We have a local wedding magazine that is fabulous and I’ve had the honor to be associated with the past few years. Southern Bride & Groom is Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill’s premier wedding magazine focusing on southern elegance. I was flattered to have been asked to photograph their wedding catering & food section which meant visiting several of the area’s top restaurant and catering facilities for a little food photography. At each location, we were given one, two, four or even five dishes from their kitchen to arrange, photograph and make look even more delicious then they already were (which, by the way, is not an easy task as they were gorgeous!).
Our first visit was to Sister’s Catering (on Millbrook Rd. in Raleigh) where we were met with lobster stuffed tenderloin. I mean, it was 9 am and, already, I wanted to eat it, not photograph it. Mark came out with a strawberry champagne in a beautiful crystal flute that finished off the presentation nicely. With everything stacked on top of marble slates, the photo came out, well, gorgeous! The marble exacted a little revenge later (I assume for me continually moving it around) and took a nice chunk out of my leg…. yes, I know, not related, but 3 months later I still have a mark. Revenge will be mine marble face!!! :)
From their we headed over to Triangle Catering (Who also runs the Cotton Room), to shoot a little shrimp scampi & grist with a moonshine martini. Ok, let me mention this again.. it’s about 10:30, I’ve had no breakfast and the thought of downing that martini was very much on my mind. They had some really cool vases and a beautiful green wall in their office that just HAD to be in the photo – the result, and of course I am biased, was stunning. Please note the drop hanging off the ginger slice on the martini glass…. thought that was very cool until it actually dripped onto the tablecloth – clean up on aisle one please!
From there we hit 1705 Prime and, all I can say is WOW! I lost track of all of the beautiful presentations, drinks and food they brought out. In all seriousness, I am going back there to eat very, very soon because the food and staff were just incredible. We ended up shooting in two different locations in 1705 prime, at the bar and in the dining room. I could of spent the rest of my day here working with their food but, well, we have more places to shoot and, at this point, I was gonna eat my lenses.
Finally, food – and no, not from something I was supposed to be photographing. LOL. We headed over to Parizade which has an incredible Mediterranean feel and an even more incredible menu! With beautiful artwork adorning the walls, white tablecloth service and a very talented chef, made my life rather difficult (interestingly enough) as I wanted to put it ALL into the shot. We finally got it whittled down to a great shot of their Star anise fennel-cured salmon and, well, I marked down another place I must go back and eat.
Next stop – the picnic basket for a lovely service of Tenderloin with summer veggies. They had the COOLEST exotic colored potatoes I have seen in a while. The purple potato was the richest & most vibrant purple I had seen in food. When the chef brought out the plate, I really had a hard time believing as a purely delivery catering vehicle, how stunning the plate presentation was.
Our last stop of the day was at Lip Service catering in Cary. They had the coolest way to serve champagne I have ever seen! They have a mix of strawberry puree, Grand Marnier, a hibiscus flower and champagne. It made for a awesome champagne cocktail and, as you drank, the flower would open up! After the champagne was gone, you got to eat the Hibiscus as well.. pretty cool eh? We also had a summer crab salad to photograph which I surrounded with just about every fresh fruit & vegetable they had. To make a spectacular ending even better, we got to eat the crab salad… man that was good!!!
I’d like to personally thank every one who made a long day of shooting extremely pleasurable! A special thanks goes out to Donna & Jenna with Southern Bride & groom magazine for asking me to do this shoot! I know I was extremely happy with the results and judging by how big the section is, I think they are as well! Of course, here are some photos from the event!
