Southern Wedding Style: Bury the Bourbon

June 24, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

Driving over the border, it’s no wonder why brides love to have a southern wedding. In South Carolina, the license plate says it all,

“Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places.”

Paired with some of the most sentimental and superstitious traditions, it’s no wonder why southern wedding traditions are growing more popular across the nation. What better way to theme a wedding than to have it be about the closeness of friends and family, and just having a good ol’ time.

Originally being floated over the marsh to it’s current resting place, the boys got dressed and ready at Liberty Lodge under Gus’s supervision. Down the road our girls got ready near the “Tiki Hut,” laughing and giggling away. The icing on the cake was seeing the lovely bride don a beautiful flower crown, then bringing out two more to match her little flower girls.

One of my favorite wedding traditions is to bury a bottle of Bourbon. The bride and groom venture out to their wedding ceremony site and bury the bottle a month before they say, “I do.” Superstition has it that doing so will help ward off rain on the wedding day. And THAT, is just what Mel and Nat did.

The past year, we’ve experienced a few rainy weddings and even a hurricane during a wedding. I checked the weather constantly the entire week before, worried we’d get rained out of their outdoor ceremony site – a privately owned location nestled between Hwy 17 and the beach dunes of Litchfield Beach, SC. As fate would have it, the clouds cleared and we had blue skies for this happy couple!

The most popular southern wedding days are framed by a landscape backdrop full of history, bridal portraits, sweet treats, and soul food. We did sunset bridal portraits against the old motel and pine trees, there was a table full of sweet treats and Southern Way Catering definitely whipped up some good olde country cooking. I believe a little more soul was added to the mix as Tru Sol Band sang and gave everyone dancing fever for the couple’s wedding reception.

Now that’s what I call a true southern wedding, full of class and style. Mel and Nat, we are so happy for you and have you in our thoughts. We wish you enough of everything for the wonderful and loving future ahead of you!

Hair and Makeup: Eli Raley

Officiant: Rev. Barry Stopfel

Cake: Pawley’s Island Bakery

Florist: Carolina Charm

Music: Tru Sol Band

Catering: Southern Way Catering

Coordinator: Events on the Half Shell

Myrtle Beach Wedding: What a Girl Wants

May 6, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

When a bride decides on her Myrtle Beach wedding, she wants to hear her groom say,“I got you, Wifey.”

The most hardcore, completely gangster moment you can have is seeing a man love his wife so intensely, when he says those words, nothing will break that promise…and when I say nothing, I mean not a thing. With the power of God, it will happen! All of it will be solely for her benefit, their future, and their family. Now that’s a force to be reckoned with. That’s Yosi and his bride, Abigail. Their Myrtle Beach wedding was the grandest celebration I have ever experienced.

How many grooms actually plan out the wedding? Fellas, I’m not talking about you helped with the major decisions, looked fly, and showed up on time. Ladies, I mean truly came to you and asked, “What would you like?” Then, began making your dream wedding come true.

Yosi – “It helps to choose professionals that are fun to work with and make things easier. I went through a few decorators, flower guys, entertainers, and photographers before agreeing to work with all the guys we chose. While it was stressful and not an easy thing to do, I believe that If I had been completely hands off and had to show up to a party that I knew nothing about I would not have been able to relax and enjoy as I did. I think it’s important to really be comfortable with everything and everyone involved”.

Every wedding has its stress levels and difficulties, but Yosi swears that it’s the people involved in the planning process that are the secrets to success. Just take for example, whipping up a fully kosher meal for 500+ guests. Where in the world would you start? Well, his family all stepped up to the challenge. His brother walked by his side and a team of relatives created a delicious dessert bar, decorated the ceremony and reception halls, and his sisters stylized, fussed over and catered to the bride’s every whim on the big day. They all contributed to the success of their Myrtle Beach wedding.

One of my first thoughts was, “And during all this, what did your bride have to say about it?” From our emails, I imagine Yosi must have been smiling as he was typing. “After more than a decade together, I believe we know each other well enough that she could not only trust my instincts, but also know exactly what the results would be. We talked about every part of the wedding and her vision guided this wedding just as much.” It is just as simple as that.

