Intimate Chapel Hill Wedding at The Crunkleton | Courtney and Christian

wedding

Jul 15

What do you get when you have a cool bride and finely bearded groom, an epic whiskey bar and a decked out classic El Camino? A fantastic wedding day!

When I first met Courtney and Christian, I asked them if there were any spots in the Chapel Hill that were important to them. I knew we'd have some time for some fun portraits and I really wanted to do more than just have them stand in a pretty place. I wanted the place to have meaning to them. And that's when Courtney mentioned that she'd love some photos by Chapel Hill restaurant, Lantern, where they had their first date.

So on their wedding day, together with the help of their awesome planner Katherine Brown of Gather Together we found a way to access the outdoor space for their first look. While I had been willing to hop the wall to get us in, it was pretty great just being able to walk right in there unscathed!

Their wedding ceremony had been planned to be held at the beautiful Coker arboretum, but due to the rain it was moved to the reception space and whiskey bar, The Crunkleton. However, as we were driving back from making family portraits, the rain gave us just enough of a break to stop at Coker and have some fun under the signature arbor. We had hoped we'd get this time and it worked out perfectly.

Once we got back to The Crunkleton, it was time to get the ceremony underway, which was held right in front of the main window of the venue just putting some gorgeous light on Courtney and Christian while they exchanged vows and enjoyed their first kiss as husband and wife.

The reception that followed that evening was a great time with friends and family conversing, drinking some tasty libations, eating (hands down the best dinner I have seen pulled together for a wedding as they had food from a bunch of their favorite restaurants in the Triangle, from Poole's mac'n'cheese to Toro's pizza to Lantern's dumplings - it was amazing), dancing and no shortage of laughs and the sound of glasses clinking in cheers to the happy couple. Then they ended their reception with a taco truck for late night snacks and plates of awesome carne asada tacos and thankful bellys.

Now here is always that special something that I get to witness or take away from the day from every wedding, this had two: the above mentioned dinner smorgasbord of deliciousness and the affection that these two have for their family and friends. It was just awesome to see Courtney and Christian float through the evening spending quality time with everyone who was in attendance and to hear bits of their stories and laughs that they shared together. It was such a pleasure to capture their wedding and I look forward to getting to hang out with these two again when I go to visit them in DC in a few months!