fireworks

The Ridge at Asheville, NC /  by Lacey R Butler

Perfect day in the mountains of Western North Carolina for a wedding!!

I was so happy to get to help Sean Szitas with this wedding. As the new gal in Asheville, building business can be a little daunting. Getting to shoot is like Christmas though, when you love doing it, so THANK YOU to those who have let me help them. Sean is a super relaxed guy, and works hard to take lots of great portraits. Our style varies a little, so I am able to add my journalistic eye as well as details he isn’t able to cover.

The couple privately exchanged their vows while we documented the moment. Both were in tears, as you can see and no kidding, I was a mess about their love story. It is a huge privilege in my life to have witnessed and learned about love from so many wonderful couples. The gist of their message to one another was what a gift to have found each other- and specifically I recall the bride telling her man how easy love is with him, and life, no matter the challenge. Just so amazing to find that!

The wait.

Love lens flare!!

Lens baby images for fun…

..after the safe image, of course

A big part of the wedding day FOR ME is honoring all you put into planning it. Although images of a couple alone are beautiful, I believe if you wanted to be alone you’d have eloped. The real story is here, the details of kissing surrounded by those you love, your intimate companions and long distance family that loves you enough to make the trip. It is a cultural celebration of those you cherish, not just the bride and groom. And of course.. lens flare. If you choose this time of day, I’ll be sure to incorporate the drama lighting can give us!

Ha! I was out paparazzi’d

The bride was in love with seeing the moon during sunset - she said all my favorite things are right here in this moment! I love fellow romantics! <3

I’d recommend The Ridge venue for anyone wanting a great location with perfect views right near Asheville! There was no end to the places for images, and the venue offers indoor and outdoor spots for the reception. There are onsite golf carts for quick jaunts across the property- definitely cannot wait to get back to this one!

Lake Norman /  by Lacey R Butler

dreamy lakeside love.

dreamy lakeside love.

I am really, really truly lucky in life. Blessed.

Without giving away too much personal info for the couple, they met on a dating site. I know some people are still hesitant about them, but more often I am doing weddings from couples that met there. Message me to ask which dating site. :)

groom_detail
groomsmen_prep
I love candid expressions.

I love candid expressions.

Random photo probably only I like. Reflection of chairs outside and one person inside in the exact right position to look like she’s sitting on the chair. If you ever see me shooting and are like what the heck is she doing..I’m doing something like this. Not only does it entertain me but it probably beats me simply staring at you waiting for a moment. You know? It’s a little less intense. While I’m rambling about me, it’s a tiny bit of a drive from Asheville to this location, but I’m used to that. I usually listen to music to get in the zone, maybe eat an M&amp;M Blizzard or a Krispy Kreme for that sugar high. For some reason I decided on self help videos and water only for the two hour drive down so by the time I got there, I was really, like… ready for a nap. That wasn’t my best idea for pre-wedding.If you can imagine it, as soon as I got on the property, ya’ll, I kid you not, I smiled. Like, I genuinely started grinning because it was GORGEOUS with the lake background and small pool and hot tubs and bar and palm trees and whatnot. Life is funny like that. The clouds were perfect puffy companions to a Carolina blue sky with the breeze whispering a promise of summer across the lake. I’m not joking when I say from that second I was teleported into someone else’s romantic heaven. All that joy I felt was even before seeing anyone there. And when I did, my first glimpse was of a bridesmaids decorating corpses for the “till death do us” underlying theme (not shown here.. I also left out the tiny fake spider in the brides bouquet. I needed to cull some of the images from the blog post). It was like, ok, this is a gorgeous day with some cool people. And it really was.

Random photo probably only I like. Reflection of chairs outside and one person inside in the exact right position to look like she’s sitting on the chair. If you ever see me shooting and are like what the heck is she doing..I’m doing something like this. Not only does it entertain me but it probably beats me simply staring at you waiting for a moment. You know? It’s a little less intense.

While I’m rambling about me, it’s a tiny bit of a drive from Asheville to this location, but I’m used to that. I usually listen to music to get in the zone, maybe eat an M&M Blizzard or a Krispy Kreme for that sugar high. For some reason I decided on self help videos and water only for the two hour drive down so by the time I got there, I was really, like… ready for a nap. That wasn’t my best idea for pre-wedding.

