It’s been a number of years since I’ve photographed a wedding at the Peanut Warehouse in Conway, SC. They have done some remodeling and there are now a lot of hanging lights over the large ceremony area. I’ve always loved the rustic look of the warehouse, the way you can see sunlight filter through cracks in the old wood boards along the walls. It is also in a beautiful location, very close to the Conway Riverwalk and under the old Conway bridge next to the train tracks. It is a short walk for the family and wedding party to take pictures on the beautiful Waccamaw River. The only problem, with the Peanut Warehouse, is the lack of indoor heating or cooling. It might not be the best location for a middle of summer wedding.
Ashton and Tyler, the bride and groom, had beautiful weather for their wedding day. I met up with Ashton, for some getting ready pictures, at the Hennigan Salon in downtown Conway. I had previously done some beautiful bridal portraits with her on the Riverwalk as well. After the salon, we did some pictures with the bride and bridesmaids down on the Riverwalk. Their bouquets hadn’t yet arrived, but we got some cute shots like with the girls holding hands and walking down the Riverwalk, as well as individual portraits with the bride and each bridesmaid. After the groomsmen arrived, I also took them down to the Riverwalk for portraits. Even with the harsh mid afternoon sun, there are plenty of shady spots for some great pictures on the Riverwalk. My powerful off camera bare bulb flash also helps to fill in the shadows and brighten the eyes.
Wedding ceremony at the Peanut Warehouse
The ceremony was held in the center of the Peanut Warehouse under all the hanging lights. This is a very beautiful spot with the sunlight light filtering through the wall in the background. The bride and groom had huge smiles throughout the whole ceremony. Ashton couldn’t stop laughing when Tyler pulled out a huge Ring Pop candy, to put on her finger, before putting on the real wedding ring! After the ceremony, we went down to the River Walk for family pictures and for more pictures with the bridesmaids and groomsmen. I wanted to wait until sunset for most of the Aston and Tyler’s pictures, so I just took some quick portraits of them, before they went in for their first dance. I loved some of the dancing pictures that I was able to capture with the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the walls.
Sunset pictures on the Conway Riverwalk with the bride and groom
I pulled the bride and groom away, while everyone was eating dinner, for sunset pictures on the Conway Riverwalk. We started with pictures up on the old train tracks near the bridge. This area is really starting to get overgrown and falling apart, so I no longer take clients too far out on the tracks. We got some great romantic poses on the tracks, as well as a really cute one of them holding hands and walking down opposite train track rails. We also took some pictures with the newly repainted old Conway bridge in the background, as well as on the beautiful boardwalks by the Waccamaw River. The docks down on the river are one of my favorite spots for pictures. We didn’t have time to go to the Conway Garden Walk for pictures, but if you want to check this location out, view Ashton’s bridal portrait session.
Finally, we went back inside for the cake cutting and then lots of dancing. This post was already getting so long that I didn’t include dancing pictures, but I did include some from the grow stick exit. I generally don’t like glow sticks, they are so dim compared to sparklers, they don’t show up well in pictures. However, this area was very dark, so I cranked the iso up on my camera really high and used some extra backlighting. This was enough to get the glow sticks to show up, and these pictures actually turned out pretty well.
Experimenting with the new Skylum Luminar 4 Plugin
On a side note, I’m experimenting with the new Skylum Luminar 4 plugin. I actually used the AI Accent and Structure tools on a few images below. The AI Accent does seem to work pretty well at enhancing the contrast and color of background details without causing problems with skin tones, it’s going to take some experimenting to see if I actually find this useful. Also, the AI Structure seems to work quite well, it increases microstructure across the image again without applying it to skin, which is pretty cool! I actually found a negative value is pretty neat as well, it kind of softens and blurs everything but the subject. I don’t find the skin smoothing tools to be very useful yet, unless the subject is very close like a face portrait. There is still no substitute to going into photoshop and doing this manually. However, unlike most plugins I’ve tried, I think I will keep experimenting to see if I can get the look I want. I still find the Nik Collection to be my favorite.
I hope you enjoy the pictures below, if you are planning a wedding at the Peanut Warehouse in Conway please let me know!
Bride’s dress hanging on the brick wall – Hennigan Salon – Conway
First Look with bridesmaids – Hennigan Salon – Conway
Mom fixing the bride’s veil – Hennigan Salon – Conway
Bride and bridesmaids leaving the salon – Hennigan Salon – Conway
Wedding ceremony under the lights – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
Bridesmaids before the ceremony – Conway River Walk
Bridesmaids holding hands walking down the boardwalk – Conway River Walk
Individual portraits with each bridesmaid and bride –
Bride and ring bearer – Conway River Walk
Mom and bride smiling – Conway River Walk
Bridesmaids on the dock, we didn’t have their flowers yet – Conway River Walk
Let the adventure begin – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
Pick a seat, Not a side – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
Groomsmen having a beer before the ceremony – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
Casual portrait of groomsmen by the river – Conway River Walk
Groomsmen talking to each other by the river – Conway River Walk
Formal portrait of guys on the dock – Conway River Walk
Groomsmen walking down the dock together – Conway River Walk
Groomsmen throwing groom in the river – Conway River Walk
Wedding program detail shot – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
Detail picture of wedding cake – Peanut Warehouse – Conway