Yosi truly designed a wedding fit for his bride. He wanted to shape an experience, the prelude to the new chapter they were embarking on. There are times in life where you know a greater hand is working and secretly disguising coincidences, but not at this wedding. Everyone was invited for this divine appointment, and I could not have been more thankful than to be at the right place at the right time. Well done fella, you made your bride and family proud.

Vendors:

Hair/Make-up: Allure Salon and Spa Myrtle Beach and Christian Cook from MAC

Ceremony & Reception: Hilton at Myrtle Beach

Light Show Display: Global Truth Entertainment

Electronic Violinist: Yennie Lam

Music DJ: Yoav Gabay

Percussionist: Yoni Radbod

Videography: Thomas Hart

Photography: Carl Kerridge

Successful Wedding: 10 Confessions

April 1, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

So it starts, lovers are engaged, family are planning the day, and you are romanticizing about new amazing adventures made for two. But what does it really take to plan a successful wedding?

We here, at Carl Kerridge Photography, are starting a series of basic tips and information to help plan and answer questions on how to have a successful wedding! No, we don’t have all the answers, but we’re willing to help jump start your research, encourage your uniqueness, and provide entertainment along the way.

To kick off our collection, we got in touch with some of our lovely brides from the past wedding season and interviewed them for their confessions leading up to a successful wedding day and the aftermath. We did this for fun so if you just recently got engaged, have been engaged, or thinking about your future wedding, we wish you the biggest of congratulations and invite you to check out the interview below!!

Does spending time with each other’s family add more value to the marriage?

[BRIDES]: “In our case, yes…It really brought us all so close…Making time for each other’s family adds value because we really enjoy their company…Fortunately he fit right in with not only my family, but my friends too. It was like he was meant to be there all along.”

How long should the “wait” period be after the engagement? What shaped your opinion of this?

[BRIDES]: “An engagement is the impetus to getting married. I guess it depends on the couple. Looking back we waited a bit longer than I think most people do. We had more time to make decisions without feeling rushed, we had more time to save up some money. That helped us plan a ‘successful wedding’. We had little trouble booking our venue, photographer, and band. It gave us plenty of time to get our honeymoon planned and paid for too.”

How did you know you were ready to get married?

[BRIDES]: “I was ready to NOT be his girlfriend anymore lol. Joking aside, the same vision for a future together is really important. It wasn’t a question of ‘should we get married?’ just ‘when do we want to do it?’ Our whole relationship we’ve taken slow and moved along at our own pace – that worked for us. We always knew we wanted to get married, but weren’t in any hurry since we knew this was forever, whether we had the paperwork or not.”

How did you get everything planned just the way you wanted it?

[BRIDES]: “Decide ahead of time what type of wedding you both want. Stick to the plan you both decide on, especially when it comes to cost and quality. My tip for a successful wedding, keep notes. I wrote everything down. I think it also helps to try to concentrate on one thing at a time. There are apps that are great planning tools too. They’ll give you deadlines on when things should be done and a checklist to keep you on track. Such a lifesaver! Trust is huge when picking vendors. We opened ourselves up to a connection with these people and then trusted them to do right by us no matter what and it worked out fine. Lastly, keeping those lines of communication open kept us sane. If we thought of a question we forgot to ask, we just emailed whoever we needed to and got the answers we needed.”

How did you handle anything that stressed you out?

[BRIDES]: “A certain degree of stress is going to be inevitable, but we kept in mind that this is going to be a celebration and fun filled event – for us and our guests. If it was something for the wedding day and it was causing me stress, there were times I just eliminated it from the plan. My husband is very chill so talking to him was a huge help. Another trick is to talk to friends that have already gotten married. Again, communicating with everyone we were working with was a huge stress reliever and key to a successful wedding. Getting the answers I needed right from the source and knowing we were on the same page kept me level headed.”

