Marah + Jared - Henderson, TN Wedding

I loved being part of Marah and Jared's wedding day. It's awesome when I get to photograph couples I actually know. I knew almost everyone in and at the wedding, which is always so nice. This day had the potential to be dramatic since so many people involved in the wedding were fighting some monstrous stomach bug, but in the end everyone made it and no one threw up. That's really good news at a wedding.

Marah and Jared were the very first people to get married at this brand new venue! 

I was VERY excited about this. I got to a lot of weddings and by now there's not much I see that's original as far as exits go. This, though, I have never seen. NERF GUNS!

Shelby & Mitchell - Fayetteville, Tennessee Wedding

Shelby and Mitchell have such an adorable love story. What I loved seeing on their wedding day, and what I hope you see in this blog, is how much they ADORE each other. Their story is one of those "we met a long time ago but nothing ever happened" stories. Those are my favorite because then when the couple finally gets together it's so special! Shelby and Mitchell are so in love and it was great being part of their wedding day with their friends and family. These two got married at an adorable country church back in January. I loved the wintery touches included throughout their day. 

I hope you love seeing their story. Be sure to let me know what you think!

Shelby wore this ring that belonged to her grandmother.

Shelby picked awesome bridesmaids because they all seemed to have exceptional hair and make up skills. She really had a team of people getting her ready for the big day.

The most exciting/terrifying/hilarious/annoying part of the day was DOGS. Right after Shelby and Mitchell shared their adorable first look I see a herd (yes, a herd) of muddy, hyper dogs barreling toward us. I saw them coming and thought, "If these dogs are anything like MY dog, they're about to jump on whoever they encounter. EVERYONE GUARD SHELBY!" Luckily, all of the groomsmen, my second shooter, and some family members were outside after the first look. I yelled at everyone to make sure the dogs didn't get to Shelby and it became absolute chaos. Some of that chaos is documented below. 

Shelby and Mitchell exchanged gifts. Mitchell's gift was a super sweet image of the sound waves his voice makes when he says, "Shelby, I'm crazy about you". It was adorable.

Mitchell collects cameras (he's a photographer too!) so Shelby got him one of those awesome pretend cameras we all played with as kids. When you click the "shutter" it rotates through images of them!

Jennifer & Brad - Iowa City Wedding

Are you guys ready for this? Because this is a very, very special blog post. 

This blog post is of my best friend's wedding!

Jennifer has been my best friend since we were five years old. That means that I have almost no working memory of a time where she wasn't in my life. We've almost been friends for TWENTY YEARS! That blows my mind. We've been with each other through every major life event except for birth. First crushes, first "boyfriends" (which were pretty much pretend since sitting next to someone on a church bus doesn't really make them your boyfriend), mutually disliking high school, poorly planned road trips, and now getting married. She stood by me on my wedding day and I was honored to be able to stand by her on hers.

Many of you know that a few weeks back I Maid of Honored/Photographed a wedding at the same time. I received A LOT of questions about how this would be done. That's fair, it's kind of hard to see how that would work out. It did though! I've written a guide to help others see how this was possible.

Steps to Being the Maid of Honor and Photographer at the Same Time:

1. Get ready before EVERYONE else. 

The time when the bride and bridesmaids are getting ready is always the time in which I, when being a photographer, run around taking photos of the wedding details. No problem, except that this was also the time allotted for ME to get ready. I got dressed and made up an hour before everyone else. Then I took photos of the details and the girls getting ready. 

2. Be OK with not being in a lot of candid photos.

OK by me. Nailed it. 

3. Learn to do normal photographer duties while in a bridesmaids dress and high heels.

Normally when I'm the photographer at a wedding I wear the most comfortable clothes I can get away with while still being in appropriate attire fit for that wedding. I never wear heels. I did once for a super short and intimate ceremony because the amount of time I spent working was reduced by several hours. I actually couldn't walk the next day. Couldn't walk. For Jen's wedding I needed to stay ready to take photos and ready to be in photos at all times, so I wore heels. "Comfort Fit" heels. Psh.

4. Have a trusty assistant.

Most of the photos of a wedding day do not actually include the bridesmaids. I was able to capture bridal portraits, couple portraits, family photos, and just about everything else without any real problems. I could even help instruct the photos of the wedding party. The problem was the ceremony. I couldn't take photos, or help someone else take photos. I handed my camera off to my assistant Emily and she did a wonderful job! Huge thanks to Emily Weatherington of Sunflower Photography for being me when I couldn't be me.

5. Try not to cry too much.

I did OK on this one. Not great, but OK.

Enjoy!

This is Jen drinking EmergenC in a very much failed attempt to not get sick. 

This necklace was Jen's "Something Old". Her grandfather made it and gave it to her grandmother on the day they got engaged. She kept needing to give it back to him to polish because it was tarnishing. The last time Jen's grandfather polished it was on his wedding day and it hasn't tarnished since.

This sash was Jen's "Something Borrowed". It was the sash I wore on my wedding day!

Did I mention this wedding was in Iowa? Iowa is super cold. The day of the wedding it was like 35 degrees with a STRONG breeze. I suggested Jen take some photos with her flannel on.