Elopement | Pointsett Bridge in South Carolina

The romance of an elopement! I was so excited to document the elopement for Stephanie and Matthew at Pointsett Bridge. It was my first time there, and I could imagine just sitting around, daydreaming with the trickle of water, dipping into the water, sliding down the rock..

This location is rich with history, which lends an other-worldly charm. The babbling brook, the narrow bridge, the woods.. it was easy to imagine carriage rides and soldiers on foot.. but instead it was this magic moment, a celebration of found love! We wandered around after the extra-brief ceremony provided by the appropriately named “weddings in a flash.”

Otherwise it was just me, the lovebirds, my cameras and the grooms brother <3

The groom and his brother were so silly- and the bride sweet and lovely. Thank you for having me out to document your moment. xoxoxo

Pretty Place Chapel

If I were to marry again.. it might be at a spot like this. Sure, if I knew it wasn’t going to rain or I could afford some light rain on my wedding day… I’d go with a flower farm with a view. Hands down. But this…

Pretty Place is an affordable spot with a to-die for view that offers abundant shelter for the ceremony. So if it did rain.. you’d be set. You’d still have the view, the open air feeling.. Perfect elopement spot, too! There’s a certain innocent vibe; Austin told me when he was a boy he and his friends and cousins would be there. Imagine how surreal to have those memories and then to be…marrying at that very same spot.

It’s pretty rare, but sometimes the best man DOES forget the ring. It made for a nice lighthearted moment.

The only thing I thought but didn’t say at their event (and it’s now some months later so I guess I feel like they probably will never see this although I’m sure he knows…) that the groom looks like Bradley Cooper. Do you see it? Hello Dopelganger! I wonder if it’s true that we all have one…somewhere in the world.

If you’re wondering about this particular photo, the groom had just picked up his bride and lifted her over a particularly steep step. Side note: if you have a fear of heights tell me before we get to the ledge.

Such a gorgeous couple- love them! Also fun and easy going. I’m excited for their new family!

I have a theory that love and laughter are essential to make it work.

I would LOVE to have a reason to go there again! If you’re interested in visiting this spot with me, here is the link: Pretty Place Chapel Call me for your elopement or session! 828.777.6186!

Lake Norman

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. :)

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&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.

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.

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

Holy smokes! Stunning bride seeing her groom waiting!

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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!

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.

Backlit by the sunset, super romantic.

perfect expression, Nicole! I love 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

Barn at Valhalla

When I met Sharon, I was immediately put at ease because she’s real. She’s beautiful, sophisticated, and somehow still down to earth. She’s just friendly good people, as they say. I believe she’s a dietician, and it took quite a bit of effort not say how do I easily lose this weight I’m gaining from eating and drinking every night, all night long? Even I know the answer to that one… Anyway, Sharon told me she and Jim had been good friends for a while, and I got the sense it was a blossomed slowly into things that won their hearts over to one another.

On Christmas Eve I found myself eager not for presents under trees, or even at that moment for the celebrations later with my children, but to see this very handsome couple wed. It is always a gift to do what I do.

The only ones at their private elopement ceremony were the minister, her brother as a witness, and myself. I doubled as a photographer and witness extraordinare. Always an honor to be at a wedding, let alone to sign as witness. Thank you both for choosing to work with me on your beautiful day.

Venue: the Barn at Valhalla

Flowers: Fallons Flowers