kelly & jim’s wedding day dawned slightly overcast- in a calm, cool kinda way. as the day progressed it turned from a little cloudy to dark as night and the rain came with gusto. as the ladies finished getting ready we all agreed we’d heard that rain on your wedding day is good luck- so kelly & jim? LUCKIEST COUPLE EVER! she laughed as she recounted her desire for a beach themed wedding, but just not on a beach- in case it rained. that’s some foresight!
anyway while we were finishing up, matt was at the church scouting indoor locations for some portraits as well as capturing the guy’s finishing touches. actually, i’m not sure what ‘guy’s finishing touches’ entails but judging by matt’s pictures every week it seems to include mostly eating and goofing off. and maybe readjusting a jacket or two:
matt found some pretty striking sheltered locations at the church and we got started right away!
kelly, who rarely wears makeup (because she doesn’t need to at all!), went with light, natural makeup for her wedding day. perfect for a beach themed wedding and just the right compliment to her bold earrings and romantically ruffled dress.
before we knew it, it was time for the ceremony! full of sweet moments and lots of smiles, the ceremony was a definite celebration of a marriage eight years in the making!
we grabbed a few quick portraits before they were introduced and the party started! we laughed along with everyone else at the hilarious toasts and quickly found ourselves swept up in the celebration. capturing it was a blast!
kelly & jim, we are so happy for you guys! thank you so much for having us at your wedding- we wish you the very best!
as with many of our newest friends, we first met erin online through a comment she left on our blog. as is usual for me, i jumped over to her blog to see who she was and what she was all about! i spent a while reading back entries and getting to know the sweet girl behind the blog- a writer, a photographer, a dreamer. so when erin showed up as a bridesmaid and her boyfriend, bryan, showed up as the dj at lauren & joe’s wedding last fall, it was a great surprise!
just a few months later erin emailed us with the good news that bryan proposed! we set up a meeting as soon as we could- which ended up being late on a friday night, after another shoot and just one day after stella’s ‘lady surgery.’ so covered in grass, drugged puppy in tow, we met them for coffee. we fell into friendship with them right away- we have so much in common! we exhausted every subject before finally getting around to talking about their vision for their wedding. we left smiling, knowing that we had new friends and hoping that they would pick us for their wedding!
they did!
when i arrived to start shooting i was immediately struck by the awesomely unique home erin grew up in- she told me that it was a family project- they spent years building it with their own hands, the whole family working together! this gave me just a little glimpse into how loving and energetic and, frankly, DIYtastic this family really is! i began capturing details while the girls reminisced about the rehearsal dinner they held at the house the night before and chatted about how much they were looking forward to specific wedding details that i would see later. i found myself just as excited for the rest of the day as they were! but first, a few details. long ago erin made a newspaper chain to represent the days until she married bryan and i love how she kept the final link in her sight on her wedding day- the perfect reminder of a long beautiful journey ending and the excitement of beginning another!
erin & bryan made the invitations themselves- bryan rocking the letterpress and erin masterminding the rest. they are so personal- a future business venture maybe? we shall see!
while i chilled with the ladies, matt met bryan and his guys at his & erin’s new loft. we were excited to discover that they are living 5 minutes from us! i love this big image matt captured of bryan in the parking deck of their building:
couple portraits were really important to erin & bryan so they planned plenty of time for us to explore the city together! we started at their ceremony site, the beautiful atlanta contemporary art center and explored the surroundings there before jumping in the car to enjoy a few other locations close by. it was great having so much time to be creative and i hope erin & bryan are as happy as we are with their mini portrait session.
when we arrived back at the contemporary, final preparations were almost complete and there was nothing left to do but relax and place erin’s veil to complete her wedding day look (she left the veil off for portraits as a surprise for bryan when she walked down the aisle).
before we dive into the ceremony let’s take a second to pause and oooh and aaah over these beautiful details erin and her family and friends created for her wedding! everything was so beautifully integrated with the surroundings at the contemporary- it was perfect! OH, and the typewriter? erin actually used it to address all of her invitations!
ok, back to the ceremony! erin walked down the aisle with both of her parents, so sweet! it was easy to see the happiness and love in everyone’s faces as this new family was being knitted together:
the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the ceremony but made a grand appearance at the very end when erin & bryan walked back down the aisle, married and ecstatic! the glow of the setting sun was a stunning way to perfect that moment!
a friend of the family had secured us access to the roof of a nearby building for a few night portraits after the ceremony- it was so peaceful up there!
the reception started with a friend singing their first dance and a crowd of friends and family watching, cheering, and enjoying the personal touches erin & bryan spent months dreaming up!
then came the dancing! erin and her dad impressed everyone with a dramatic ending:
erin & bryan, thank you guys so much for having us! we are so excited for your future and we wish you the best- hope to see you soon!
one of the reasons we love our job is that no two weddings are alike! no two couples have the same personality, aesthetic or vision- they keep us energized and looking for ways to capture the essence of each day. one of the ways we do this is by really listening to the words each couple uses to describe their day- words like ‘vintage & eclectic,’ ‘modern & clean’ or ‘glamorous & chic’ provide us with different lenses through which to view the day. though we don’t deviate from our own style of capturing an image, we do allow ourselves to lean in the direction of the bride and groom so we can do our absolute best to capture their personalities in each image we make. all this to say- when we found out jennifer’s wedding was gatsby inspired she immediately had us viewing the day through the inspiration of new york in the 1920s. we wanted to create images that were soft, opulent and classic and as soon as we walked into the ritz and saw jennifer’s sweet smile and sparkling eyes we knew it would be perfect. her quiet excitement was sweet yet passionate and i couldn’t help but believe that her classic beauty was really from another era.
and the dapper groom- complete with bow tie and a feather in his lapel:
i love these next images of jennifer and her pearls- just a hint of what was to come at the reception and the perfect compliment to her dark falling curls and glamorous makeup.
the ceremony and reception were held at the ritz carlton, with steve bales expertly flipping the room from an intimate ceremony to a decadent reception- tables overflowing with feathers, blooms, candlelight, pearls and a touch of white fur. gatsby would have been impressed.
jennifer & morgan entered to cheers and applause before dancing the night away in style! HUGE props to morgan for promising jennifer that, even though he doesn’t love dancing, he would dance with her at least half of the evening- what a sweet groom! though, he clearly had tons of fun keeping that promise!
and, just like that, the night was at an end. they exited from the ballroom to handfuls of white petals tossed by their closest friends and family- a dreamy way to end a beautiful day!
jennifer & morgan, thank you so much for having us! your wedding was beautiful and a joy to capture. we wish you both the very best!
