Ethiopian wedding at the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach

I always like it when I get to do a wedding with a different cultural style. This was my first Ethiopian-style wedding at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club up in Myrtle Beach. This wedding was typical, but they had some exciting customs at the reception.  The dancing was different from what I’m used to. It got all the family involved and made for some good pictures. The only problem we had was that the wedding was running almost an hour late, so by the time I got to take the couple’s pictures, we had very little time left.  I …

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Wedding and reception on Bald Head Island, NC

This was an exciting wedding for me, this was my first time to Bald Head Island, NC and it is a very beautiful area. If you are unfamiliar, the island is an almost 2-hour trip north of Myrtle Beach. To get onto the island you have to park and leave your car and take about a half-hour ferry ride out. There are no cars on the island, just a lot of golf carts, bikes, and shuttles. The actual area of the wedding ceremony was called the old baldy lighthouse.  That is where you see that shot of the bride in …

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Bridal portraits at Pawleys Plantation and the Conway River Walk

I don’t typically do as many bridal portraits as other types of photography.  Many people prefer to do engagement pictures with me and do some bridal style pictures at the wedding.  But it’s always a lot of fun when I get to. This is one of the best kinds of photography you can do, a bride all dressed up for a wedding, without the stress and limited time of the wedding itself.  It’s pretty hard to go wrong as long as you have a pretty location to work with. I thought I would post just a few pictures from recent …

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After reception trash the dress at a wedding in Ocean Isle Beach

I had a lot of fun after the wedding reception with this couple.  They planned it so they could go to the reception for a couple of hours, then do a trash-the-dress session at sunset before leaving for the evening.  I’ve never had a bride and groom get completely in the ocean like they did.  The only problem we had was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I don’t let anything stop me when I was shooting.  The poor bride in the first picture below had scratches that I had to Photoshop out on her arms because of getting bitten. …

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Wedding ceremony at the Conway River Walk

I’m going to try something a little different with my blog posts.  Instead of just posting the same pictures I post in my galleries and Facebook, I will post a lot more here, although many of them won’t have any Photoshop work or touchups like pictures in my main gallery. I had a hectic couple of weeks with 5 weddings; the beginning of May seems to be everyone’s favorite time to get married.  I wanted to highlight this wedding at the Conway River Walk because it’s a location I haven’t done a wedding before.  I’ve been to this area several …

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Engagement portraits at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC

This is my first time visiting the Magnolia Plantation.  It’s a very nice area. It reminds me a lot of Brookgreen Gardens.  Unlike Brookgreen, we were allowed to go wherever we wanted to do the pictures and spend as much time as well.  I had a lot of fun walking around for an hour or so with the couple and finding places to do shots.  The first time to an area takes a bit of experimenting and exploring around. We had some pretty strong early afternoon sunlight which can be difficult at the beach or in an open area, but …

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After wedding pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

Now that things have slowed down some, I’m going to try and go back and blog about some of my previous weddings and events.  This couple was married the day before and just wanted to do some portraits of the two of them.  The Myrtle Beach State Park is a great place for pictures because of the options, like the oak trees, the pier, and the nice dunes, all in the same location.  Also, it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits, so you don’t get in trouble for taking pictures there.  The only thing is, you have to be …

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Wedding at Litchfield Plantation with a horse drawn carriage

This is the first wedding I’ve done at Litchfield Plantation.  It’s a very beautiful area. I always like the Litchfield / Pawleys Island area with all the moss-covered Oak trees.  It’s so pretty if you can get the light coming through the trees just right in the evening.  One of my favorite bridal portraits ever was down in this area.  Just in case you are not familiar, Litchfield is about 20 minutes south of Myrtle Beach, down business 17.  Many of the best spots, with beautiful trees, are away from the beach near the Intracoastal waterway.  I will post some …

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Beautiful spot for a wedding - Holiday cottage walkway at Brookgreen Gardens

Another beautiful wedding at Brookgreen Gardens

I had another wedding at the Holliday Cottage area in Brookgreen Gardens.  This ceremony was at the iron gates at the end of the Live Oak Allee. I always love going there. You just can’t beat the background and lighting that you get with lots of trees and a garden.  The weather had been so nice that several flowers were in bloom. This is always great in the background of a picture.  This wedding was for the bride that I recently did the fun bridal portraits for, you can read about that a couple of blog posts down from here.  …

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Fun bridal portraits at Brookgreen Gardens, Holiday Cottage

It was nice going to the Holiday Cottage in Brookgreen Gardens without actually being there for the wedding ceremony.  I always get some nice shots of the bride at the cottage area, but it’s nice to have a whole hour just to concentrate on the one thing without being rushed.  This gives me enough time to be able to switch lenses and set things up a bit more, for example using my 50mm f1.4 almost wide open.  The bride featured here is actually having her wedding in Brookgreen so we were allowed to do pictures in the area without any …

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