How did you determine your guest list, vendors, and location?

[BRIDES]: “Write down everyone you want to invite. Then go back over the list and do a method of “elimination,” if you end up with too many people. Someone is always going to be hurt that they weren’t invited, but we all have a budget. Pick a location where you have experienced the most wonderful food, times, and fond memories. Friend-referrals and people we knew were how we chose a lot of our venders. At the end of the day, we invited and hired the people we knew we wanted to share that day with. Who you share the experience and memories with is equally important for a successful wedding.”

Does the relationship actually change after you get married? How is it different in general?

[BRIDES]: “Honestly, our relationship hasn’t changed at all. If anything, it’s more exciting now. I love to call him my husband when he calls me his wife. We’re closer now than we’ve ever been, but marriage was such an easy step for us that our relationship hasn’t changed, it’s just grown. We are moving in the same direction we always were, but now we are moving as a married couple, which is nice.”

Do you get to a point where you stop discovering things about each other and it gets boring?

[BRIDES]: “Not yet. People in relationships in general, tend to become complacent with one another. I think this is a comfort and we must assure one another that we are just that instead of feeling insecure. Talking is the big winner! We were friends first and are best friends always so that keeps things in perspective. Keep doing things for one another, take action, and don’t forget to surprise.”

Being with someone forever you’re bound to have arguments, how do you learn to not hold a grudge?

[BRIDES]: “If we fight, we give each other some space until one of us breaks, then we talk it out, agree to disagree and move on with our life. The best way to prevent a grudge from forming for us, is to not let things stew too long. Always remember that you fell in love with the person because of who they are, so stop trying to change them.”

You’re two separate people, how do you learn to balance your likes with your partners so neither of you have to give up on your personal interest?

[BRIDES]: “We’ve always had separate interest.This is something you should look for in a person prior to marrying them, so that when you are together it does not become an issue – it’s already understood. It’s important to be receptive and keep an open mind. Although we do like a lot of the same things, we are pretty open about each other’s interest that we don’t always share [like 90’s hip hop music]. If somethings isn’t working for us, we don’t push it, but also don’t discount it until we’ve at least given it a chance.”

If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything differently? Why or why not?

[BRIDES]: “Looking back, I don’t think I would have put so much pressure on the guest list. I also would have taken a minute during the reception to stop and look around. Someone told me before the wedding that this was the best advice they had been given before they got married. Stop and look around. Stand somewhere out of sight and look out on your wedding. Take it all in. Notice how much fun everyone is having – eating, drinking, dancing, catching up with old friends and family; all to celebrate you guys. I really wish I had done that but found myself so immersed in what was going on around me that I truly forgot to step back for a minute. It was great advice and if I could go back, I would have made time for it.”

Pop quiz! You have this best friend who you adore and she changes her mind about everything when it comes to her jewelry. Her partner just came to get advice from you about the ring, he’s going to propose in the next few days. You know this needs to be perfect for her, so how would you help the groom-to-be pick out the most meaningful ring?

[BRIDES]: “I’d find some way to be browsing jewelry either online or in magazines and ask for her input. I would tell him to listen to his gut instinct. If you love someone and you know it’s right then the perfect ring will present itself. Look with your heart and trust your gut. In the event that your gut fails you, keep your ears open…always. Girls have a tendency to voice their preferences when it comes to things they really want. Last resort, I’d tell him she’s the girl you take to go ring shopping. Take a drive, give two dozen roses and make it romantic. Ask the question before you get to the jewelry store, then take her in to go ring shopping.”

If there’s more you would like to know about having a successful wedding or other info you want us to research and include in future sections of this series, drop a comment below!

We also encourage you to check our Wedding Day Packages and please don’t hesitate to let us know if we can help with your photography needs

Wedding packages and Collections for 2016

March 7, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

Our Wedding Packages and Collections change slightly every year. We listen to the feedback we get from our Bride’s and Groom’s and adjust our packages to include the items that you most desire. I think this year, 2016, as we celebrate 15 years in the Wedding Industry we have put together our best collections and packages yet. We have added options for video with drones, included photo booth options and have gone retro by offering film again. We have also just started to work with a new album company that we are very excited about and will have studio samples soon.

