Luster Studios » North Carolina Photographers Craig Carpenter

Monthly Archives: May 2009

Highgrove Estate Wedding & Reception (Bridget + Thomas)

May 29, 2009 Posted In: Weddings

Bridget was one of my most excited brides about her wedding photography and had booked me over a year and a half ago. She and Thomas were married at Highgrove Estate and I must say… she could write a book on how to plan the perfect wedding. Every single detail had it’s place and her hard work and planning paid off to create a unique, fun, and elegant event! I’ve never been to a wedding where they had mimosa’s! I must admit that I was just as excited as her the night before and barely got a good night of sleep. We both arrived at 6:15am. :)

Although it usually takes me at least a week or two before I’m able to post any image teasers from any wedding, I made a promise to Bridget to get a few images up before her honeymoon so that she could enjoy them while she was kicking back in Aruba with her new husband. I’ll be updating this post as I have more time to thoroughly go through all of the images. I’m sure it will end up being one of my longest blog posts to date…

Congratulations you two… and promise me to PLEASE stay off the computer a little bit and relax. THAT is what I’m asking in exchange for these teaser pics…The wedding planning is officially over. Woohoo! Leave the hard work up to me now… :)

Hair/Makeup – Elizabeth Tolley
Flowers (Bouquets) – Fresh Affairs
Flowers (Centerpieces) – Fifty Flowers
Cake – Cinda’s Creative Cakes
DJ – All the Right Grooves

4 comments

add a comment

Bridget K. - July 8, 2009 - 7:36 pm

Craig!! I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU once again for everything that you did to capture our day. I will truly cherish the photos you took for a very long time. We have gotten so many compliments on them, and you were truly a standout amongst all of my wonderful vendors. Everyone says it, but all of you helped make it one of the best days of our lives. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!

Hair/Makeup – Elizabeth Tolley
Flowers (Bouquets) – Fresh Affairs
Flowers (Centerpieces) – fiftyflowers.com
Cake – Cinda’s Creative Cakes
DJ – All the Right Grooves (Bethany)

Katherine B. - May 29, 2009 - 10:21 pm

These are absolutely beautiful!! Bridget definitely had a reason for being excited to see these!!! ;) It is awesome to see all of her hard and tedious planning all come together, the wedding turned out gorgeous! So much attention to detail, just so elegant…Congrats to she and Thomas!! :)

Melissa - May 29, 2009 - 4:44 pm

LOVE them!! I love the one with Bridget and Thomas walking on the grounds of High Grove and the one of B on the stairs…goregous!!! haha look at the one of me laughing at Molly, she was absolutely adorable! Can’t wait to see the rest. Congrats to Thomas and Bridget and enjoy your honeymoon to Aruba! :)

Aeriel (monstorb) - May 29, 2009 - 4:30 pm

These look great! The whole day (esp. Ms. Bridgette) looks amazing!

Wedding Jewelry Earrings Necklaces and Bracelets

May 25, 2009 Posted In: Inspiration

wedding jewelery
family heirloom
bridesmaids jewelry earrings

no comments

add a comment

The Raleigh Downtowner “Tying The Knot Downtown Raleigh”

May 14, 2009 Posted In: Personal

Ok… I was able to meet with Leigh and Duncan today and hand them their high resolution digital negatives disc in person. The reason I wanted to do this was because I had a special surprise in store. As my wife will attest, I am pretty sneaky when it comes to surprises… I usually resort to a “fake out” of some sort where I try to lead you down the wrong path so that the surprise totally catches you off guard.

After talking awhile about Leigh and Duncan’s fabulous honeymoon in Jamaica they mentioned what a great reception venue Cafe Luna was and how much they liked the catering manager Ryan. I offered up that I thought that I had read something about them in the magazine the Raleigh Downtowner. They seemed interested and took the bait as I brought over a copy of the most recent issue. They were floored when they saw one of their favorite images on the front cover! You can pick up your own copy right now in downtown Raleigh and soon, you’ll be able to download the .pdf from their website.

I told them that I had been contacted by the magazine just a few days after their wedding with a request for images. They told me they were writing an article about “tying the knot” downtown. I told them I might have a few images that were unique to Raleigh and might fit perfectly.

They ended up using 6 of my images and selected a very happy couple for the front cover! The other couple was Mac and Kim from a wedding last year. Their ceremony was at The Longview Center. The Raleigh Downtowner chose an image of them riding in the Raleigh Rickshaw’s as well as a fun image I composed of them trying to escape from “Jaws” at the North Carolina Science Museum. To get the Rickshaw images I actually rode in one of the rickshaw’s and hung out the side to get some unique perspective shots from front and behind.

I wasn’t expecting to get my hands on the final magazine so soon, but I just happened to see the final copies as I was doing some photography for Restaurant Week yesterday. I had grabbed a bunch and arranged to meet up with Leigh and Duncan.

Leigh left with a smile from ear to ear and was bragging to Duncan how she was going to run around downtown snatching up a bunch of copies. She was beaming about the fact that she was going to be able to show it around the office to her co-workers. Duncan threw his hands up and remarked how he was never going to hear the end of it from their aunt and grandma. Thank you SO much to Crash at the Raleigh Downtowner for making someone’s wedding all that much more special!

I love my job…