Kate & Paul’s Mini-Mony

and their Burying of the Bourbon at Lavender Oaks Farm

Kate & Paul were and are the sweetest couple that I have had the privilege of documenting. They were originally planning their 2020 wedding at their venue Lavender Oaks Farm in Chapel Hill, NC. 2020 had other plans, and they made the hard decision to postpone their big celebration and instead had the sweetest little ceremony at an AirBnb in Durham, NC. Dont worry, their big shindig is still in the works for next year at Lavender Oaks Farm!

I had a sort of split day affair with these two. In the morning we met at Lavender Oaks Farm and Kate & Paul buried their custom built box of bourbon. If you are not familiar with the tradition of burying the bourbon, its basically a Southern folklore that says if you bury a bottle of bourbon at the site where the couple is to be married it won't rain on their wedding day. Ironically, on this day, it was raining. The fun thing with postponing your wedding is that you can actually do fun stuff like this! Paul custom built this bourbon box and wow! It was the prettiest thing! High fives to Paul for the detail in it!

Later that afternoon, I met these two at their Airbnb. Yall, this Airbnb was house goals! The decor inside gave me so much inspiration. And, to top it off, it had this beautiful wrap around porch that Kate and Paul decided to tie the knot on. Their ceremony was officiated by Kate’s dad and was even livestreamed via zoom. During their ceremony, Kate’s mom gave them mead to drink from an heirloom vessel. For the exchanging of the rings, Kate’s niece was right up there with them and gave the biggest eyes of love as Kate and Paul exchanged wedding rings. It was a touching ceremony. I feel honored to have witnessed it.

Congratulations, Kate & Paul! I am excited to celebrate with you next year!

Special thanks to these vendors!
Venue // Lavender Oaks Farm
Flowers // Bowerbird Flowers

Mary Ryan & Dan’s Intimate Wedding

A mini-mony backyard soiree filled with all things Zoom!

“We hired Nikki for our small backyard wedding and she was an absolute dream come true. We LOVE our photos - they look ethereal and magical. She masterfully captured the joy, love and beauty of our day.

But, gorgeous photographs aren’t the only reason she was a dream to work with! She was responsive and cared deeply about making sure she understood what we wanted. She was professional and helpful on our wedding day. And, she delivered our finished photos in record time!

We loved every step of working with Nikki and we hope to do many more shoots with her in the future. Highly recommend! She was worth every penny.” — Mary Ryan, the Bride

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I know Covid-19 sucks. Really, it does. But, I do try to find the light and to be honest—this year has been a year of straight love. Its not the year I, myself, planned; or really, any of my couples had planned, but it has outdone itself with the beautiful elopements and small weddings. I have had the chance to photograph so many fun elopements this year. Its exactly what I have always wanted to do. Silver lining? I meet amazing people like Mary Ryan and Dan.

Mary Ryan and Dan hosted their wedding on their backyard deck. The deck just so happened to host the beautifully painted mandella that Mary Ryan happened to orchestrate during the peak of quarantine this year. It was gorgeous! And how fun that it would have a front row seat to this couples wedding. Their wedding was an intimate soiree that included all of their small close-knit masked family and friends. Those that were not present joined in via zoom, which the computer was strategically placed right in the middle of the “aisle” so that everyone had a front row look.

It was special and unique. Their vows were some of the best I’d ever heard. I mean that. They spoke about social justice, the true meaning of health in this covid-19 world, and beautiful stories that brought them together. I was honored to hear about it. I am even more honored that I was able to document it for them.

Congratulations, Mary Ryan & Dan!

“Nothing but 5 star reviews so far on any of the pages I've seen for good reason! Working with Nikki is wonderful. She photographed our elopement with a week's notice, and in that short time she was professional, communicative, organized, energetic, not just on time but early, etc. etc. etc. We are so lucky she was available and she made our special day easy and fun! I can't wait to call her for our next special occasion! “ — Kirsten

I don’t think I could ever express how thankful I am for my clients. Kirsten contacted me after our mutual friend, Lauren, referred me. It’s kind of funny because Lauren had actually told Kirsten that she should do a boudoir session with me, and Kirsten looked at my website and realized that I did both wedding and boudoir. Hilarious, I am glad she chose me for her wedding photos.

Kirsten and Seppe tied the knot on December 12th. They loved the idea to have their wedding date be a double number—read “12/12.” To be honest, I love that detail, too! Since they decided to elope in Durham, NC, they knew they only had a limited time to actually tie the knot at the courthouse. If you are not familiar with Durham County protocol, they only perform marriage ceremonies 1 hour per day. They break it up to do a 30 minute window in the morning, and then a 30 minute window of opportunity in the afternoon. Kirsten and Seppe chose the afternoon slot, and we met in downtown Durham prior so that we could take advantage of the beautiful snow that graced the city a few days before.

We trotted around near the American Tobacco Campus and even made a pitstop at the beautiful Trosa Tree Lot. Afterwards, we headed back to the courthouse where the couple met two of their dear friends so that they could have witnesses for the ceremony. Later, they enjoyed a nice drink at Ponysaurus, which, is always a fun place to go regardless of the occasion. Oh, and before they left to go to Pony, they sent out a blast email with a photo of them together at the courthouse stating what just happened. By the way, this is an awesome way to elope, just saying!

Congratulations Kirsten & Seppe! I wish you many years of happiness together. Thank you for your trust in me for this wonderful wedding of yours!