Kelly’s 40th birthday is GOALS. Seriously, goals all around! This incredible woman planned her own 40th birthday celebration (which we LOVE), and the whole thing was absolutely delightful! 

The party was held at Lavender Oaks Farm in Chapel Hill, NC. This enchanting little farm is an actual working lavender farm. It’s such a unique place that’s available to book for weddings and special events… Like 40th birthday parties! ;) One of coolest things about the party was every course of the meal had lavender infused or incorporated somehow. There was even a lavender infused beer for the guests to enjoy! Also, everyone was welcome to go cut some lavender to take home with them. Isn’t that such a lovely touch to remember the night?!

Last year, in the midst of 2020, Leah, Mary Delaney, and grandmother Mary escaped to the mountains for a little getaway. They had Becca come along with them and capture a slice of their mountain adventures. They all had such a great time that she was stoked when they asked her to come back on their Boone, NC trip this year!

Wow, y’all, this family… Where do we even start?! The Davisson family is one that Ashley has photographed over and over again since their wedding. She has had the joy of photographing ALL of the kids' newborn shoots, all their holiday minishoots, their sunflower sessions, and she has even photographed their aunt's wedding and families. Y’all, on top of that, she even photographed their babysitter with her fiance! To say Ashley feels a real sense of history with this group is an understatement. This family newborn shoot for Baby H was just icing on the cake!

Toward the end of last year, Becca had the pleasure of meeting this cute trio and capturing their family Christmas portraits. They had the best time exploring the grounds of the North Carolina Museum of Art together.

Pro tip: When you’re shooting toddlers, keep it moving and keep it fun! Sunny, James, and little gentleman H did just that! The Banks family snuggled, played, and gave me lots of sweet interactions to capture for their family shoot. Also, can we talk about how adorable they all look in their winter-themed sweaters?! We can’t get enough!

Y’all, we are SO EXCITED to share this one. It involves a first for Ashley… Being surprised with photographing a surprise proposal! Eeee! 

Casie Hall is a regular around here. Ashley knows her from when she found Story Photographers and reached out to us for her first wedding, years back. Ashley had a quick connection with Casie and they became friends after that. Over the years, Ashley has shot her family and, over this time, she has become really good friends with Casie! Y’all may recognize her as the owner of Three Oaks (who we love around here). With Ashley and Casie both being small business owners, they’ve of course done a lot of meeting, talking, and growing together. It has been really cool for Ashley to watch their relationship grow from client, to friend, to good friend over the years! So, this surprise shoot with her was especially exciting for Ashley.

Last year, when we did our pandemic pre-sale special for the 2020 Fall Short Stories, we discovered we had a good amount of interest in a Durham mini shoot afternoon. It was really cool to add a new location like that after all those years of holding fall mini shoots in Raleigh. Ashley had both new and returning clients for this shoot day in Durham. It was so fun to have a different set up for this afternoon of minis that we decided to have another fall mini shoot day in Durham for this year's Fall Short Stories!