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It has been a long time coming but we are so excited to finally announce that our own wedding is being featured today on Style Me Pretty. Thanks so much to Amanda Scott Photography and Imago Photography for being there to document our day in photographs, and to all of our other amazing friends and family that helped us in so many ways to make our wedding day all that it was. We are so, so blessed.
For a direct link to our featured post, click here.
It seems hard to believe it’s been nearly 6 months since I married the love of my life. I am beyond blessed to have the best husband in the world…seriously. Of course, after all the craziness of planning a wedding in just four short months, things never really slowed down after we tied the knot (do they ever?), but I’m happy to finally have the chance to share some photographs from our day. Due to our short engagement, and a tight budget, our friends and family played a huge part in making our wedding day so awesome, from helping make bouquets and boutonnieres, to assembling centerpieces and guests’ take aways. I wanted to give credit where it was due, so I have listed everything at the bottom of the post.
One of my very best friends, Amanda Scott, was our photographer, and a bridesmaid, AND was pregnant (she’s unstoppable). Another friend, Tim, of Imago Photography, was nice enough to come shoot our ceremony so that Amanda could be a part of it.
The handkerchief wrapped around my bouquet was made from the bonnet I wore home from the hospital and the brooch is my grandmother’s. My grandfather gave it to her for their 35th anniversary.
This was the moment when I was about to go down and see Rob for the first time. I was getting so flustered but Kleenex and napkins helped. 🙂
We had a lemonade stand ready for guests as they arrived for the ceremony.
Rob and I both wrote our own vows, and after saying them to each other during the ceremony, we sealed them together in an envelope with two different color waxes.
My reaction to Rob’s grandfather (bottom left) throwing his arms up and shouting out “yeeeeehaw!” as the ceremony concluded. Sadly, he passed away in September, but we are so glad he was able to make it to our wedding, and for the memories we will always have.
Guests could help themselves to a biscuit bar as they waited for us to finish up photos.
Contra dancing at our reception. (Thanks to my brother, his fiancé (well, wife on November 3rd!), and my sister for instructing).
Just as we were about to make our getaway, my dad surprised me by serenading me with a song he used to sing to me when I was a baby. Until this point in my life, I had hardly heard my dad play guitar, and never with accompanying vocals. He isn’t much for performing, and I’m sure this is the first time he ever played in front of any type of audience. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Oh. my. goodness.
Chinese lanterns. Don’t worry folks, they were completely biodegradable. 🙂
A couple of college friends of mine from Cardboard Films were our videographers. The bridesmaid bouquets were made by two of my bridesmaids the morning of our wedding, using lavender I ordered online from CA. I bought dusty miller and succulents at Lowes for the boutonnieres, and my brother and his fiancé assembled them the morning of our wedding as well. My sister did an awesome job on my hair for both the ceremony and reception, and my best friend did my makeup. Part of our music during the ceremony was done by my uncle on vocals, my brother on djembe, and our good friend on guitar. My plethora of antique cameras and books made up our centerpieces at the reception, along with paper vases we made out of old books (with the HUGE help of our amazing church friends). Rob’s parents helped us locate a great place to buy honey in bulk, along with little jars to give our guests, and our church friends helped us fill every jar and decorate them with labels and burlap.
Venue: The Fillauer Lake House / Main Photographer: Amanda Scott Photography / Ceremony Photographer: Imago Photography / Videographer: Cardboard Films / Bride’s Bouquet and Corsages: Grafe Studios /
Wedding Cake: Sifted Bakery / Catering: Ray’s Catering / Wedding Dress: Casablanca / Guy’s Suits: Express
After posting a couple of shots from Sara’s bridal session yesterday, I realized I never shared any of my own bridal portraits. While my sister (who was also my maid of honor) was on her spring break from grad school, we met up in SC for a week to spend some time with family and take care of some wedding planning. Also while in town, I was hoping to have my dad take some bridal portraits of me. For those that don’t know, it was because of my dad that I fell in love with photography in the first place. He got into photography while in college and my mother (girlfriend at the time) became the subject of most of his portrait endeavors. He purchased his own darkroom equipment and, after my mom and dad were married, would use their tiny bathroom in their first home to develop his prints. As a kid, I can remember him always having his camera with him on family vacations, small outings, and just to document little moments of our childhood. Because of that, we have countless slides and negatives of our little family of five, that I will always love looking through.
I had always been interested in taking pictures, but it wasn’t until I went to art camp in middle school, where we learned to develop prints in a darkroom, that I really wanted to start pursuing it as an art form. When I was about 13 or 14 my dad had my grandfather’s ’73 Minolta fixed up and cleaned for me, and it became my first “real” camera. It was the only camera I used until I was a senior in college, and still holds a very special place in my heart. As I was first learning about f-stops and film speeds, my dad would drive me around town and we’d find things to take pictures of, just for the sake of taking pictures. That’s where I learned to be a photographer. Not in the college courses I took or the books I’ve read. Those just taught me how to fine tune things here and there, or how to retouch zits in photoshop. (I did a post not too long ago about my beginnings as a photographer, and why I still love film. You can see that post here.)
This past New Year’s Eve, Rob and I took that same Minolta around the art district of Charlotte and shot off a roll of black and white film, went back to my parent’s house and developed it, using my dad’s same darkroom equipment, set up in their bathroom. And there, as we looked over the negatives, I noticed a shot Rob had snuck in of my engagement ring. And now he is my husband. Funny how things come full circle in life sometimes.
Ok, back to the bridal portraits. When the planned day came, it brought threats of rain and thunderstorms, but we headed out anyway. We were lucky enough to get all the shots we wanted, just before the ominous clouds let loose. As we were heading back to the car, the winds picked up and the sky was crazy dark. And as a dedicated, serious photographer would do, my dad insisted that we take some shots with the dramatic clouds in the background, which resulted with the below image on the right. What you don’t see in the picture is the wind about to blow me over, debris flying everywhere, and the fear that I was about to be struck by lighting at any second. And, it turned out to be one of my very favorite images from the shoot.
Last weekend we traveled back to Cleveland, TN to photograph Matt and Sara’s wedding, about 3 miles away from the venue where we just got married a little over two months ago. Good memories. Here are a couple of shots from Sara’s bridal session.
Carla Alsup - Enjoyed seeing all your pictures! Just absolutely beautiful!
Jane Rehnborg - Absolutely beautiful pictures. Would loved to have seen all the details in person, it was beautiful and took a lot of thought. Congratulations, Kim and Rob.