Beautiful, Summer Enchanted Garden Wedding at The Graylyn Estate | Winston-Salem, NC | Kate and Patrick

wedding

Jul 21

My contact form asks my inquiring couples what it is about my work that they are drawn to, because at the end of the day I want to make sure we are compatible. Photographers are less like Burger King ("Have It Your Way") and more like snowflakes (no two are the same), and my couples tend to have a desire for something different, something that they can feel and not simply see and their wedding photography is a priority and not just something to check off a list. So when Kate first contacted me last year about her beautiful, summer enchanted garden wedding at the Graylyn Estate and wrote:

"Love the weird artsy stuff. Tired of cliche wedding shots and wanna do something unusual."

(Be still my heart!)

I knew that she and Patrick and I were going to get along amazingly. That was only solidified when we got together for their engagement in the fall, which you can check out here.

So if you took the time to check out that last link of their engagement session, you will understand how excited I was to be there on the wedding day! We had an absolutely gorgeous late May wedding day and there are few places more beautiful then The Graylyn Estate, with it's huge lawns, one of a kind main house, and with a variety of light and rooms to play with; it's a photographer's dream space, plus getting to work with Kathryn and Pankti of Gather Together made the day flow so perfectly.

If you have been following me at all on social media (and if you're not, then you should for recent work...find me at @adamchapinphotography or if you want to be lazy about it, just go here) you know how much I enjoy the fashion of weddings. And Kate's Houghton Gamila gown was killer!

Though sometimes even the most perfect dress can't take the stress away that we can feel leading up to the wedding. Schedules can be tight and the weight of the day can be overwhelming. This is totally normal, and so we just need to switch up the plan a bit. So when Kate let me know that she wanted to move up her first look with Patrick, we made it happen. We got Patrick situated at the base of the beautiful spiral staircase and Kate was up on the third floor. The rest was all them and pure magic! Kate was stunning and beaming as she came down those steps and you knew any stress that was there before was well into the subsiding role now and Patrick was all smiles and, with his back turned, just waiting for Kate to say hello.

Once Kate reached Patrick and he finally got to see his beautiful bride there in her amazing dress and he looking dapper in his tux, she spun and laughed and Patrick was just in awe. It was beautiful. Suddenly they were back to the Kate and Patrick I knew, who spun around in laundry baskets and were so perfect together. These are the moments I love during a wedding. We often feel we have to be someone or something else on this day, and somehow just being together hits the reset and nothing else matters. I don't want to tell you that my smile at this moment was as big as theirs, though had there been a ruler at that moment, I think I would have been right there with them! Then, just as if it had been scripted, I asked them what they were most excited for now that the first look was over with, and both of them instantly said "the cocktail hour"...like I said, I knew we would get on beautifully!

The rest of the wedding day was a continued celebration, and the stories I heard throughout the night were just awesome. No doubt my favorite was chatting with Patrick's grandmother about Ireland (she's from there and I can't help but love the Irish accent), as I had gone there for my own honeymoon over ten years ago. Then as if she couldn't get any cooler in my mind, she got out on the dance floor with Patrick. These are truly my people!

Now that their wedding is over, I am looking forward to catching back up with them soon. Patrick and I had rapped about doing some snowboarding, and I intend to take him up on that, and I could use some greenthumb lessons from Kate because she has the gift. But in the meantime, you can check out their day for yourself right here! Enjoy!