Wedding photography»High Vista Club + The Laurel Room + Asheville NC

Not long ago, I woke up at 4:30 am energized and ready to hit the road for my 4-hour drive to Mills River, a charming small town just south of Asheville, NC.

Why on earth was I so excited even before I had my first gulp of coffee while driving the dark back roads in the wee hours of the morning? The answer is that I was on my way to spend the day with DJ & Karina photographing their wedding at the Laurel Room at High Vista CC.

You see, I have been searching for people like these two to work with for a long time. It's not easy being kinda niche in a very competitive wedding market, but I figured out that when it all comes down to it, I enjoy photographing weddings outside more than anything else.

Working in the mountains for fun-loving and adventurous couples who really value their wedding photography and LOVE spending timein the outdoors as much as I do are my match made in wedding -photographer heaven.

I arrived at their home at around 9:30 am and got started taking photos of Karina and her bridesmaids getting ready. It was a nice and relaxed morning without a hint of "hurry up" stress so by the time DJ arrived with his crew there were plenty of smiles to go around.

My only regret of that time was that I did not know that Karina & DJ own a very fat cat, whom I never got to see, LOL!

After a brief but memorable "incident" at a very famous hotel in Asheville (which I will not mention the name of for copyright reasons, haha!) involving me, the wedding party, the couple and a frazzled security guard, we all headed up to take a drive on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway to take some wedding party and couples portraits at the Haw Creek Valley Overlook.

As you can see, this crew was all business during their session, lol!

Once we made it down the mountain, (which was awesome by the way because I followed the bride in her SUV for like 12 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is my all-time favorite road on the East Coast) we all stopped at a pretty pond nearby the couples wedding venue. Karina e just happened to catch view of the pond out the window while we were driving and thought, hey, that it looked like a cool place to take pictures.

Guys, OMG you have no idea how much I love it when my clients get inspired all on their own to have their photos taken during their wedding day. Karina pulled off of the road and asked me if It was OK that we stopped at the pond so that I could capture some portraits of her and DJ together and I was like, Oh He*k Ya, let's do this! Awesomeness ensured...

We all arrived at DJ & Karina's wedding venue about 30 mins or so before their ceremony was scheduled. The steel toned skies were threatening rain but gosh it was super pretty anyways!

D&K had originally planned to hold their wedding ceremony on the patio overlooking the valley, but nature had other plans. Unfortunately, the rain started coming down in sheets about 10 mins before start time so the couple nixed the outdoor wedding scenario and ended up getting married inside the Laurel Room instead.

Honestly, though, the photos turned out to be pretty great (lots of great natural lighting inside) and once D&K's vows were said and done, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. What a joy it was to document these moments for them and their families as two became one!

Now that the ceremony had concluded it was time to take the formal portraits of the two of them and their families. I love family portrait time, haha! D&K's family reminded me a lot of my own with lots of laughter and a ton of love for one another to go around.

After the family pic's were taken care of, the couple and I took a few minutes to take some newlywed portraits of the two of them here at High Vista.

Reception time!
Boy oh boy, what a fun group The food was freak'n amazing (much of which was prepared by the bride's mother and family) and the music was pretty darn cool in an old-school way!

It was super fun taking pictures of the couple and their guests enjoying each others company during the party. Did I already mention the food?

Oh yeah, I did. Still, OMG what a beautiful meal. BTW, shout out to the bride's mom for sending me home with a to-go container of wedding day desserts which I promise made it all the way back here to Fuquay for my husband and me to enjoy. ;)

This wonderful evening wrapped up around 8:30 as the couple and I headed back outside once more to capture just a few last photographs before the sun-set on their sweet wedding day.

We took some pic's on the putting green in front of the Laurel Room, in among the huge pine trees that grace the entrance of the property and on one of the hills overlooking the valley below.

When all was said and done. I was completely exhausted but totally happy and excited to make that 4-hour drive home and start editing these photos as soon as I possibly could because I couldn't wait to deliver DJ & Karina their wedding photos. Each second I spent taking pictures on this day was an absolute joy! If I could clone this wedding 1000 times over I would happily be there to photograph each one in a way to best document the unique -magical-awesomeness that is a classic North Carolina Mountain Wedding.

Congratulations to DJ and Karina! From the bottom of my heart and the depths of my creative souls, THANK YOU for choosing me to be your wedding photographer!