There’s something I love about photographing the night before a wedding. The nerves haven’t fully kicked in yet, everyone has finally arrived, drinks are being poured, and the people closest to the couple get an entire evening to simply be together.
For Christian and Samantha, that evening looked like cocktails, dinner, heartfelt speeches, champagne, and one ridiculously beautiful Southern Pines sunset at Twin Fields Inn.
A Rehearsal Dinner at Twin Fields Inn in Southern Pines, NC
Tucked away in Southern Pines, Twin Fields Inn was the kind of setting that made the evening feel intimate without ever feeling too formal. As everyone arrived, the night started slowly with cocktails and conversation before guests gathered for dinner. And this is exactly why I love rehearsal dinner coverage.
A wedding day moves quickly. There’s a timeline, a ceremony to get to, portraits to take, entrances to make, and a dance floor waiting. The rehearsal dinner has a completely different energy. It gives me space to document the little interactions that might otherwise happen in between everything else—the hugs when family arrives, drinks around the table, friends catching up, and the people who have known the couple longest getting to tell their stories. Christian and Samantha’s evening had all of that.
A Little Poolside Moment at Twin Fields Inn
Before the evening really got underway, we took a few minutes to make use of one of my favorite little corners of Twin Fields Inn: the pool.
There was something about the pool against the property and the warm Southern Pines light that felt effortlessly editorial—almost like a scene pulled from a summer film. We photographed a few of the details around the space and used it as another way to tell the story of where Christian and Samantha’s wedding weekend was unfolding.
Those are the photographs I love mixing into a gallery between all of the people and emotion. The water, the architecture, the evening light, a cocktail sitting nearby—small pieces of a place that instantly bring you back to what it felt like to be there.
It’s also one of the reasons I love photographing an entire wedding weekend. There’s time to notice the setting itself, not just move from one scheduled moment to the next.
Sunset, Dinner & Speeches
As dinner began, the sun started dropping behind Twin Fields Inn and gave us the most beautiful golden evening light.
I was able to step back and capture the property from above with a few drone photographs, showing not only the gathering itself but the surrounding Southern Pines landscape and the warm sunset settling over the venue. It added an entirely different perspective to the story of the night—and might be one of my favorite ways to establish a sense of place during a wedding weekend.
Back on the ground, everyone gathered around the table for dinner and speeches. There were plenty of laughs, emotional moments, reactions from family and friends, and all of those expressions that make documentary wedding photography so special to me.
Instead of only photographing the person giving the speech, I’m always watching the room: Samantha and Christian reacting to a story, parents looking across the table, friends laughing before the punchline is even finished. Those are often the photographs that end up meaning the most.
Ending the Night With Champagne
The evening ended exactly how a celebration like this should—with Christian and Samantha popping a bottle of champagne together.
It was playful, a little chaotic, and the perfect final moment before everyone headed off to get some rest before the wedding day.
And that’s the beauty of adding rehearsal dinner coverage to your wedding photography. Your story doesn’t necessarily begin when you start getting ready the next morning. Sometimes it begins the night before.
It begins with your favorite people arriving from out of town. With cocktails at sunset. With stories around the dinner table. With your parents laughing during a speech and your best friends finally being in the same place. With champagne spraying through the air while you realize: we’re actually getting married tomorrow.
Planning a Wedding Weekend in Southern Pines?
If you’re planning a wedding, rehearsal dinner, or full wedding weekend in Southern Pines, Pinehurst, or elsewhere in North Carolina, I would love to document more than just the traditional wedding-day moments.
My approach blends documentary storytelling with an editorial eye, using digital photography, 35mm film, and details like aerial imagery when they help tell the full story of a place and celebration.
Get in touch
Because years from now, you deserve to remember not only what your wedding looked like—but what the entire weekend felt like.
