With fall in full swing I have been really excited to come back out to one of the most gorgeous and versatile wedding locations in the Chapel Hill Area. My last Fearrington Village Wedding has been almost a year ago and I was thrilled to be back for Wendy & Tyler’s wedding reception.
We started their wedding day with Wendy getting ready in her parents home. Words can really not describe how perfect it was for Wendy, her bridesmaids and family to all be in one location. Of course, it helps when the master bathroom was the size of this one, but regardless, it was easy to see how relaxed the entire family and bridal party was just by being in familiar surroundings. We hung out for quite a while with the bride and her family getting to know everyone while still photographing the bride, all the preparations and details like the wedding gown, jewelry, shoes, programs, signs and, well, just name it, I probably got a shot of it.
The wedding was held at St Andrews Catholic Church in Apex, NC. This was the first time I had been here and Wendy and her family had mentioned getting a shot with the fountain a few times. In the hustle and bustle of the day, I filed that away as a “get” shot, but didn’t really go into it further – I’ll touch base on this after the ceremony. I must say, St. Andrews is probably the most accommodating church I have had the pleasure of photographing in. They actually reserved seats on both sides of the aisles for me, very near the front, so I could photograph without being a disruption. I am a huge believer of it being a ceremony first and a photographic opportunity 2nd, so to have that done for me was very impressive (If anyone from the Church is reading this, thank you!). After the Catholic ceremony and formal photos were complete, we headed back out to the fountain. I went ahead of the group to get setup and saw the plaque on the fountain. It was dedicated to Wendy’s brother, who passed away when he was 9 years old. Now I always remind myself what the power of a photograph truly is – to remember. When I took a moment to reflect on this however, it was pretty overwhelming and indeed one of the most special family photographs I have taken in my career.
We headed over to the Fearrington Village Wedding reception location, in the barn, and got to spend a little more time with the bridal party and, of course, the happily married couple. The Fearrington Village is really gorgeous with no shortage of great locations for photography and we just touched on one corner of the property with the bride and grooms formal photos. As the cocktail hour wore down, and the bridal party got ready to make their entrance, I noticed one thing. People were ready to party. LOL. Seriously, I do this for a living and always love a good party, but the people were really primed and Jim Unger from Joe Bunn DJ Company was ready to light the fuse!
As the reception got down to business, one of the best toasts of the year was delivered by Wendy’s father. I hope when my daughter gets married I’ll have that amount of poise, tact and humor. From here, well, the party just exploded and everyone, including myself and my assistant, got pulled onto the dance floor (thankfully I have not yet seen any photographic evidence that would convict me) and Jim literally blew the doors off the hinges. By the end of the evening, I was literally exhausted with all of the nonstop activity.
I want to really extend my heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful families of Tyler and Wendy who were an absolute delight to work with. Now, as always, here are a few choice photos from Tyler & Wendy’s Fearrington Village Wedding!
