It’s been well over a year of planning and excitement, and it’s now so wonderful to be able to showcase this next wedding to y’all! I’ve been on pins and needles while I’ve been editing and I just couldn’t wait to show y’all everything!! EEEK!

I simply can’t say it enough of how much being a part of a wedding day is to me. It’s an honor, and I there’s nothing else quite like it. There are tons of talented photographers out there and I think to myself on a wedding day that this couple chose ME…it’s a strange feeling of acceptance and gratitude.  Being a part of a wedding day is such an amazing experience to say the least. Not only am I there with the bride and groom and their families, it’s those certain types of families that invite me in, and make me one of their own.  I’ve never felt like that more than at Cassie and Austin’s Charleston wedding, and boy, did it feel wonderful!

I met Cassie back in high school through a mutual friend of mine, Elizabeth.  Throughout the years after high school our friendship has blossomed, and after the wedding weekend, I’m sure that we three girls (and our personalities) could quite possibly handle any type of situation together. Cassie asked me to photograph her and Austin’s destination wedding over a year ago and like every wedding I’m asked to photograph-I couldn’t have been more thrilled and honored.

Austin and Cassie decided to get married in Charleston, South Carolina. It was such a perfect destination for such a Southern couple! The wedding day was perfect in every way. The weather was phenomenal (even though it had down poured the day before!) and every detail about the wedding was elegant and classy. These two were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown Charleston, with a reception following at Magnolia Plantation.

Here are just some of my favorite moments from the wedding day:

-Cassie’s dad was in a horrible accident just days before the wedding and wasn’t able to make it down to the wedding because he was hospitalized.  After Cassie put her dress on, she FaceTimed her dad who was waiting by the phone. She got to talk to her dad, share some stories, tell him she’d save a dance for him, and twirl in her dress to show him.  It literally was one of the sweetest things I’ll never forget.

-Just moments after Cassie got dressed, her Grandpa came into the room to see her. When she hugged him, he got emotional (wouldn’t you!?) and soon enough, everyone else in the room couldn’t keep a dry eye!

-Cassie’s “first look” with her stepfather on the rooftop of the beach house. I couldn’t hold back the tears!

-Elizabeth asking Cassie to pray with her before we finished with pictures and left for the church. As lifelong friends, this was such a sweet moment!

-Seeing Austin’s expression to Cassie walking down the aisle was so romantic! He and Cassie’s stepfather exchanged a few words before he “gave her away” and it was so touching.  What a great way to start a marriage!

-When we arrived at Magnolia Plantation we were ahead of schedule (which is always a plus!) This gave Austin, Cassie, and I enough time to go to different places around the plantation to take pictures.  It’s always so nice to be alone with a bride and groom right after the ceremony and before the reception introductions! They’re in their own little world with each other and it’s so sweet and romantic! (Plus, it’s SO easy to capture that love on camera!)

-Austin and his mother-son dance. Again, I couldn’t keep a dry eye! (Good thing I don’t wear much eye makeup on wedding day!)

-Grandma cuttin’ a rug on the dance floor. That woman has some moves. Some aren’t legal in all 50 States.

-Sparkler exit! Cassie and Austin said goodbye to their guests underneath an aisle of sparklers and were driven off in a white Rolls Royce!

 

Cassie+Austin- You both are simply amazing individuals as you are a couple! I wish you many, many happy, loving, and blissful years ahead. Congratulations you two! Love you both!