Love Is All You Need….

When you think about planning the big wedding day, the first thing that may come to mind is where to have the reception, where to shop for the wedding dress and so much more. Many who follow my wedding stories are used to the big elaborate weddings and what decor was used and lighting etc. Today I am going to leave all that out of my story because I want to take you through a story of love. The pictures that you will be see will focus on capturing emotions, that is what I want to leave you with. When you look at the pictures, focus on the looks, the tears, the laughs, the hugs, the moments that you share with those you love. I know that is different from what you are used to seeing for a wedding blog, but Valentine’s day is coming soon and I do believe Love is in the air with all the new engagements. So today, focus on love and nothing more…..

Today’s wedding is the wedding of Chelsea and Austin celebrating there one year anniversary on Jan 3! They were married at Delaney Street First Baptist Church with those that they love, their closest friends and family. Watch as the story unfolds…

Chelsea and Austin dated for 4.5 years. They were perfect for each other! They met in college when he was a Political Science major and she was a Pre-Med English major. Their engagement was a total surprise, in the words of Chelsea,” Austin proposed on Monday, March 10th 2014 at the Baughman Center Botanical Gardens in Gainesville, FL and completely surprised me. The Baughman Center is located across the street from the dormitory where we met, became good friends, and fell in love. Three and a half years later and I am still so in love.”

Their wedding day started out like everyone else’s getting ready….thinking of the big day and how it will all turn out…It is always fun when hidden under the beautiful dress is the surprise colored shoes! There is always something special about getting dressed and seeing someone who has been there through the many things that happened in your life. For Chelsea, this is little brother Chadwick( or not so little anymore). The emotion of a brother that looks up to his big sister on her special day, bonds family like no other.

Being pronounced husband and wife and soul mates, always evokes emotion when you see the happy couple walking out of the ceremony.

There is something to be said about getting married in a historical church that has been around for 88 years since 1928, the church that your family grew up in. A place where traditions started and new ones will be made.

The church entrance makes a beautiful setting for the bridal party to take fun pictures

Those moments when a photographer sees beauty and decides that his creativity will come out through the lens of his camera unto a screen….breathless..

When the bride and groom have their first dance, have you ever stopped and really watched? When two people are truly in love, their love fills the room to the point that you get goosebumps as they dance and transfer that love to you the guest. It is not only about them, but it is about the guests. This is the moment that they want to share the most important day of their lives with you and they hope that you feel that love as well.

The love of a father to his little girl, is so special. All the years of driving them to school, birthday parties, the mall, and countless hours of homework and teen age activities, all come together for this one big moment. Not only the day that he gives her away, but the day that he takes his daughter and dances with her that very special number selected with love by his daughter for her father.

What a special moment, dancing with her grandfather. Not everyone is blessed to have grandparents able to attend weddings in good health , but on this day, Chelsea had that opportunity

Sharing with the one you love is something that you will do every day. Cutting the cake together and feeding it to each other is a long-standing tradition. Many old traditions say that the reason you feed it to each other is to symbolize that the husband will always take care of his wife and she will always take care of the home and the family. The key thing is that neither should touch each other during the feeding and each person is to feed the other without any help or guidance. This is the start of trust. So the smooshing of cake takes that trust away and respect.

Chelsea and Austin observed this tradition. They had a naked wedding cake that was sleek, pure and classical, like their love…pure…