Amanda + Shane

I had so much fun at this wedding.  First of all, the bride was someone whom I used to babysit. Before the engagement session last year, I hadn’t seen her since she was a little girl. She looked like the same curly haired, big eyed, adorable girl sprinkled with freckles….just a little bit taller 🙂  Her fiance was adorable and sweet, and you could just feel the love between them. After that day, I couldn’t wait to shoot their wedding!

I started off with the guys getting ready.  Shane was cool as a cucumber.  You could feel the friendships between these guys within minutes of being around them.  They were all helping each other get ready while joking and laughing.  I felt like an intruder walking into their group, holding my camera, yet they made me feel totally welcome and part of the group.

After hanging out with the guys, I ran over to the church to check on the girls.  I arrived before they did, finding Amanda’s beautiful dress hanging in their changing room.  I went outside to find a nice place to hang it, and decided to try to hang it from a tree limb.  As I was struggling with how high the limb was, a man with a pickup pulls in and says, “Let me help you with that!”  He backed his truck under the limb, hung the dress, pulled away and let me take my pictures, pulled back up and got the dress down for me.  I thanked him and asked him if he’d be attending this wedding later and he said, “No”.  This guy just pulled over to help me out!  God bless small town America! 🙂

The girls arrived shortly after that.  Everyone was in a fun, happy mood just like the guys were.

All the girls, including 5 of her sisters and her mother were all helping her get ready.

Here’s the littlest sister at the bride’s feet 🙂

Then her mom helped her with the final touches.  This mom had all SIX of her daughters in this wedding as either the bride, bridesmaid or flower girl.  What an experience that must have been for her!  And just look at the joy in this bride’s face 🙂

Since the wedding was early enough that we didn’t need to do a “First Look” between the bride and the groom, the bride suggested a “First Look” between her and her dad.  Oh my goodness, what a precious idea!  And of course, I teared up when it happened.

And if that wasn’t enough, the groom surprised the bride with a personalized handkerchief.

And now it was time for the ceremony!  What a surprisingly gorgeous church for such a tiny, little town.

Here comes the bride!

I LOVED this veil.

Again, with this VEIL!

And now for one of my favorite pictures of all time.  The bride and groom exiting the church as husband and wife!

And now for the challenge of narrowing it down to a few of my favorite pics of the bride, groom and bridal party.  Here we go…..

Yeah, so that was harder to narrow down than I thought 😉  And now for the super fun bridal party!

Then we were headed off to the reception.  All of the decor was so thoughtful, a lot of it made by the bride and groom themselves.  Many things would be used later to adorn their new home.  And the reception hall ceiling was lined with little white, sparkly lights.  It was very cozy and inviting.

Then it was time to cut the cake.  The groom doesn’t like traditional wedding cake, so the bride had a cheesecake made for him as a surprise.

The first dance was filled with more joy and laughing 🙂

Congrats, Amanda and Shane!  I have no doubt you will be blissfully happy for the rest of your lives!

XOXO,

Shauna