THE CEREMONY

Danielle and John will always have a super special place in my heart. I had never shot (or even been to) a wedding at a courthouse before. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. They decided to keep their wedding simple and invite only immediate family and few friends. Ya’ll…. the ceremony in the courthouse was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The judge did an AMAZING job of making the court room feel special. She said such beautiful words to celebrate the union of these two people. The little courtroom we were standing in was so full of love it felt like the doors would burst open and love would just pour out into the hallway.

We didn’t have a lot of time between the ceremony and the reception, and it was already golden hour, so we decided to take the husband and wife photos right outside the courthouse… in the PARKING LOT! I’m not joking. I asked the couple if they trusted me, and they did.

Although designating time in your wedding day timeline specifically for your new husband and wife photos is the ideal, sometimes we have to do our best with what we have and find a way to sneak in those photos amidst the chaos of running from one place to another.

We had the most dreamy lighting and you would never know these pictures came from a parking lot!! Although having a beautiful background is a major bonus, the location isn’t the key to beautiful photos. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LIGHTING Y’ALL!

SPECIAL LITTLE BEST MAN

Another aspect of this wedding that made it unforgettable was that it had 1 very very important and special little best man. Their son. He was only 3 and may not have very many memories of his parents’ wedding, he probably won’t remember how many goldfish his grandma fed him to stay quiet during the ceremony, how tricky it was to get him to smile for pictures, or the spider-man cake they had made just for him. However, I have no doubt that in the future when they look back at photos, it’ll mean so so much to him that he was there and participated in his parents’ wedding. And of course these memories will always be tender to these parents’ hearts <3

THE RECEPTION

After the courthouse we went to the reception at Oregano’s! There was a fun slideshow that showed pictures of each of them growing up and their dating days and how their lives became intertwined. They had a fun spider-man cake just for the little guy to make him feel special and loved on their special day. The mother-son and daddy-daughter dances always get to me. Her dad was a soft spoken man, and he gave the most beautiful speech about how he knew that John was a good man and he trusted John would continue to take care of her for the rest of her life. I can only imagine how that felt for John to hear the approval of his bride’s daddy on their wedding day. It was truly a tender moment for everyone.