Styled photoshoot at The Dunes Club

October 14, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

In the past I have shied away from any kind of styled photo shoot. I prefer the authentic feeling of a real wedding day and the emotions that come along with it. However, there are times when you just can’t say no! When the opportunity for a custom fitted 1930’s White Rolls Royce styled photo shoot came through, I did jump and say a big,” hell yes!” Icing on the cake was the car’s owner is a good friend and fellow Myrtle Beach wedding vendor, Robert Gerba with RSG Events Designs. He offered the car and I put on my planning hat! Then came the dream team of Myrtle Beach wedding vendors along with my model for the day and my lovely wife Jessica.

Here’s the check list of contacts for our styled photo shoot

Location – Nicole at Dunes Golf and Beach Club
Model – My wife, Jessica, owner of Whereismyguru.com
Make up – Mary Chestnut with Makeup Artistry on location
Hair – Meg Hendrix with St James Salon
Flowers by Robert Gerba with RSG Event Designs
Dress – Nichole at The Little White Dress

For the actual shoot we had no rules, guidelines or preconceived notions of the final image. Ultimately we wanted to showcase the car as it is a new addition to our local wedding offerings but also create the images for a variety of marketing pieces that all the wedding vendors would appreciate.

With all the flowers in bloom and crisp skies, August is just a gorgeous month to shoot in. Now, raise your hand if you’ve had a South Carolina wedding in August… yep it was that hot and yep, we did swindle a golf cart to carry our model around and keep her cool. Everyone involved helped make the shoot a huge success. From Mary dabbing and touching up lipstick, to Nicole helping fan out the dress to perfection, we even had Robert working the model’s veil like a pro.

Robert would hide behind the Rolls Royce and spruce up the veil before I clicked my shutter. This brought the attitude into the images, the rest of the crew would cheer away, and our model’s smile made the moment. If you could have heard the sound of “Rolls Marie,” I’d say she even revved her engine nicely for us too!

As we got ready to call it a day at The Dunes Club, I knew that we had to do another shoot. The next styled photo shoot needed to have a grandeur Gatsby theme, perhaps the infamous novel could help spark our imagination….

Myrtle Beach Mickie and Minnie

October 12, 2016 by Carl Kerridge

It’s not often you find two souls designed completely for each other, but when a passion for Taylor Swift unifies a couple, you know they play for keeps. I am so thankful this couple chose Myrtle Beach as their wedding destination.

Christina is a Northern-Southern belle. I still can’t get over how beautiful her bridal pictures were on the bridge taken at the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach! Her groom, Nathan, is a man of many talents. From playing in the band, swinging golf clubs to keeping a smile on Christina’s face, he just rocks it. One of my favorite moments of the day was their first look. As Christina came around the corner, the two joined hands and made a pinkie promises to each other before turning to see the other. When Nathan saw his bride, all words left him because of her beauty. Christina rested on the arm of his chair and presented his groom’s gifts, Nathan kept saying that they were the best presents ever. That softness and gratitude engulfed the two of them and was shared through the entire day.

You could tell the couple planned each symbolic and meaningful moment for themselves and their guests. We couldn’t have asked for better weather either. I loved their portraits on the golf greens and the sunset. One in particular mimicked the bride’s mother’s wedding picture. Her father was holding her mother in his arms. For generations to come, I hope they share enjoyment at seeing the images side by side.

Myrtle Beach has been the couple’s favorite vacation spot and its vendors helped their ceremony and reception become a masterpiece. The bride and their families baked approximately 3,000 cookies (a Pittsburg tradition) as the couple’s wedding favors and I think that everyone who came from out of town would agree they had more than enough sugar to take with them for the drive back to Pennsylvania.

As for every couple meant to be, there was Disney’s Mickey and Minnie….oh, and of course a Rolls Royce!

We hope you had a blast in Hawaii!

Vendors:

Hair/Makeup: Artistry on Location

Location & Catering: The Dunes Club

Entertainment: Paul Grimshaw Band

Wedding Cake: Coccadotts Cake Shop

Wedding Favors:Bride’s Family

Wedding Dress: MB Bride

Getaway Car: RSG Event Designs

The Wedding Umbrella and The Dunes Club

November 5, 2015 by Carl Kerridge

It was back in 2005 that I shot my first wedding at The Dunes Club and recently, I have been refurbishing film images to create a digitally mastered photo album for that first wedding client (yes people do order albums ten years on).

The Dunes Club is one of the most classical an authentic locations in Myrtle Beach. The club house sits on top of a large lawn nestled by our beautiful ocean and with one of the Grand Strands finest golf courses it offers amazing natural backdrops, shady over-hangings, and playful ideas for the couple. That is, until the rain nymphs decided to tease and play with us, yep you guessed it, it poured with rain all day long.

As wedding photographers we have be be able to improvise and get creative, working with whatever location and lighting that we have available to us. We had the locker rooms, a hallway, and then the mother of the bride brought out umbrellas. Thankfully the mentality of this couple – a “can-do” attitude – was clearly able to adapt and overcome. Two people who were happily together no matter what obstacles were put in their path.

Before the ceremony, I hadn’t seen such a physical display of “bubbling over” from one of my brides, but Emily…she was too excited to contain herself! At the alter, the pastor couldn’t read the vows quick enough. At the reception, one male guest come up to her and exclaimed, “I think you were the happiest bride I’ve ever seen!” and I believe we all would have toast to that.

Though the weather taunted and played its tricks all day, it wasn’t long into the reception that the evening colors peaked through the clouds, bringing a wedding gift in the form of a mini rainbow. I rushed our bride and groom across the soggy lawn to capture the image but the fleeting moment had passed, leaving nothing but a sweet memory and a stormy looking sky.

The overall emotion between the couple was contagious, their happiness emulated in everyone they choose to share their special day with. I wish them much more for their future for I know, “every morning they will wake up with the intention of making the other happy” for the rest of their lives.