S. Carter Studios

Well, there are a few ways I could start this post. I could start with how truly teachable and sincere Julie is or how she took such joy and pride in her work. I could definitely tell a story or two about how helpful she was just when I needed her and how she helped me to remember why I love my job again. I think I’ll just start by telling you that she’s truly one of a kind and will by our very only Intern 2.0. Our first intern Jenny, who was with us for a year, let some awfully big shoes to fill. Julie did a great job of bringing a new perspective to S. Carter Studios and became an even more dear friend. She’s done her share of work: editing thousands of images, packing and repacking the camera bags, entering receipts, manning our Photo Booth all by herself during one of our most fun and craziest weddings, reupholstering chairs, and putting up with my craziness. Soon we’ll have our Julie photo shoot and you can see how lovely she is but until then enjoy seeing how helpful, silly and talented she is!

Helpful:

slightly blurry, but still a great illustration.

this wedding would have been impossible without her super extendo flash holding arm.

Don’t be fooled, she’s holding the bride and groom’s cherry limeades, not vacationing in Florida.

Silly: I guess it deserves mention that I am the one photo boothing-it-up with her in these. I mean, if you set the whole thing up, it’s totally worth it to have the experience!

and finally, enjoy some of the shots she’s taken as an assistant and with her own company: Julie Lauren Photo

Thank you Julie for all you did this summer, I’m so proud of you & can’t wait to see what the Lord does with your company!

Follow Julie on Twitter

Visit her website

It’s a little ironic that Emily, Sharon and I were dodging raindrops on the day that we took these bridal portraits and that there were plenty of rain drops to be found on her wedding day as well. She was such a lovely bride & I think it could be argued had one of the most beautiful and unique weddings between crazy flash flooding, steady drizzle and one of the most gorgeous sunsets Virginia has to offer. Well, enough about her wedding, here some of her lovely bridal portraits that we kept unwraps until now!

She looks just like a princess waiting for a prince…

just to tease you a little, here’s a preview from her wedding! Unless you’re a Facebook Fan, in which case you would have seen this photo before they’d even left for their honeymoon!

Nathan and Courtney were the first couple to sign up for our engagement mini sessions & they came with ideas & style! I loved that they took so much ownership during their session and were flexible and completely trusting of my ability to help them celebrate this crazy time in their relationship. That’s really a win win combination for anyone! I always get a little nervous when shooting for another photographer but was excited to be able to encourage & discuss the biz with Nathan! Enjoy some photos from their session!

Courtney didn’t wear shoes at any point of the session which turns out is how she normally rolls and usually Nathan doesn’t either so we had him take them off. I  love this image, it just makes me think, “All you need is love.”

Congratulations you crazy kids, I think you’ve got what it takes to make it!

I’ve known Brenton for a while, we marathoned it in his little truck on the way back from Nate and Bekah’s wedding! That was a long but fun trip, plus it ended with fireworks, literally, so how can you beat that. After that I’d see him around, always with this bubbly young lady who I anticipated, after a while, would end up being Mrs. Brenton some time in the future. They got engaged earlier this year and when we started scheduling our engagement mini sessions I was hoping it would work out for us to celebrate their engagement together! Everyone should have engagement photos, or at least that’s my opinion. It was a pleasure to hang out with them on just one of a few weekends before they tie the knot! As it turns out my wonderful intern (though sadly not after tomorrow) Jenny is taking their wedding photos so you can keep your eye on her site for some pictures after they say I do!

He makes her laugh, I believe this was the story about discussing a mammal of the donkey family in 4th grade. I had to laugh at that one too.

Just 5 days until they tie the knot! Best of luck to you both!

They began dating while he was on tour with his band. She’s got two addy awards to her name almost graduated name. I’m not going to lie, I was a little intimidated at the idea of taking pictures of a couple of rock stars. As it turns out, rock stars are just like people! Daniel and Emily were casual, friendly and more than happy to hold hands and do anything for a great shot! We shared cupcakes and it was instant friendship. I can’t wait to see what they’ve got up their sleeves for their end of July wedding!

Sometimes photographers have dreams, like a client saying they have an original polaroid camera with just one picture left in it that they are willing to trust you with. Dreams like this come true sometimes…

I cannot wait for their wedding, just learned yesterday to expect five classic muscle cars at the wedding. H-yes, I’m excited! Here’s to July 31st!

