North Carolina CourtHouses/City Halls

moniquitiki

Hi!
Any suggestions on historic looking or photogenic courthouses for weddings in North Carolina? Triangle or Triad area preferred.

And while I'm on that topic, has anyone had any experience with hiring a photographer for a courthouse wedding? I always see photos of couples who get married in the courthouse and do a photo session afterwards, but I would love to catch the memory, especially if the place is visually pleasing and if the photographer can do this at a reasonable fee.

Thanks for the suggestions!

kellya01

There is a really great historic old federal building in Winston Salem that is really photogenic.  I can't remember what it's called but I think you can find it through TK's venues 

Hillsborough has a historic courthouse (they don't use it anymore) that is pretty photogenic too.  

I was a BIG fan of the courthouse in Chatham county (traffic circle in Pittsboro) but I think it suffered from a fire last year.  I don't know how the rebuilding and reconstruction process is going but it might be done by the time you need it.  

I don't recommend Durham's courthouse... not very historic looking IMO (and I live in Durham).  

Hope that helps, and maybe you'll get more suggestions on here too... hopefully you'll find one you like! 

pirategal03

Are you looking for a historic/cool looking courthouse for a venue?  Or are you choosing a courthouse to go to to JOP your wedding?  If it's the latter, I think you'll find that many historic courthouses aren't where the magistrate that would marry you is located.

If it's the former, Lexington (Davidson County) has an awesome historic courthouse.  http://visitlexingtonnc.com/museums/

pirategal03

Oh and PP mentioned the Chatham County historic courthouse.  It burned practically to the ground last year, so I don't think it'd really make for good photos right now.

kellya01

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina_north-carolina-courthousescity-halls?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:115Discussion:6a4c09cd-f259-4017-9aad-64673859c39fPost:eee7463c-e814-4391-bd36-ddd1d46c4be4">Re: North Carolina CourtHouses/City Halls</a>:
[QUOTE]Oh and PP mentioned the Chatham County historic courthouse.  It burned practically to the ground last year, so I don't think it'd really make for good photos right now.
Posted by pirategal03[/QUOTE]

<div>Yeah, I think most of the brick and the stone structural pieces were okay, so they're reconstructing the rest of it.  I saw some photos the other day on the news and they have scaffolding around the outside and it looks like they're working really hard to get it back into its old historic form.  Didn't want to sound ignorant... I just don't know when it will be done, but maybe by the time the OP would need it, it *might* be ready.  </div><div>
</div><div>The historic courthouses got abandoned when a lot of towns started moving into newer modern buildings.  It makes me sad to see the abandoned "historic" courthouses.  </div><div><img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-embarassed.gif" border="0" alt="Embarassed" title="Embarassed" /></div>

tarheelbabs

Mary is right about the getting married issue.  A lot of these older courthouses aren't being used for their original purposes or don't house all of the judicial functions.  Could be tricky if that's what you're looking for.