Ten great moments from 2010

Luke here… Over the course of a year as a photographer there are always moments that stop me in my tracks and make me really glad for my job.  It can be something that I find particularly moving or fulfilling or, more often than not, something that’s just plain awesome.  So, without too much adieu, here are my top ten wedding moments of 2010.

#10 Grown men in tears… everywhere you look

Jon and Beth are such great people.  I really related to them on so many levels and by the time their beautiful Claxton Farm wedding rolled around I felt like I had made some great friends.  I will always remember their wedding, as the night that I saw several grown men cry… on a farm.  Jon’s dad got up to propose a toast and raised his glass to Moe.  Everyone looked a little confused until he explained that when Jon was a boy, dad would throw him into the air until dad was tired at which point the young Jon would yell out “Moe! Moe Daddy! Moe!’ .

At this point dad started to cry, women choked up and I quickly put my camera up in front of my face because I suddenly had something in my eye.   Jon’s dad went on to give the most touching, tearful and heartwarming speech that I have ever heard at a wedding.  He spoke in awe of his son and it still moves me to think of it eight months later.

#9 He could play the guitar like he was ringin’ a bell

Cat and Todd said their vows beneath a beautiful black walnut tree in Valle Crucis North Carolina and then proceeded to party their socks off with the (awesome) band Walrus .  After a couple of hours of heavy dancing, a surprise guest took the stage.  He was a young relative of the bride and he was going to play the guitar with the band.  Everyone prepared themselves to humor this cute teenager and the band handed him a guitar.  What happened next still amazes me (and I think the members of Walrus and several Octogenarians that were in attendance).

The kid put together a face-melting rendition of Santana that blew everyone away.  The band actually stopped, turned and looked once they heard this kid start rocking.  It was epic.

#8 High Fidelity

I spend a lot of time with the guys on wedding days.  I think it’s an often overlooked aspect of the overall story.  I find that while the women are in the salons getting ready, the guys are so often getting into hi-jinx.  This was one of the more memorable examples.  While his beautiful bride was getting ready at the salon (under Peter’s careful supervision) Lucas and his guys decided to kill some time by going to a local record store.  Once they were inside I happened to take a picture of Lucas holding an album cover in front of his face.

After the guys huddled around my camera and saw what it looked like, they decided that the game was on.  From there it got hilarious (an a bit raunchy).  The record store was rocking.

#7 In Grand Cathedrals

In our years shooting weddings, neither Peter nor I had ever had the opportunity to shoot inside the Basilica of Saint Lawrence in downtown Asheville.  As natives of the Asheville area, Peter and I had both always looked at this beautiful old religious building as a bit of a mystery.  Our first wedding there didn’t disappoint us.

Kristina and Scott were married in a traditional Catholic ceremony and the pictures totally caught the grandeur of the place.  It really is awe inspiring.

#6 Photobooth Foolery

This year we took a hint from our corporate event photography and started offering a simple portrait setup at weddings (we can even print right on the spot).  Amanda and Jerrod’s wedding at the Venue was a ton of fun and the crew really threw themselves into the photobooth.   I had a couple of chalkboards laying around and creativity shined.  As you can imagine it got pretty interesting.

#5 Mountaintop Magic

Ben and Jasmine hold a special place in my heart.  Ben is my best friends little brother and I’ve seen him grow up. I was mean enough to him growing up that I decided I would shoot his wedding. This wedding was a magical little gem. Jasmine was gorgeous, Ben looked dapper in his bowlers hat and the officiant was a dead ringer for Gandalf.  The wedding was in a field on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere and it was amazing.

As a nice bonus, this wedding was the first time that I shot with our newest photographer, the very talented Melissa Linney.

#4 The Best Man’s Roast

Alan is a big dude and apparently can fight very well.  That’s why I was a little surprised when I saw his groomsmen set up a full screen projection with a powerpoint roasting him at the reception.

Highlights included Alan’s resemblance to Mr. Incredible from the Incredibles, Alan’s resemblance to the Easter Island heads and Alan’s tendency to usually be found without a shirt.  Oh, and there were the pictures of Alan with a mullett in the late 80’s (don’t act like there aren’t some pictures of you with a mullett out there too).

#3 Barefoot Wedding Photography

When Lauren and Scott contacted us about engagement shots in the fall of 2009 we asked them who they were using to photograph the wedding.  They said that they were getting married in Fort Walton Beach Florida and were looking for photographers in that area.  After we trekked through the woods to a waterfall for that engagement session I think we made some new friends.  They must have like those pictures too because they asked us to fly to Florida and shoot their wedding.  We said um… yep and bought our tickets that day.

The wedding was an incredible sunset event right on the beach with an amazing reception after.  Everyone treated us like members of the wedding party and it was just amazing.  This wedding is especially on my mind as I head off tomorrow to shoot a wedding on the beach in Costa Rica! (P.S. the kids on the right aren’t Lauren and Scott, just some cute kids.  We don’t condone 10-year-olds getting married.)

#2 Ain’t no Chatuna Like an Asheville Chatuna

So Peter touched on this in his last post but I have to stress that Whitney and Yonah’s wedding was one of the most magical experiences of the year for me.  These guys threw themselves into everything that they did.  They prayed with intensity and sang with passion and danced with a type of glee that I don’t even have an adjective for.  I have never been to a wedding with this much energy.  As Peter mentioned, the tipping point was at the B’deken went Yonah saw Whitney for the first time in almost two weeks.  The air was electric.

#1 Lightheaded

To finish off my list of incredible wedding moments of 2010 I have picked something that’s very special to me on many levels.  Chris and Autumn have been my frieds for around a decade so I naturally considered it an honor when they asked me to shoot their wedding.  I went from honored to thrilled when they told me where they were getting married.

The air was crisp and beautiful and we went up for almost an hour with Asheville Hot Air Balloons.  It was just me, the couple, the officiant and the pilot.  When we came down, two of my friends were married and we had all shared an amazing experience.  Peter chased us in a car on the ground and got the whole thing from another angle.  It was epic.

So, that’s it.  I know I’ve left a lot of wonderful moments off the list.  I could make a top thirty list I think.  We love all of our clients and thank them for letting us have the coolest job in the world.

Thanks to you for stopping by our blog and supporting our company.  I can’t wait to find out what’s in store for 2011.

January 13, 2011 | Categories: Asheville, Homewood, The Apple Barn, the basilica of st. lawrence, The Venue Asheville, Weddings at the Apple Barn, Weddings at The Venue, Weddings with Blend | Leave a comment