If you can imagine it, as soon as I got on the property, ya’ll, I kid you not, I smiled. Like, I genuinely started grinning because it was GORGEOUS with the lake background and small pool and hot tubs and bar and palm trees and whatnot. Life is funny like that. The clouds were perfect puffy companions to a Carolina blue sky with the breeze whispering a promise of summer across the lake. I’m not joking when I say from that second I was teleported into someone else’s romantic heaven.

All that joy I felt was even before seeing anyone there. And when I did, my first glimpse was of a bridesmaids decorating corpses for the “till death do us” underlying theme (not shown here.. I also left out the tiny fake spider in the brides bouquet. I needed to cull some of the images from the blog post). It was like, ok, this is a gorgeous day with some cool people.

And it really was.

bride_mom
groomsmen_billiards.jpg
They both kept their eyes tight shut to save it for that moment at the altar. But they did want to make sure I got a photo of them touching per-ceremony.

They both kept their eyes tight shut to save it for that moment at the altar. But they did want to make sure I got a photo of them touching per-ceremony.

asheville_photography_firstlook
The face that says I’m ready. I’m excited. Let’s do this!

The face that says I’m ready. I’m excited. Let’s do this!

Holy smokes! Stunning bride seeing her groom waiting!

Holy smokes! Stunning bride seeing her groom waiting!

lake_norman_wedding_photography
Bridal_party_lake_norman
lake_kiss_photographer.jpg
Yes, they DID do their entrance to “I got chills, they’re multiplying” and totally admire one another while dancing up a storm all the way down the beautiful stone steps and up the stone walk to the waiting guests.

Yes, they DID do their entrance to “I got chills, they’re multiplying” and totally admire one another while dancing up a storm all the way down the beautiful stone steps and up the stone walk to the waiting guests.

Somewhere around this image I started balling. I had to stop shooting for a second because my camera may not have been waterproof enough to handle it. Not sure. But you know what, this couple has the perfect balance of silly and passion and it just is inspirational. Big fan over here!

Somewhere around this image I started balling. I had to stop shooting for a second because my camera may not have been waterproof enough to handle it. Not sure. But you know what, this couple has the perfect balance of silly and passion and it just is inspirational. Big fan over here!

Ok, so when you love someone you make sacrifices, right? And this bridesmaid missed her own college graduation so the bride said well we are doing a little something something and they did a mock ceremony and I loved them all the more.

Ok, so when you love someone you make sacrifices, right? And this bridesmaid missed her own college graduation so the bride said well we are doing a little something something and they did a mock ceremony and I loved them all the more.

Ok, it is really easy for me to be like you know what you should do? Totally go in the water on your wedding day in clothes you spent a fortune of money and time to find. But these two agreed. THANK YOU BOTH! I Love love love couples that hire me to do my thing and then will agree to it. I kicked off my shoes and socks and joined them, rather pointlessly since I have the lenses to do it from the shore. But it was fun and they weren’t alone being cold and wet after that. In fact, I had sand in my socks all evening long because at a wedding you dont get time to clean up when you’re the photographer- you just jump right to the next thing.

Ok, it is really easy for me to be like you know what you should do? Totally go in the water on your wedding day in clothes you spent a fortune of money and time to find. But these two agreed. THANK YOU BOTH! I Love love love couples that hire me to do my thing and then will agree to it. I kicked off my shoes and socks and joined them, rather pointlessly since I have the lenses to do it from the shore. But it was fun and they weren’t alone being cold and wet after that. In fact, I had sand in my socks all evening long because at a wedding you dont get time to clean up when you’re the photographer- you just jump right to the next thing.

Backlit by the sunset, super romantic.

Backlit by the sunset, super romantic.

perfect expression, Nicole! I love it.

perfect expression, Nicole! I love it.

fireworks! just a tiny bit of photoshop went into this image, but so worth it.

fireworks! just a tiny bit of photoshop went into this image, but so worth it.

All my love and best wishes to the bride and groom! Your love and connection are truly beautiful. <3 Lacey