wed // erica & jordan // north carolina wedding photographer (i)

"did you know that i know you? 
more than you know yourself, and without doubt, more than any single other body has ever known any single other body in the history of this world or any other. i know before you know when your heart reaches out and I know without you requiring the assistance of a glance or graze when you are scared or lonely or tired or hungry or angry or worried or blinded by absolute excitement. 
did you know i am yours? 
did you know that i will always be yours? 
did you know that i have waited my entire life to have you be mine? 
did you?"

i don't know if there are really enough words to say how much i love erica. and jordan. 
they're indescribably adorable together, head over heels in love, and have huge giving hearts. 

you may know erica's name because she's a phenomenal photographer (click here!) who has shot with me several times, but if you don't, you should become quickly acquainted with her work. 

there are times when a wedding day is perfect. when everything is aligned, the sun is shining with no chance for rain, everyone's on time, and it all fits perfectly like a completed puzzle..

and then there are ACTUAL wedding days. 

erica and jordan are my favorite kind of couple because they both realized that at the end of the day, all that matters is that they were married. to each other. forever.

they may have cared about the chance for rain, or the missing makeup bag in the moment, but i know that looking back on their day, they only remember how they felt in the moments of their first look, where they both hugged and laughed and shed some tears (side note: jordan had his eyes closed the ENTIRE time!).. or when each member of their bridal party whispered a prayer over each of them separately. or, finally, when erica walked down the aisle towards jordan, alone with her friends softly singing in the background. 

THOSE moments are the ones that make their wedding day whole. 

with that said, i wish i had the words to explain how beautiful their day was. how emotional erica was, the entire time. how beautiful she looked in her simple dress (which, btw, she bought 2 weeks before the wedding! that's an entirely different story..) - how jordan's face looked when he saw her for the first time, how fun their friends were at the reception (which you'll see in part 2) - but i don't. so hopefully my images will do their day justice.

these are the kinds of weddings that i want to shoot.

erica, you're like a baby sister to me. i'm so proud of who you are and what you've become in the years i've known you. and jordan, you're such an awesome guy. i truly can't wait to get to know you :)

and to all of their friends who may or may not have seen these already.. enjoy! 

stay tuned for part two! 

wed // katherine & andrew // south carolina wedding photographer

"Be the light of my lantern, the light of my lantern, be the light.
I'll hold it high for you, keep you safe from harm
I'll hold it high for you, until you're back in my arms."

wheeeewww. 

where do i start.

sure. her dress is amazing. their ceremony was gorgeous. they had an awesome bridal party that i want to befriend immediately.

but those are all fleeting details if the people themselves aren't amazing.

and oh, but they are. so amazing.

to say that i love katherine and andrew is a complete understatement. they are blissfully in love with each other, they are spiritual soulmates, they are partners and they are best friends. she is beautiful and loving and hysterical. he is intentional, sweet and enthusiastic. they are the best.

they are the couple that made me remember why i do what i do. i do it for the undercurrent of excitement you can feel from their simple touches, their sideways glances. i do it for their nervous laughter and shaking hands. i do it for the ceremonies that have everyone weeping with joy and excitement to share in this special celebration, uniting two souls who love the Lord and each other so much. i do it for the friends who embrace and whisper and laugh with each other because they're a family. i do it for the intentionality of a couple who dive way deeper than pinterest details and realize that vulnerability is a beautiful, beautiful thing. 

i am so thankful to my friend megan for referring katherine to me. i love her and her friendship and i cannot wait to see where she goes as a photographer and as a lovely bride. and andrew, well, he's pretty swell too. 

// i also have to give a shoutout to the wavering place plantation for being an amazing venue to work with and ladies over at fern studio floral & event design for putting this thing together alongside the team of planners with jessica rourke. //

and another huge thank you to my sweet friend sarah over at two cents photography for second shooting! 

engaged // shannon & john // charlotte, north carolina

literally, the month of july has been full of rescheduling. rescheduling couple meet ups, rescheduling engagement sessions, etc. it's been a crazy month! so when we had to reschedule two times because of rain for shannon and john's engagement session before their wedding (which is aug 2), i was nervous that we weren't going to be able to do it at ALL! 

on our final date we rescheduled to, shannon and i were texting their entire time down the mountain from boone about the weather and where to go.. well, lo and behold, as soon as they left, it DOWNPOURED in charlotte. i mean, we haven't gotten rain like that in a really, really long time. so, we made alternative plans to shoot in my apartment, or in parking garages instead of her best friend's backyard. thank God the rain stopped about 30 min after we got to her friends house, and we were able to squeeze in this small session.

i can't wait to see these two again on their wedding day, breathing in that mountain air and seeing them celebrate with a handful of people they seriously love. they are so great together and have such a quiet, sincere love - i just can't wait to be around it again.

you guys are the BEST.

and thanks to the sweet caroline (my awesome bride from last october who happens to be bff with shannon) for her flower-crown-making-skills, even if john's allergies flared up ;]

wed // jordan & nick // geneva, florida

where do i even start with these two?

seriously. okay. so.

jordan and i met through instagram. which is hilarious but also not surprising with how much technology influences everything nowadays. i liked her glasses, she commented back and it went from there! she's a fellow photographer (click!) based in orlando - so we had so much in common right off the bat. 

her and nick have such an awesome story. they met on christian mingle (which is hysterical if you knew these guys - neither one of them should have been on that site, mainly because of how awesome they are, but hey, thank God they were!) and pursued each other for a year or so before nick moved down to florida to be with jordan and continue their relationship on another level. i met them last november in charlotte, we did a mini-not-engaged-session for them and jordan was SURE he was going to propose.. sure enough, he didn't. but a couple weeks later, he planned a super sweet proposal that you can see here! jordan immediately asked me to be their wedding photographer (she even mailed me an awesome necklace and "will you be our photographer" gift, including fireworks, so naturally, i couldn't deny them..) - and we brainstormed together over the next 5 months what to have, how to do things, etc. i'm so thankful for our friendship because it made the photography portion of their big day a breeze. they trusted me, they listened to me, they deferred to me when an answer was needed.. i can't thank you guys ENOUGH for loving me and bringing me into your big day not only as a photographer, but as a friend. and also thank you to jordan's sweet friends for taking me under their wing, so happy to have met them and walked away with some new friends! 

since jordan is a wedding/engagement photographer, she understood the importance of bride/groom portraits. we did a beautiful and emotional first look, then bride and groom portraits, then came back outside (on the hottest day of the year, i'm sure) and finished them later with that gorgeous gold light. have you ever seen a happier bride and groom?

their details were to die for and a TOTAL labor of love from their family and friends. (literally, i stayed after to help clean and pack and so did about 10 of their friends, some parents, including some from the wedding party and even the awesome honorary bridesmaids!) from the mismatched china plates to the thousands of pies that jordan baked, to her beautiful dress that was finished off with lace from her mother's veil (which, side note: almost didn't happen - she went through hell and back with one seamstress who took a razor blade to jordan's dress once they decided to end their working relationship! WHAT??! thank the heavens for kim&taylor alterations on aloma in winter park who was able to get her dress done with three or so weeks to go!) to the flowers done by a friend of hers, to the boutonnieres done by jordan herself..   

anyway, i'll end this with words straight from the mouth of the bride: "girls- take dares from your college friends, fly across the country, kiss boys in airports the first time you meet them in person, date the heck out of them, eat lots of popsicles, take trips whenever you can, learn how to out serve one another and then marry your best friend on the recorded hottest day of the year. "

xoxoxo to you two!