Oh how I love to look at our wedding photos, it was just perfect! One of the things that made it so perfect was being able to land beautiful, thrifty venues. That brings us to this week’s Take A Look, wihch I should add was suggested by my wonderful intern Jenny. This unique and vintage venue is perfect for the Central Virginia Bride on a budget. The Aviary is located at Miller Park in Lynchburg, VA, which is run by Lynchburg Parks and Recreation. Unfortnately they haven’t created a website, to my knowledge, that really showcases this incredible building so I’m glad to provide some info and pictures on here! One of the things that makes this the best value is that renting it (which when we rented in March of 09 was $400 total for 8:00 am to 10:00 pm) includes tables and chairs! It also has a full fridge, oven & storage as well as bathrooms. It can house up to 300 people. We paid to rent it the night before which allowed us to begin setting up and have our rehearsal dinner there.

I loved the many sided building in a beautiful sage green with almost bulgarian looking white details! The natural light is absolutely gorgeous pouring the the windows! We barely had to decorate the interior at all. I’ve done three other weddings at this location and it’s just as beautiful each time. The park around the Aviary is lush and a great place for photos of the bridal party or family!

I love these two photos which the very talented folks at Brooke CourtneyPhotography took at our mutal friend David’s wedding.I loved how David and Rachel really customized the space to showcase their personality in a way I hadn’t seen!

It looks like a building from a fairytale at night and I remember driving away from it so thankful to have found a great venue. I hope that some of you will be able to take advantage of this diamond in the rough!

You may remember this adventurous couple who braved the rain with us in October. We finished the rest of their engagement session in early April! Some things had changed, Alisha’s hair is longer, Kent’s closer to graduation, and now instead of 9 months until their wedding, we’re at just under 4! A lot of things hadn’t changed like their ease and joy at being together and their sincerity in asking about me and Josh! It was great to see them again and hear even more about the great wedding they have panned in July. I love that they can look forward to living in the same state some time soon. Enjoy your last few months guys!

In the spirit of our recent By Definition: Getaway post, I thought this week’s take a look should be about a company that helps provide very stylish and classy getaways for brides in the Central Virginia area! This week we’re happy to invite you take a look at Albermarle Vintage Limosine. Here is a little bit of lovin for you car aficionados. They offer: 1948, 1949 Fleetwood Cadillac, 1940 Packard, & a 1946 Mark IV. For those of us who don’t know what that means here are some images from their website for us to drool over!

According to their website the cars are available for  a Guided Tour of Local Vineyards, Weddings, Business Transportation, Corporate Events, Bed & Breakfast Transportation, Vacation Getaways, and Any other Special Occasions. Can you imagine rolling up to an evening in downtown Charlottesville in one of these bad boys? or a photo of you and your husband to be leaning against this grill in your  vintage engagement session?

I encourage you to become a fan of theirs on Facebook and check out some of their blog posts. I’d be more than happy to have one of these puppies at an S. Carter Studios wedding in the future!

I did this one a while ago but hadn’t had much time to post about it! This was part of the decorations for Angi’s bridal shower (a post to come on that soon).

Ingredients:

Fabric – A sheet found at Goodwill for $2.00

Permanent Double Sided Tape – Kroger – $3.75 , Scissors, Pencil

Tin Cans – Collected from dinner preperations over the span of a few weeks

Total: $5.75 (for up to 20 cans) Time: About 10 minutes per can, faster as you get used to it

Step 1: Select which part of the fabric you’d like to show on the can and mark off the width of the can on the opposite side of the sheet, in pencil. [Tip: I started with the side of the sheet which already had a hem to save time later]. When measuring make two lines, one is the edge of the can and then create a line about 3/4″ further than that line where you’ll cut the fabric. Roll the can up to determine where the end of the material should be to cover it and add 3/4″ on both sides of that measurement as well.

Step 2: Cut the pattern out & place can on top. Mark the bottom and top edges of the can on the border where you’ll create a fold.

Step 3: Place double sided top along the inside edge of your new line. I used 1″ strips separated by about 1/2″. Then fold the extra material over the top of the tape.

Step 4: Repeat as needed on all sides. so that fabric will not fray around the edges.

Step 5: Use double sided tape to apply one edge directly to the can.

Step 6: Use double sided tape to apply the other end which competes the can.

I created nine of these to use at Angi’s bridal shower. We put water in them and lit floating candles on top. Since then I’ve put them around my house with little daisies for spring decorations. We plan to use them as wedding decorations as well!

Really, it’s hard to imagine many better ways to enjoy a Saturday morning than skipping around a beautiful park with three lovely little girls! Oh, and their fun and cute parents too! That’s what I did this Saturday with the Wilsons! Enjoy a few photos from their family session!

Meet: Joanna, the oldest.

Naomi, the second oldest

and Gracie, the youngest.

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I love sisters. My sister and I are pretty close and these girls seem to be too!

We had a great time, and even let mom and dad in on some of the photos too.

Thank you Wilson family for letting us be a part of your lives!

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