To say that the weather was a concern for Kristen and Jason's wedding on Hilton Head was an understatement. Eight months before their wedding, a hurricane hit Hilton Head and downed several hundred thousand trees. These trees were then piled at their original venue. Consequently, their original venue had no choice but to cancel on them. Plan two was to have their wedding at Sea Pines, on the south end of Hilton Head.

I had a conversation with the bride a few days before the wedding, who was watching the wether report for her wedding day with great concern. I tried to reassure her that of the 350 or so weddings I've done, only about three have ever been just completely rained out. Then the day of the wedding came, and it was absolutely pouring. Was I worried about it? No. You see, I've seen enough days like this to know that the pictures are still going to turn out beautiful. Rainy days give beautiful, even lighting. There are always sheltered places to shoot. And eventually, it's going to stop raining, and when that happens, the sky is going to be dramatic. All of that happened. Even though they ended up needing to have the ceremony indoors rather than on the 18th green, their couples pictures turned out awesome. Here are just of few of their pictures, finishing with a shot with the receding storm in the background.

Wollwerth Imagery

Maria and James got married October 30th at a private home on Hilton Head. It was debatable whether it was even going to happen, as Hurricane Matthew hit two weeks before, and the home was right on the ocean. Well, the home survived, and even with the sand dunes gone, it made for a beautiful wedding. I'm not sure why, but there were butterflies all over the beach that day, and they made their way into a number of the pictures. Celebrations Catering and Events did all the setup and catering, and added quite a few details I haven't seen before, including sea glass decorations on the tables.

Maria and James themselves were fantastic. If I could do a wedding like theirs every week, I would. They were there to have fun, and it shows in the pictures. No one was stressed out. They played games during the reception, and were very flexible about getting pictures when the lighting was right. It really goes to show, the less worried you are about the day, the better the pictures turn out. Blessings to you both. It was a pleasure.

The wedding season has been crazy this year, hence why I haven't updated this blog in a while. This was likely the busiest June I've ever had. In fact, I had four weddings in four days. 

Jill and Alex's wedding was the start of that month, and it was a great start. I had the pleasure of shooting Jill's sister's wedding a few years ago. It's always nice to see people you know at a wedding, and have some idea of how everybody works together. The wedding was at Honey Horn Plantation on Hilton Head, which is also one of my favorite places to shoot. There is such a variety of places I can go and get a different look for each place. Leah McCarthy from Downtown Catering and Events was the planner, and they did a fantastic job getting everything together and looking beautiful. Furthermore, they set up the ceremony under the oaks in a manner that gave me great lighting. I've shot under the same oaks before, and had half the people in the sun and half in the shade. This was great, especially since it was about a million degrees that day. 

To top it all off, we got just a little bit of bad weather right at the end of the day, which if you know me, is fantastic. Bad weather rolling through makes for some fantastic sunsets. I pulled Jill and Alex out of the reception for about 15 minutes and we went down to the dock to make full use of what nature gave us. Heat or not, I would shoot weddings like this one every day. Here are some highlights of the day.

As someone who leans toward photojournalism when it comes to wedding photography, I tend to focus more on anticipation of moments between people and capturing expressions. This can sometimes cause me to be a bit weak when it comes to detail shots. This was not the case though for Page and John's wedding recently at Palmetto Bluff near Hilton Head, South Carolina. This wedding truly was about the details, and they were all in place. From the ruins decorated in flowers to the antique china to the gospel choir, everything was thought out thoroughly. It made for a truly dramatic day full of eye candy for the bride, the groom, the guests, and especially me. Here are some details and moments of the day.