Luster Studios » North Carolina Photographers Craig Carpenter

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…