Emily + Carlo tied the knot on September 13, 2014 in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Given Emily’s last name, it was only fitting that they celebrated not only their love for one another but their love for Durham on their wedding day. Read more below to hear directly from the couple about their wedding and photography experience:

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1. What was your favorite moment from the day? 

Wow, so many favorites.  One moment I really loved was at the reception when Emily and I got a chance to stand up at the front of the room and thank everyone for coming, for helping, and for being a part of our lives.  That was also when we got to explain that instead of a cake-cutting, we were going to do an ice cream-scooping because of the important place that ice cream has had in our lives.  It was just amazing to see all the faces of every single person I love in my life all in one place.  And all of us about to stuff ourselves with homemade ice cream!  I hope that’s at least a little bit what heaven is like.

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

For me, it was most important that our wedding do 3 main things: 1) Honor the people who have made our lives so awesome; 2) help get our marriage off to a strong start (as opposed to putting us in debt); and 3) support as many Durham-based businesses as possible.

3. What was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge was consistently remembering that you can, should, and MUST say “Thanks, but that’s not actually important to me.”  Pressure builds up from lots of places during the planning process.  The pressure makes you imagine that people will judge you or be embarrassed by you if you don’t do certain things for your wedding or don’t have certain things.  The truth is, to have a wedding all you need is $60 for a license and 2 witnesses. So make sure that EVERYTHING else you might do on top of that is something that you are choosing powerfully for yourself because it’s important to you.

4. What factors other than photos went into your decision on a wedding photographer? Why did you decide to pick me?

For photographers I was prioritizing Durham-based folks first.  After that, it was really important that our photographer be excited about working with us, not because we were a “gig” but because he/she genuinely cared about this thing happening in our lives.  Emily and I are both pretty sentimental people so we knew that wedding pictures were going to be something that we looked at a lot over the years.  Photography was actually our biggest splurge but we felt Courtney would do an awesome job.  Zero regrets.

5.  From booking to delivery of images and seeing the results, what in your mind made it the right choice for us to collaborate? Did anything surprise you?

The ONE thing that surprised me the most and will stick MOST with me is this: Across every single solitary part of the wedding planning process (from caterers to flowers to churches), Courtney was the most consistent, clear, responsive, and timely out of EVERYONE.  Honestly, sometimes when we were feeling down about a lack of responsiveness from some other area of wedding planning we’d be like, “Let’s ask Courtney a question!”  Boom.  Super helpful answer the very next day.  Sometimes it wasn’t even about pictures.  Courtney answered our question about where family could get their hair done in town!  Does that normally come with a photo package?  I dunno.  But it did with Courtney!

6.  What’s next for you as a couple?

Investing in each other and investing in Durham.  This is a pretty fantastic place to be with the person you’re supposed to be with in life.

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

Emily’s note here: Initially, screening photographers was on Carlo’s wedding to-do list since I knew he had a track record of cheesy fake smiles for photographers (I didn’t want that on our wedding day!).  His friend recommend a list of NC photographers and I remember Carlo saying that Courtney’s photographs were the only ones that made him laugh out loud with the candid, spontaneous moments she captured.  After both talking with Courtney on the phone and meeting her in person, we knew she was the one to go with!  Thank you so much, Courtney!!

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Emily + Carlo, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your celebration! Your desire to support local businesses impressed me from the beginning, and I am so honored that you chose me to document your day. Even though your wedding is over, I hope to continue to collaborate with you and celebrate our shared love of Durham.

To view all of the photos from Emily + Carlo’s wedding and order prints, please visit my print service here.

Second Photographer: Alex Boerner

Videography: Kasha Mammone

Reception flowers: Ebb & Flower

Bouquets/Corsages/Boutonnieres: LuAnn Durham

Hair: Caitie Rumbles

Catering: Q-Shack, North Hills Raleigh

Ice Cream: La Monarca Michoacana

Linens/Dance Floor: Best Rent-All

Sound: Steven DeConto

The post Emily + Carlo | Downtown Durham Wedding | Durham Wedding Photographer appeared first on Courtney Potter Studio.

Since photographing Kristen + Mike’s wedding has been such a collaborative process, I wanted to highlight that in their blogpost by collaborating with them in a Q&A. Kristen took the time to graciously answer my questions, and I love what advice she has for other nontraditional couples here!

1. You and Mike are both creative people and had lots of wonderful ideas for your wedding. What was the planning process like? What resources did you use to help bring your ideas to fruition?

We started planning years out (thanks to nursing school) and I just used Pinterest to collect a lot of ideas. We also followed offbeatbride.com and greenweddingshoes.com to get some inspiration. Off-Beat Bride was a great resource because they had a ton of creative alternative ideas for a wedding. They gave us the inspriation to do a wedding the way we wanted, not just the way that they are done typically. Green Wedding Shoes had such pretty weddings – so I used them for a lot of the decoration inspiration.

