As a wedding photographer in the Raleigh, Durham & Chapel hill area, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to photograph at almost every wedding venue around. For my latest wedding however, I had the distinct honor to photograph Wes & Kate’s Coker Arboretum Wedding Ceremony & Bay 7 Wedding reception – two places I have not had an opportunity to photograph weddings before. You’ll probably remember Kate & Wes from their Durham Engagement Session I recently posted, so I hope you enjoy reading more about their big day below!
The day of the wedding, I met up with both Kate & Wes at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill were both of them were getting ready. Kate was in the process of getting her hair & makeup done while Wes seemed to be trading professions and was a watch repairman (he was adjusting the bands on his groomsmen gifts). As with all outdoor wedding ceremonies, the fear of bad weather was certainly on everyone’s minds and with clouds rolling in and some rain coming down, we of course were just a tad bit worried. As we left for the short drive to Coker Arboretum though, the clouds had broken up and the sun was coming out. I never really write about it but it honestly seems at almost every outdoor wedding, the rain always seems to hold off long enough to let the wedding day plans proceed without interruption.
During the rehearsal, we had scoped out the arboretum for the best spot to setup chairs and to hold the wedding ceremony. This turned out to be a real advantage as with the spotty cloud cover, we ended up with some amazing photos from the ceremony as we had placed them in the one spot with great lighting while the majority of the guests were in shade. After the ceremony, we opted to shoot all of of formal photos at the Arboretum. The last shots we did involved Kate jumping on Wes’s back (this was their idea). I think maybe the soft ground, the nerves of the day and perhaps a little over exuberance got the best of them as Kate proceeded to pull Wes almost flat on his back. LOL. It was very fitting as both Kate & Wes are simply delightful clients and we all laughed quite a bit about it.
Once we arrived at Bay 7 for their wedding reception, Kate had a little food & champagne in the car before their entrance courtesy of the Durham Catering Company. After they arrived and had their first dance, parents dances and ate, Randy Pulley got the party started. The rest of the evening was full of dancing, celebrating and quite a few funny signs (courtesy of chalk boards from the photo booth). This was indeed one of the most fun filled receptions I have had the pleasure of attending/photographing and I’d really like to extend my sincerest congratulations and thank you to Wes, Kate & their families for allowing me to capture such a wonderful event and the first day as a married couple.
As always, I hope you enjoy a few select photos from their wedding day.
