{candace + garrett}

Y'all!!  It is eye-candy time in Tennessee!  This is ONE GORGEOUS WEDDING with some beautiful people.  If you know me well, you know that I LOVE working with type-A brides.  They know what they want out of life and love and also out of their wedding.  They plan and plan in advance and then usually, the day of the wedding they are super zen and just ready to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  This is a perfect example of that.  Every detail was impeccable from her amazing pink dress to perfect vintage hair waves, to the florals and the hand-lettered signs (Candace was a cheerleader and apparently, cheerleaders get lots of practice hand-lettering things).  But most of all, I love how much Garrett seems to admire and appreciate and support her.  They have supported each other for the last few years as they got their PhDs in Physical Therapy and are now getting to work {sorta} together as they start the rest of their lives.  They have learned to be a good team already and it shows. Anyhow... enough of the talking and onto the action!  

Venue: The Standard

Event Planning/Coordination: Honeybee Events

Lighting and Entertainment: Special Notes

Florals: Lisa Foster

Food/Cake: Bradford Catering

Dress: Lazaro

Rentals: All Occasion Party Rentals

 

{engagement session: anna & garrett}

Well, I haven't blogged an e-session in FOREVER, so thought I'd show a bit of one from last weekend. I was super excited to get back into shooting mode, but the rain ended up washing out Friday's session. Then the weather on Sunday turned out to be INSANELY nice, and we were glad we'd waited for the sunshine.

Anna & Garrett are a great couple getting married in September. She is an art student (you can tell by her lovely jewelry and scarf that she's super creative—I LOVE her style).

For this marathon e-session, we started at the World's Fair Park—the scene of their first date (which may or may not have included grass stains—I didn't ask).

Since I always want my clients to include things/places that are special to them, these two brought along their Rock Band "instruments." {Insert joke about them making beautiful music together here.}

Then we hauled it down to South Knox to get shots in some of my favorite places. I particularly love the solar flare in these pics.

Here's a collage of photos made using the TTV (Through the Viewfinder) effect with my old Brownie Hawkeye. It gives these natural shots some vintage goodness, like they were found in an old trunk somewhere.

Then we ended up heading back across the river to the place where Anna and Garrett met: the UT Aquatic Center. I tried to get them to go swimming for old time's sake—ha ha!—but they didn't fall for it.

{nicole and michael}

Readers beware: This just may have been the hardest/worst blog ever! Why you ask? Because I simply could not narrow down the awesomeness! Seriously, I just kept adding and adding; therefore, grab a cup of coffee, a blanket, some tunes and hunker down for the night. This might take a while! 

Let me start this off with saying that Nicole has fantastic taste!!! She knew what she was doing; her dress and accessories matched not only her and Michael's personality, but also the venue, which is not an easy task! OH and Nicole created a fantastic blog that documented her entire wedding process; the good, the bad and the...well, the creative! It is fantastic! Definitely check it out The Plunge Project. She is still doing awesome give-a-ways!!

I love these next two! Not only are they so much fun...but she didn't move an inch! I just ran on top of the bed and snapped away!! 

These are actually two seperate pictures...but I thought both of them showed the bridesmaids' personalities so well!!! Love how they are holding their flasks differently and how their shoes are so vastly different!!! 

I love getting those shots that the bride and groom want. Now, Nicole and Michael didn't want formal pictures, so here is my spin on formal. We all know that in 20 years, you are probably going to want the formal pictures so we always do them...however, I love throwing in some fun too! 

Now, if I can help it, I try and do as little of running around as I can (but that doesn't always work). Here is a perfect example of it working though! These two pictures were probably taken within 20 ft of eachother...we just ran up the steps in the second one!

Nicole and Michael chose to get married at the amazing L&N Station in downtown Knoxville. Its fantastic for details!!

Now, onto the fellas! Michael was so much fun! He literally put all his trust in me and just wanted to have fun...so of course I could't let him down!

Hahahaha....I still laugh when I see these next ones! Look at that longing look on Michael's face to his groomsman and look a those BARE ankles!!! Scandalous!!

We walked on over to the playground (because what group of boys can't resist a playground). After we met back up with Nicole before the ceremony she said that she actually saw us down there with the guys and was jealous...she wanted a picture like this one too!

But girls in dresses, flying around...probably not the best idea!

Now, I normally never blog family pictures, but I couldn't pass these up. Like I said earlier, Nicole and Michael didn't want super formal pictures and these are some of my favorite of capturing the bonds between their families!

It was so cute to see how adamant Michael was about not seeing Nicole before the wedding; usually its the other way around. So onto the ceremony we went. Now, this is one of my all-time favorite captures. When all eyes are on the bride for the first time, I always try and get the groom...that picture always speaks volumes!

 

Hooray for couples pictures!! These are some of my favorites (if not absolute favorites) all season!

One for me, because I love it so stinking much!

Stunning!

 

Not only was it freezing, but Nicole and Michael were ready to see all their guests and so were we! Everything was kicked off with the toasts, then onto the cake cutting...EPIC! There must be something about the L&N and the cake cutting, its always fantastic!

Michael and Nicole have awesome taste in music...some I have never heard at a wedding which just made it even more them! Their guests (including Grandma) had a trip dancing!!!

Nicole and Michael, I don't know if I have ever had so much fun with a couple on this entire voyage we call a wedding!! Your engagement pictures are some of my favorites and now your wedding pictures are too...that just speaks volumes to how great your guys are and how easy it is to capture your love (soooo cheesy, but so true)! Love you two!