When we started, neither of us had any experience putting together a wedding so we just did what we thought would sound fun and meaningful to us. We loved the idea of playing games with our friends and families and spending as much time with them that we could. Other weddings we had gone to, we barely spent any time with the bride and groom and we really wanted everyone to feel like their treck to come see us get married meant that we really got to spend quality time together. Having a potluck style dinner allowed us to share the food we love with our families and made people feel like they were really a part of our wedding day.

When we were planning this, a lot of our ideas came way ahead of our realization that we actually had to execute things – so as the wedding got closer we realized that having a day-of wedding planner would be essential so that we could enjoy and relax and not stress about how it was all going to come together.

2. You and Mike structured your wedding day a little bit differently than most couples. Can you describe the schedule and speak to what led you to make this decision?

Having done photography in my undergraduate degree, I knew how awesome the lighting would be if we did it at “golden hour”, so I made the ceremony (and consequently the invitations) with that time. I wanted the ceremony pictures to be in the best lighting out of all, especially because we were planning on having the ceremony outside. Then, I realized, looking at the rest of the time we had we’d be rushed for dinner and dancing – my two favorite parts! So we ended up deciding that since we were doing a potluck anyway and had limited ways of keeping food warm, we’d just have dinner before the ceremony. It was awesome, we had plenty of time for poker, lawn games, dinner, the ceremony, and just celebrating and dancing after! And we still managed to be out of the venue and to the bonfire at midnight!

3. What did you enjoy most about your wedding day?

The most awesome thing was having every single person we knew and loved there in one place!! Everyone was able to meet each other, friends from different times and places in our lives ended up bonding and creating their own friendships! It was so amazing to just be with every one we loved for a full weekend in one place just to celebrate something awesome! At the end of everything, this was all we ended up caring about the moment that the wedding day started – I couldn’t care less at that time about the decorations or the small details (also thanks in a large part to our amazing Wedding Planner Sonya with It’s a Bridal Thing, Too – her team made our ideas come to life!!)

4. After working with me and seeing the results, what in your mind made it the right choice for us to collaborate?

Your sense of humor first! We have a bunch of crazy awesome people in our family who love to have a great time and just be silly. Having someone who is able to document that kind of fun was important. Also your sense of light in photographs was outstanding as was your use of color. Having done documentary style photography in college, you had the eye that I had for images. You weren’t afraid of getting up close to get the shots, and documenting what actually unfolded. We didn’t want a whole bunch of beautiful photos that had little meaning, we wanted to look back at the photos and really re-live the day. And you were also experienced with weddings and able to direct us in order to get the shots we wanted for the wedding.

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

As our Thank You cards, we are making a cook book with everyone’s potluck recipes they sent in with their RSVP. The photos are going in to that as well – so we’re stoked for that! Then? Putting them up on the wall and making a book out of whatever else we can’t fit. I love prints and having a physical photograph is just so satisfying.

6.. For couples out there who aren’t interested in having a traditional wedding in a church, what advice do you have for them?

Do it exactly how you want it – don’t do things because you’re told they are necessary to have a wedding. Know that the day is going to be amazing because the people around you, not because of the decorations. Don’t get caught up in making it so detailed that you miss the experience. Find a place that lets you do what you want – and that everything you want to do takes at least 1 1/2 times longer to do than you expect. Sixty people is a LOT of people, surprisingly. Stop looking at Pintrest for new ideas about six months away from the wedding. DIY projects take so much longer to complete than anticipated and you can get a little burned out. Ask your friends and families to help, and be specific with what you need them to do. So many people love to help and having people put their part in makes the day that much more awesome for everyone! Oh, and if you have an outdoor wedding, plan on renting a tent – you can cancel it days before (we still had to pay some money) but not be worried about the one thing you really can’t control – the weather!

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Kristen and Mike, thank you so much for being so great to work with every step of the process! Your wedding was unique to you, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

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

Venue: Spruce Pine Lodge

Dress: Pronovias (Designer), Lana Addison Bridal (store)

Shoes: Vintage Gucci

Bridesmaid dresses: Sofitdress (etsy)

Groom’s Clothing: Jos. A. Bank

Florist: Renee at Wild Scallions Farm

Cake: Miel Bons Bons

Coordinator: Sonya Fogle- It’s a Bridal Thing, Too

Photography Assistant: Layson Peters

The post Kristen + Mike | Spruce Pine Lodge Wedding | Durham Wedding Photographer appeared first on Courtney Potter Studio.

Michelle and David’s “First Look” was one of my favorite parts of the day.  Photographically, the “First Look” can be a hit or miss; some couples don’t react with as much personality as Michelle and David did.  I loved David’s expression upon seeing Michelle in her gown for the first time- I still grin widely whenever I look at it. Michelle twirled around for him like a princess, showing off the train of her beautiful dress.

After saying “I do” at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Michelle and David headed to the Nasher Museum of Art on Duke’s campus to party the night away. I loved the reception space, which had skylights and interesting sculptures spread throughout the great hall. I loved the simplicity of Michelle and David’s decorations, as they let the space really speak for itself with all its artsiness. Their reception was lighthearted and full of laughter, with the best dance moves going to Michelle’s little brother and their pastor. (See if you can spot photos of them getting low on the dance floor! The owned it out there!)

