The Triangle's NACE community is, by far, one of the best I have ever seen. I love how creatives, entrepreneurs, and just all around great companies come together once a month to learn more about the events industry. For the month of October I had the privilege of photographing their event that was held at 21c Hotel in Downtown Durham. This month's event focused on how to cater to unusual venues and the like. 21c Hotel was perfect as this venue hosts some of the most modern artwork in the triangle area, has a bold layout, and is just out of the ordinary extraordinary. 

Upon entering you are greeted by melodic sounds stemming from a local guitar soloist and sites of a mesmerizing acrobatic. The first thought that comes to mind is "this is going to be a great event." Each guest is given a number correlated with a team. From here you find the rest of your team with the same number and are given a task to find certain items throughout the museum hotel. There are 3 floors to the museum, and about 10 or so items that you are needed to find. Once you were done, you head back downstairs for a panelists Q & A, along with delectable food to pair. Dinner was served family style and Slice Pie Company came in for a delicious dessert to boot. I not only went home full, but inspired. 

Vendors

Venue 21c Museum Hotel
Planning and Coordination RSVP Events
Florist Tre Bella
Specialty Catering Slice Pie Company
Rentals American Party Rentals
Table Decor Table of Contents
Event Lighting Get Lit Special Event Lighting
Stage Design and Furniture AFR Event Furnishings
Performance Art Cirque De Vol

When your couple tells you that in their travels they make it so that they visit ALL of the breweries together and collect the cute beer mugs from each of them--then you kind of have to give them an awesome engagement session! Marina and Dustin are tieing the knot next October at the beautiful Mayton Inn in Cary, NC, which I think would be perfect for their personalities! Have you been to the hotel?! It's a beauty and has a charm that no other venue can resemble.

Most of our engagement session took place in various areas of downtown Durham, like the Durham Hotel, Alley 26, and even 21C Hotel. We timed our photography session perfectly as we headed to the parking lot that overlooks downtown Durham and the sun set just over the horizon--how lucky were we?!

The kicker? These images were shot on film and I about screamed once my images were developed; I was so happy and I know you will understand why in a few brief seconds. There is something so dreamy about film, the colors are just so true to life and just plain magical. It was amazing to see Marina and Dustin's personalities shine through with each and every image. I had to give them something unique and totally them; after all, their favorite band is Blink 182 and they are pretty much my dream couple right about now, so yeah, there's that.

All film images were processed by Richard Photo Labs.