Gretchen & Chad

Olyn and I had so much fun yesterday at Gretchen and Chad's Hawaiian themed wedding! It was truly a day of details and laughter. Almost every surface was covered in the wedding colors of eggplant purple and lime green with orchids scattered everywhere. And every face you saw was covered with a huge smile-- from the girls getting ready to the guys during the ceremony and the wild party afterwards, it was a true celebration.We didn't have much time or space for getting ready, but this corner of the church worked perfectly!
I absolutely love these two images-- both the bride and groom are fighting back tears as they see one another for the first time.Saturday at 2 was the FSU vs. Stanford baseball game in Omaha. Saturday at 3 was Gretchen and Chad's ceremony. The priest told a story to start the ceremony, saying "One of the groomsmen approached me before the ceremony to ask how long this was going to take. And my answer was.... " A HUGE clap of thunder punctuated his story, followed by a LOT of laughter. Many of the guests thought it was a sound effect!St. Thomas More is such a great church and we absolutely love shooting there!
We had a few minutes for portraits outside and I absolutely love these two portraits of the bride and groom!We had a good amount of time for post ceremony portraits, so we did lots of different things in the church, but all of my favorites were from just inside the doorway.When I said there were orchids everywhere, it was truly not an exaggeration!The favor boxes really fit in with the Hawaiian theme-- and inside were two fortune cookies with a thank you message from the bride and groom.I loved how Gretchen inscribed Chad's ring. What better message could a coach give?Gretchen really enjoyed her wedding reception-- I can probably count on one hand the number of images with her NOT smiling!
They had some really great toasts and what better background than the huge windows of the Alumni Center?Orchids even cascaded down the wedding cake!This should be a great warning to all grooms-- keep your hands on the cake knife!
This is honestly the first reception I have ever been to that had a "booty hour". It definitely packed the dance floor!

www.LongsPhotography.com
Tallahassee and Thomasville's premier wedding and portrait photographers

Vendors:
Ceremony Location: The Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More
Reception Location: FSU Alumni Center
Florist: Flowers by Vince
Wedding Planner: JoAnn Williams, Joyful Occasions
Cake: Heidi's Bakery
Catering: Catering Capers

Eva and Jace

I woke up yesterday with butterflies in my tummy. We do engagement sessions for 99% of our couples so that we are all old friends by the wedding day. Since Eva and Jace live in Tampa, we weren't able to do the shoot before the wedding, so I was a bit nervous about the day. It only took me about 10 minutes to calm down, as Eva and Jace are two of the friendliest, most down to Earth people you could ever meet! Olyn and I had an absolutely amazing day!

Eva and Jace had adorable (and yummy) favors-- m&ms in their wedding colors!Missy Gunnels did another fantastic job with all the flowers!
We had a few minutes for portraits with Eva before the ceremony and I found beautiful light everywhere I looked!The girls were up for some fun portraits, so we tried a variation on the "bridesmaids formal".Jace and the guys also gave us a few minutes for portraits before the ceremony. I love the tan tuxes with black shirts-- we have seen more untraditional tuxes this year than ever and its so cool to see fashion trends for the guys as well as the girls!
Eva beamed all the way down the aisle.I loved all the stained glass and the high ceilings of St. Thomas More.
After the ceremony, Eva asked me if I saw "when Jace picked up my arm like we won a sports competition and showed off my bingo arms!" I laughed for a solid five minutes at her description, so I had to show the image.
I didn't think it was possible, but Eva's smile was even bigger on the way out than on the way in!We had lots of time for portraits after the ceremony, so we did portraits in the church and on the grounds outside.This is probably my favorite image of Eva and Jace-- its so true to their love and their personalities!Eva had found a spot underneath one of the large oak trees and it was an ideal spot for some romantic portraits.
They were so excited to join their friends and family, they came running into the reception.
And immediately had their first dance! I hadn't been to Capital City Country Club since I was in college and I was so excited to shoot a reception with so much natural light coming in the windows! It was beautiful!Once the party was underway, we snuck out at sunset to do a few more portraits on the grounds of the country club. The light was absolutely perfect and we had a great time doing some casual portraits.Missy did a great job adding simple floral accents to the cake.

Eva didn't even try to feed Jace a piece of cake before she smushed it all over his face. He got his revenge in the end!After the formal toasts, Eva decided to say a few words. She spoke about how much she loved Jace, that "even at his BEST , like right now when he is hungry and hot and tired..." Isn't it funny how misspeaking one word has such and impact? I love Eva's face as she realizes her mistake.Eva's reactions all day were absolutely hilarious! I love her face as Jace takes off the garter!While Olyn is the master of the action shot, I finally beat him with this one!After the formalities, they definitely heated things up a bit!www.LongsPhotography.com
Tallahassee and Thomasville's premier wedding and portrait photographers

Vendors:
Ceremony Location: Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More
Reception Location: Capital City Country Club www.capitalcitycc.com
Florist: Missy Gunnels Flowers www.Missygunnelsflowers.com
Cake: Publix
Makeup: Randi Buchanan
Band: Key Creek Band