratched our heads wondering how to top this with Jessie’s bridal portraits at The Cotton Room, so we decided to do something a bit unconventional. Some photographers brand themselves as “natural light wedding photographers” (which implies they just don’t know how to use artificial light), so we wanted to do the opposite for this shoot. Justin brought some bright pink background paper and an assortment of lights, and we turned a typical Southern portrait session into a fashion shoot. And for the majority of our “natural light” photographs we manipulated the light with our trusty reflector.

We all had an awful lot of fun during this shoot, and I am quite pleased with the final images. Jessie- thank you so much for continuing your adventurous streak and humoring us with our crazy background paper. We have been dying to post these images online and are glad the time has finally come!

To view all of the photos from Jessie’s bridal session and order prints, please visit her full gallery on my online print shop!

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

Venue: The Cotton Room

Photography Team: Courtney Potter & Justin Cook

Bride’s Dress: Maggi Bridal

Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka

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