Custom Wedding Packages

We hope you find a Wedding Package to suite your needs, if not remember you can create a unique package for your Wedding day from our A La Carte menu. Start with the build you own collection or even our “Let’s Stay Together” package and add the items you want. If we can assist you in any way don’t hesitate to call us, we would love to hear from you about your wedding day needs and with years of experience we offer more than just assistance with your Wedding Collection.

Imaging USA 2016

February 8, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

My very first trip to Imaging USA and what an experience!!!! (I don’t usually use that many exclamation points so you know it must have been special!). I mean how could a conference packed with industry leaders, both young and old, not entertain thousands of photographers. From the top fine art photographers like Clyde Butcher (www.clydebutcher.com), legendary photojournalists and life long National Geographic photographer Sam Abell (www.samabellphotography.com), modern masters of weddings, portraits and fashion like Jerry Ghionis, Lindsay Adler and Peter Hurley and Commercial photographers like Dean Bradshaw and John David Pittman and who could forget the keynote speaker Mrs Amy Purdy who’s inspirational story of overcoming obstacles in her words “forces us to get creative”. Below you will find my top 5 takeaways that I will be putting into action this year and a series of tips from the photographers and speakers whose classes I attended.

Now to put it all into action with my 5 top takeaways from Imaging USA!

For starters I learned to never be scared of putting my full personality into my work and marketing. Not that I feel reserved now, but, I do sometimes feel like I hold back with some clients, scared that my personality will not be a perfect match for theirs. Allowing the ideal client to accept me totally as a human being and totally loving my style is definitely worth working towards and will positively affect the images we create together.
Never stop learning! Yes I know this is as much a life lesson as is it a reason to continue to educate myself in my career. But seriously, with technology changing at lightning speed now, and software updates happening every other day it is vitally important to stay competitive and never loose touch.
Work to develop a style that is as unique as me. In a world saturated with images from mobile phones and apps like Instagram making it easier and easier to upload and share, how do your create a style of your own and how do you make images that will be recognizable as a ‘Carl Kerridge’ original piece of Art?. It’s a tough question to answer but this year I am challenging myself to define and embrace my style.
Think like a director. I am a still photographer, not making movies with huge Hollywood studio sets, but Dean Bradshaw’s explanation was that you still have to control your entire environment to make great images. The more I think about this one the more it resonates with me and I have made a conscious effort to examine the stories I am telling through the lens, looking for answers to the question behind the motivation for me to push the shutter button.
Compose the picture and wait. I have Sam Abell to thank for this one and I think it might just be the most important lesson of all. It is too tempting with digital capture and our growing desire for instant gratification to simply push the shutter button without properly taking the time to visualize the final image, set the composition, layer the photo and control the lighting. We are often too busy and simply moving too fast. So this tip from a photographer that worked with film his entire career and has 2 images listed in the top 50 at National Geographic is well worth paying attention too.

Fun tips from the teachers!

Begin at the back of the photo and work forward, see the layers and separate them – Sam Abell
The promise of photoshop is perfection, the promise of photography is truth – Sam Abell
The most important thing is insight, the curiosity to wonder and muse – Dean Bradshaw
Lighting should always serve the story, fit it with the concept – Dean Bradshaw
Stories connect us with a shared purpose – JD Pittman
Obstacles can either stop us in our tracks or force us to get creative to overcome – Amy Purdy
Connect your passion with your purpose – Amy Purdy
Put the technical stuff in your back pocket and learn the art of communicating – Peter Hurley
We are the clients mirror so tell them what their face looks like – Peter Hurley
Photograph subjects through the eyes of a loved one – Jerry Ghionis

With all these great tips I hope you are excited to get out and shoot something new, rediscover a passion that you have for image making or fine tune your skills in one area. Below are several photojournalistic images I made at the event, enjoy..