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Wedding

Sheraton Atlantic Beach Resort Hotel Wedding

Wed on the Fourth of July!

Happy couple on the pier at the Sheraton Hotel, Atlantic Beach, NC A sweet wedding day scene.

The happy couple.

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Wedding

Saint Egberts Catholic Church, Morehead City Wedding – Country Club of the Crystal Coast, Pine Knoll Shores Reception: Samantha & Rich

Samantha & Rich were married October 17, 2009 at Saint Egberts Catholic Church, Morehead City, NC. Their reception followed at the Country Club of the Crystal Coast. The country club provided the catering and Chris Shafer provided the cake. The flowers were courtesy of The English Rose. Transportation provided by Diamond Limousine. Ck Entertainment provided the reception entertainment. It was a wonderful celebration of their love and even included a piper playing for arriving guests, dressed in full regalia. Be sure to checkout their slide show by clicking here.

Samantha and Richard along the bands of Bogue Banks at the Country Club of the Crystal Coast, Pine Knoll Shores, NC

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Tips, Tricks, Hints Wedding

Enjoying an Exotic Destination Wedding on a Domestic Budget

Exotic Beach Wedding Location, Close to Home: North Carolina's Crystal Coast. Coastal communities include Jacksonville, Swansboro, New Bern, Havelock, Oriental, Morehead City, Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle, Salter Path, Indian Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, Harkers Island, Cedar Point and Beaufort.In today’s economic conditions many brides are looking for ways to scale back on costs. While you may need to give up a trip to the Caribbean or Hawaii for a romantic beach wedding, there are more affordable options. For example, North Carolina’s Crystal Coast offers an escape to the beach but is within comfortable driving range of many urban areas such as Washington D.C., Long Island NY, Richmond VA, Charleston WV and many other East Coast and Midwestern cities. Featuring uninhabited barrier islands, quaint sea faring communities, and a history dating back to colonial times, the Crystal Coast is a wonderfully exotic spot for a wedding yet more affordable than most popular destination wedding locations.

The Crystal Coast features one of the few southern facing beaches along the United States’ east coast. Bogue Banks, the largest inhabited barrier island in the area, strecthes 21 miles, bordered by lovely beaches on both the ocean and sound sides. Fort Macon State Park is located at the East end of the island and offers a pristine beach uncluttered by beach houses, condos and hotels. On the opposite end of the island is the community of Emerald Isle. A number of other popular resort communities are located on the island including Pine Knoll Shores, Indian Beach and Salter Path. The beaches and associated beach houses are all popular locations for Crystal Coast wedding photography, wedding ceremonies and receptions. A variety of beach clubs, such as the Dunes Club, Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle and Indian Beach are all popular southern Outer Banks beach wedding locations. The nearby communities of New Bern, Oriental and Jacksonville also host many weddings.the Ocean Club and Dolphin Ridge Club are popular wedding venues as well. Additionally the North Carolina State Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores makes a spectacular setting for weddings. There are a number of island themed bars and restaurants that also make great locations for wedding receptions.

On the mainland side several communities sit along the sounds and waterways. Beaufort is a quaint town with a rich sea faring history. Stories of pirates, colonial ghosts and other romantic historical figures abound. There are a number of venues in this sea side community that are available for weddings, receptions and wedding photography. The Beaufort waterfront is an excellent location for capturing romantic,engagement, bridal or wedding day portraits. Morehead City is the largest community on the Crystal Coast. While not as historically quaint as Beaufort’s, it too has a lovely waterfront lined with charter fishing boats, seafood restaurants and specialty shops.

There are a number of activities to entertain guests and members of the wedding party before and after the wedding. The Crystal Coast is known worldwide for both its off-shore and inshore saltwater fishing. There are many charter operations in the area. There are also several nice golf courses that are open to the public. Of course, being a resort community, boutique shopping opportunities abound. There are also a number of museums and educational attractions such as the Core Sound Waterfoul Museum, Fort Macon State Park, The History Place, and the NC State Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

When planning a Crystal Coast wedding from outside the area a wedding coordinator is almost indispensable. You can find additional information about the Crystal Coast and local wedding planners by visiting the Crystal Coast Tourism Authority’s site, Crystal Coast Bride Magazine, the Coastal Event Planner and Trendy Bride Magazine. Enjoying a romantic, beach wedding doens’t have to break the bank. North Carolina’s Crystal Coast is close enough to drive, yet far enough away to escape!

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Wedding

Why Choose a Custom “Boutique” Photo Studio?

This is an article from The Consumer Guide for Custom Photography I thought you might find it interesting.

Custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience. Custom photography truly is not for everyone, it requires a level of commitment, investment in time and money, forethought and planning on the part of the subject/client and requires a larger time commitment for the photographer as well.

Clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their families’ memories have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized. These more discerning clients have been known to budget and allot time for a custom photography session. Many clients opt for it to be a once a year special experience, some opt to have custom photography sessions done to record their child’s stages in life. Having said this, it is clear that custom photography is not in everyone’s budget, it is something that most families save for to splurge on from time to time to memorialize their children as they really are (not posed and primped in the cookie cutter studio setting).

There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client. The luxury of great service, better choices and a supberb end product. The result of all this are heirloom quality images. The time invested at the session is only a small portion of time involved in this process.

Custom photography has been likened to purchasing a fine vehicle. To get to point B from A let’s face it, even a bus ride would suffice. If you want to luxuriate in a finely appointed vehicle, customizing your own experience by listening to smooth jazz while sitting in a climate controlled setting adjusted purely for your comfort in a body hugging leather interior, perhaps that Lexus you so desire is your cup of tea. Custom photography is much the same cup of tea. It is the Lexus of the photography world. It is where the intangibles make the experience truly wonderful and the images themselves make the investment of money and time truly worthwhile.

Custom photography can be broken down into even more levels. There are on location, studio, mixed studio/on location, specialty location and destination type photographers. The beauty of custom photography is in the choices and in the luxury of thoses options. The customized service level you are sure to experience will be amazing. The knowledge that your final images are the result of someone caring about those moments so much that they take extra time ensuring that the artwork you receive is good enough to stand by with their name on it. That level of quality and commitment is all but lost in the age of “mass produced,” “mass marketed,” corporate “everyone is a number”. Custom photography is based on being unique to you. How great an experience would be, to be able to sit back and allow a photographer to do this highly custom work for images that you will most likely cherish for a lifetime?

Keep in mind more than anything that the Lexus will never appreciate in value the way your portraits will. The portrait art you become invested in from your custom photographer will no doubt increase in value and become more priceless as the years pass.

To find more articles on the topic of Custom Photography visit the Professional Child Photographer Consumer Guide web site