Holland Photo Arts Blog

We’re excited to see Tessie & Matt’s winter wedding at the gorgeous Clifton Inn highlighted in Weddings Unveiled magazine! It was such a beautiful affair designed by Jessica at The Event Company and Pat of Pat’s Floral Designs, so the publishers were especially happy to see this wedding to highlight.

In addition to those images chosen for their entry, here are a few of our favorites.

Tessie designed the car display below as a surprise for Matt on his groom’s cake.

Clifton Inn’s chocolate peanut butter crunch cake is, hands-down, the best wedding cake we’ve ever tasted.

Congrats to Amanda & BJ, who recently had their Duke University Chapel wedding highlighted in the North Carolina edition of The Knot magazine! We’re thrilled for them, and for those of you who missed the blog entry for their wedding or aren’t in North Carolina to see the magazine with some of the great moments and details from their wedding, we’ll show you a few of our favorites below. Enjoy!

And a few from their wedding…

In the cool-things-your-neighborhood-does-dept., over the weekend we joined our fellow photographer, neighbor and dear friend Rob Garland along with dozens of our other Lake Reynovia neighbors down on the beach for the annual Christmas Tree Bonfire. It’s probably the best-attended event our community puts on, and starts the evening with hot dogs and s’mores for the kids followed by one-by-one burning of our Christmas trees from all around the community. Volunteers go around and pick up trees from the curb and the trees dry on the beach a week beforehand. It was first postponed from earlier this month due to rain, then extreme cold. This weekend was perfect! You can stay pretty warm as long as the fire is well-fed. Here are a few images from the evening.

Annie enjoys a chuckle with Rob.

Rob hams it up…

Someone had a rather spindly tree that garnered some sympathy come fire time.

It’s very hot that close!

Congratulations to Kelly & Pete, who married one year ago today in Richmond, Virginia celebrating with friends and family at the Country Club of Virginia. We recently asked the happy couple, now expecting (congrats you two!) about their favorite moments and photos from the day. This is what they had to tell us.

Kelly’s Favorites

I love this picture of Pete and my two brothers because it captures a very sentimental expression on Pete’s face.  I also love that it’s a picture of the three of them.  Family is so important to all of us – and they have become so close over the years.

I think this is an absolutely amazing black and white picture!  It captures my mom, sister-in-law, (and possibly soon to be sister-in-law) standing with close friends and family as Pete and I shared our first dance.  My eyes are drawn to this picture every time I flip through my album.

Anytime I am in the car and Brandi by the Looking Glass comes on – I immediatly think of my dad.  I somehow just knew that that would be the song we did our father daughter dance to.  It brings back many memories of frantic dance lessons leading up to the wedding- as this wasn’t the easiest song to dance too!

I always knew that I wanted to somehow incorporate my mom into the ceremony.  A few months before the wedding I came up with the idea to have my mom meet us half way down the isle.  I’m so glad I had them both there to help walk me down the isle.  There are several pictures in this series that I love!

Pete’s Favorites

It’s funny how an image can capture the personality of a person or group of people. In this picture my sisters and parents are having such a great time in the moment. I smile everytime I see this picture!

As I got ready for our wedding a couple of pieces of advice that stuck with me was to pay attention to everything on our wedding day because it goes by so quickly and to take Kelly’s happiness and make it my own. This moment may not show our faces but I will always remember what Kelly looked like when the doors opened for her to walk down the aisle. I love this picture because it always reminds me of the anticipation and emotion of the moment.

Just a great picture of my Dad.  He has always been my best friend and this picture will be how I will always think of him.

Ones we both like:

The one with us and macey (our dog) that we had framed and is in our album: Our dog is such a big part of our life and brings us such joy that we had to have a picture with her!

A picture that captures everything about our wedding night.  Happiness, laughter and love.

We were able to step outside in the middle of our reception for a private moment. The whole night has given each of us memories that will stick with us forever. This is one of those moments that when we talk about our wedding night we always both bring up!

We finished up 2008 with one of the most emotionally rewarding weddings we’ve ever been witness to. Lora and Eric were married locally at the beautiful Clifton Inn on a cool Sunday afternoon just after Christmas. Longtime friends of Holland Photo Arts might recognize Eric as our former associate shooter! He started out with us as a production guru in 2005 before beginning to assist us at weddings and eventually shoot some of ours as an associate for a year in 2007 before branching out on his own as Eric Kelley Photography. While he was with us, he and Lora began dating, and it was clear even then that something really special was going on between the two, and while we’re lucky enough to see incredible loved shared between couples on their wedding day, it’s rare to see it shared with such intensity, intimacy and faith.

On the wedding day, while Lora was having her hair done in the lovely Carriage House, Eric and his groomsmen and ushers sauntered down the gravel path toward the outdoor hot tub for a quick dip before getting ready for the day’s festivities. Of course they couldn’t help jumping first into the frigid waters of the adjacent pool for what seemed like milliseconds to me and probably hours to them before immediately heading into the enveloping waters of the hot tub. The couple chose to see each other before the ceremony to share some private moments and to invite their entire wedding party down to the city’s Downtown Mall and follow-up at Farmington Country Club for some fun group portraits while it was still light out. While the skies were gray and rain threatened, mere drops fell and it certainly wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of the couple who couldn’t wipe away the smiles on their faces.

They celebrated their commitment to each other at their spacious church, Trinity Presbyterian, along with a great number of their close friends and family members. The kids involved all had their own things going on before and during the ceremony, which was amusing to watch. And anyone who has ever doubted the intensity of  watching one’s bride walk down the aisle after already seeing her, need only see Eric’s reaction as she approached, who had to take a moment before taking it all in. The entire congregation enthusiastically sang hymns and listened to their pastor’s detailed and heartfelt homily before applauding as they recessed. All then returned back to the inn for drinks and dinner followed by some crazy dancing to the tunes of Class Act Band. The transparent tent on the back terrace enabled guests to watch twilight change the sky’s colors as it darkened and the hanging lanterns helped add ambiance to the patio. Everything was decorated just so by none other than Pat’s Floral Designs of course, and we were thrilled to once again be working with Jessica from The Event Company. She has a knack for keeping things running smoothly and even when they don’t, no one ever knows (even us!) because she’s that on top of it. It’s difficult putting into words what we witnessed that day, so we’ll just have to refer you to the images (and a special slide show for one of our favorite couples) below. We just couldn’t narrow our favorites down anymore! Thank you, Eric & Lora, for entrusting us to document your wedding celebration for you. We could not have been more thrilled or honored and we hope you absolutely adore your photos.

Want more? Why not? Watch a Quicktime slideshow of our favorite moments from Lora & Eric’s wedding!