erica & jeff are married!

when we first met erica & jeff i cannot say that we weren’t intimidated. they are both police officers and if there’s anything that can make my heart stop on the way to anywhere, it’s a cruiser. maybe that says something about matt’s driving? anyway, after a few minutes joking around about said heart stopping we were totally at ease! they told us all about their families and the reunion that their wedding was going to be- plenty of out of town guests, family and friends were going to be reconnecting and some even meeting on their wedding day! we were excited to be part of the action!

erica & jeff got married in asheville, north carolina, one of our favorite cities! their wedding was held in the deerpark restaurant at the biltmore estate which meant we were totally excited about the time they’d blocked off for portraits. then came the rain. it was expected, of course, but still, no one was thrilled. the ceremony was moved indoors as was the dance floor and the portraits around the grounds were cut pretty short. BUT! you’d never have known that wasn’t exactly the way things were supposed to be if you looked at erica! she was buoyant, to put it mildly! her smile stretched across her face the whole day and she could NOT get over the fact that she was about to marry her best friend; it was so perfect- just the way things should be!

we got started at the early girl eatery, a little spot in asheville that never disappoints. i was excited to be back in the mountains and it seemed everyone else was in just as good spirits as well! from breakfast we walked over to the salon where we spent most of the afternoon in the flurry of bobbi pins and blush, the exact type of girlishness that erica claims she isn’t used to- but on her wedding day she’d decided to go for it, glittering hair piece and all! she made me laugh when she explained it all; her dimples getting deeper when she talked about the hair piece especially. but enough of my commentary, the pictures!

erica’s little flower girl was the sweetest ever- and her name is stella! of course, i took an immediate liking to her:

one of my favorite things about shooting with matt is combining our pics in the end and seeing what the guys were up to while the girls were getting ready. in this case the ladies were a bit behind i guess because matt and i took these next two pictures only a couple minutes apart, haha, i love how similar the compositions are! it’s SO FUN to work with my husband!

i love this next sequence matt captured of jeff- somehow it reminds me of james bond…or alec baldwin…? :)

the ladies took a bit longer to get ready than the gents so they spent the afternoon hanging out in the beautiful grand bohemian hotel lounge waiting for the ladies and bonding- or whatever guys call it:

a few portraits in the rain!

the day started to truly fly by when the ceremony started! everything was a blur of joyous tears, hugs and lots of fun as the reception kicked in and the party started!

i love how romantic this last image is:

erica & jeff, thank you guys so much for having us all the way up to asheville to capture your wedding! the rain didn’t dampen your spirits and your wedding was such a celebration! we wish you guys the very best!