Michelle and David, thank you so much for inviting me and Julysa Sosa to be a part of your wedding celebration. We both enjoyed spending time with your family and friends and capturing all the joy on your wedding day! You made the process a breeze for us with your friendliness and laid-back nature. I hope that you enjoy reliving all of the emotion and special moments of your day when you look at these photos! 

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haven’t shot personal work in awhile, and this seemed like a fun chance to explore my city, considering this took place just 2 miles from my house.  In the name of community, I brought my talented high school intern Layson to shoot this with me.  (Check out her version of the day’s event at her blog!)

haven’t had this much fun shooting for fun in awhile.  It was great to be back in the field, running free on the streets of downtown Durham with my camera.  Can’t wait until next year!

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The next third of the year was a rebirth of my business.  I quit my previous work with Cana Collective and decided to go solo, focusing solely on weddings and personal projects.  This decision preceded the Santa Fe Workshops with Chris Buck– which truly was a rebirth.  I shed a lot of tears at thisportrait & lighting workshop, and even some clothes. I put aside some of my photojournalistic habits and experimented with conceptual art photography.  Chris pushed me beyond my comfort zone, encouraging me to put more of my own self and psychology into my work–which meant facing some demons. My final project was designed by Chris to help me identify and face my fears related to photography in a studio-lit self portrait. This was the hardest assignment I have ever done–and also the most fulfilling.  These photos have become and Ebenezer of sorts for me.  Something inside me really changed with the final open and close of the shutter.

That workshop really set the stage for the last third of the year and the attitude I would have towards my work. One of the first big changes I made was to consciously surround myself with other creative photographers and artists.  One of the best things about Santa Fe was collaborating with other photographers and playing off of one another’s strengths.  So I started shooting more with UNC photo kids and really investing in developing a mentorship program for young photographers. My first intern ever, Maria Van Aalst, “graduated” from our little Durham home at the close of summer, but I continue to shoot with her.  When the leaves finally fell and I continued to miss Maria’s presence, I decided to start a new high school internship program for the talented Layson Peters.  I also set out on a new top-secret endeavor with a brilliant photographer, but since it’s top-secret right now you won’t hear about it until the start of 2013!  All of this collaboration has really infused me with the energy I need to bring something “fresh” to my work.

The main change that the workshop instilled in me, however, was to really focus on making pictures where my voice comes through, rather than a focus on technical elements.  I am still proud of my photos that have pretty light and beautiful compositions, but I’m trying to use those elements to really say something about how I see the world. Focusing more on portraiture has been a catalyst for achieving this.  I’ve cut out a lot of video and multimedia work from my life this year, and it’s freed me up really push the limits of my camera and vision.

The following photos are some of my favorite portraits from 2012 where my voice comes through a bit stronger than in previous years.

The post Goodbye, 2012! A look back on my best work from the year. appeared first on Courtney Potter Studio.

The breadth and intimacy of Ami+Dave’s wedding week coverage provided a unique wedding coverage experience for me.  I had really great conversations with their family and friends over a series of days, learned a ton about Ami’s family’s culture, and got to witness and photograph some really beautiful moments that I can’t imagine seeing without spending so much time with them.  It was a privilege to feel like I wasn’t just a witness to their family’s celebration—I was a part of it!  I came home from each shoot feeling refreshed, as if I had spent quality time with my own family.  It was life-giving, to say the least, and reminded me of my college days when I would dive into a documentary project.

Ami+Dave, thank you so much for inviting me to document your wedding celebration. You both have such bright spirits and bring joy to everyone you meet—I experienced that first-hand each day I shot with you.  I was truly touched by the toasts at your wedding, which made me cry (and I usually don’t cry at weddings!).  I hope that these photos reflect the light that you bring to all and the love around you. And a big thanks to Justin Cook and Ted Richardson for shooting with me this week.

Enjoy!

The post Ami + Dave | Indian Wedding | Durham Convention Center appeared first on Courtney Potter Studio.

The reception was held at the Parizade,
also in Durham.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relaxed and welcomed
at a wedding venue before—the manager greeted me and Stephen and showed
us a private table (in a lovely air-conditioned room!) where we were
free to download photos and eat cake.  And the party itself was AWESOME
from the moment we arrived.  Stephen and I were both caught off guard
after the first dance when the hora began, because everyone circled up
and started yelling and clapping and surrounding us while kicking and
screaming with joy.  The hora was really joyful—I was tempted to just
put my camera down and join in the fun!  (Towards the end of the wedding
I actually did this for a dance or two, thanks to Anne’s beckoning).

Big shout-out to Stephen Garret and Cana Collective
for helping me out.  He is an amazing videographer and still shooter,
and I had a great time shooting with him for the first time.  Many of
his photos are included below.

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