Mr. & Mrs. Holmes Part 4-The Happy Couple

When we talk with couples about their wedding day, the subject question always arises of if they should see each other before the wedding. I never want to force a couple into making a decision they aren't comfortable with. Afterall, it's their day and things need to happen the way they want them to. Of course, we always love it when couples do see each other before because it allows much more time to get awesome shots of THEM and keeps everyone from feeling rushed.
Kate and Ben felt very strongly about not seeing each other before their wedding. So, we did as many of the formals separately before the wedding that we could. After the ceremony, we did family groups, wedding party, and then had just started on Ben and Kate alone when someone came and said that they had to go to the reception right then because the cake was melting (I told you it was HOT!).
We had only snapped off a few of Ben and Kate at this point. I turned to Brittany on our way to the reception and said, "That's all we're going to get. We won't be able to get them back now."
Thankfully, Kate proved me wrong!! After they cut the cake, did the toasts, and hugged some guests, Kate asked if we could spend some more time on their pictures.
Happy Birthday to me! I grabbed her bouquet and off we went-30 happy, long, wonderful minutes of time with just the two of them!
I am SO thankful that we had that time with just Ben and Kate; they were happy, relaxed, and so sweet! Ben and Kate-thanks so much for allowing us the time to get some great images of you two! I hope you enjoy!

Again, the tree that I LOVE.

I love the image below that Amanda captured.

Told you we loved that treehouse! :)
When we were doing these, the neighbor who owns the treehouse came over and said her kids had been watching all of the activity from their backyard all day. She said her little girl asked, "Can I get married in our backyard?!"

Another favorite from Britt.

I saw these trees and knew we had to incorporate them into some images.

They are so cute together!

While we were photographing Ben and Kate, SEVERAL people came over (bridesmaids, friends, and family members) to bring drinks to the happy couple.
After the 3rd set of drinks arrived (all in about 10 minutes), we decided there must be a picture with all of them at the end. :)

Lots of waters and some sweet tea! There were more waters, but I think they got left on the back side of the yard. You can't say they weren't taken care of that day! :)

I still have two more posts that I would like to do of the big day, but I wanted to share the slideshow tonight since Ben and Kate are at her parents' home.
Ben and Kate-thank you again for trusting us to capture your wedding day. I had way too many favorites, so I hope you enjoy your long, long slideshow!

Mr. & Mrs. Holmes Part 3

I am getting more pictures from Ben and Kate's wedding up today so they can see them with their families. :) I wanted to space it out over the week, but I am anxious for them to see all of the images. So, here we go-Part 3.

The creek beside Ben's family home was so beautiful!! It was the perfect spot for pictures. Thankfully the trees shaded us a bit from the HOT sun. I know I have said it was hot, but it was H-O-T! The heat index was in the high 90s that day. Every time we stopped to switch people in or out of the pictures, the bridesmaids or Kate's dad were fanning Kate and bringing her water. How sweet! There are pictures of that in the slideshow coming up!

These beautiful fans were very handy on the HOT, HOT day! I love the flower girl fanning herself too. So cute!

The neighbors had this awesome treehouse! Brittany spotted it and said, "We have to do the guys there!"

See why I was so in love with the flowers. LOVED them!

I love this one Britt got of the sweet flower girl.

Awesome wedding party!
I hope you enjoyed the 3rd installment of Mr. & Mrs. Holmes!
More coming soon!

Little Miss Cele

I had a great time with Terra and Cele on Friday! When Terra emailed me about their session, she said 2 year old Cele was very interesting! :) Gotta love 2 year olds! Even the tantrums! Terra, we survived! Whoo hoo!
Cele is so cute and loving and sweet. Pretty sure I got at least 3 hugs AND I got to hold her hand going down the steps. How about that?!

I LOVE this face! Hilarious!

This is a new favorite. I love the light by the window in their bonus room upstairs. I always get shots I love right there. :)

Terra really wanted pictures of Cele with her wedding dress. She said there's no way she will want to wear it when she gets married, so they might as well use it now.
She and her friend did some pictures of her in it last year with her sitting up with her arms in and everything. 2 Year Old Cele thought we were crazy! :)
We got some cute ones, though. This can be her scale shot to show how much she grows.

Another favorite by that window!
I think Tinkerbell was put in timeout!

I love these next two!

Terra, thanks so much for letting me spend time with you!
I hope you enjoy your slideshow! I can't wait to see you again.
Maybe my camera won't break again!!

Mr. & Mrs. Holmes Part 2

Hmm, I didn't make you wait very long for the next post did I?! A little birdie told me that Kate and Ben will be at Kate's parents' house tomorrow night, so I felt like we needed to get this show on the road!


Kate and Ben's wedding ceremony was so beautiful!
Here are the lovely ladies before they headed down the aisle.
I looked back from the tent where the wedding party was waiting and saw Kate's dad, Barclay, peeking out from the window.

This was the funniest moment! The flower girl looked in front of her, looked at the boys back over her shoulder and TOOK OFF! She wasn't going to let them beat her down the aisle!

I LOVE this image Brittany got of Ben as he saw his beautiful bride.

As I said in a previous post, there were so many personal touches throughout the day. The ceremony was no exeption. Kate's dad led the first prayer during the ceremony. At the reception, Brittany told Barclay that his prayer was wonderful and he said, "I hope so, I don't remember what I even said!" But it was the sweetest prayer-I teared up during it.

This spot by the beautiful creek and the awesome tree was the PERFECT location for the ceremony.

I loved watching Kate and Ben during the ceremony.

Ben wore his grandfather's cuff links.

Kate would look up at Ben with the sweetest look-I think they are in love. :)

In addition to Kate's dad leading the first prayer, Ben's dad-the best man-read a Scripture and led everyone in singing "Blest Be the Tie" (one of my favorite hymns).

SO excited to be husband and wife!

Congratualtions, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes!
Wedding Party, Reception, and Details to come-stay tuned!

Mr. & Mrs. Holmes Part 1

Kate & Ben were married at Ben's family home in Maryville, Tennessee, on June 20th. I thought it was a great day for a wedding since it was my birthday! :) At the wedding, I found out that it was also Kate's grandmother's birthday. How fun!!
Okay, enough about birthdays-on with the blog post!

I have decided that I had so many favorites that there is no way to share them all in one post. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to enjoy several blog posts of Kate & Ben's big day!

When we arrived, the girls were getting ready upstairs and Ben was banished to the bedroom above the garage! :)
I love this image of Kate & her sister, Rachael, putting on their make-up.

Kate's beautiful wedding gown hanging on the front porch.I was in love with the bouquets! Many friends and family members put their special touches on Kate and Ben's wedding day. The flowers were all done by friends. There were so many sweet details at their wedding that I decided to do a whole post just on details. Stay tuned.

I loved the images of Kate getting ready. Here, her mom and sister help her get into her dress.

I love this image that Amanda captured while Kate was getting ready.

Since Kate and Ben did not see each other before the ceremony, we did the girls' pictures outside first, then the guys. When we got back inside after finishing the guys, I found Kate and bridesmaids playing cards! I sent Amanda back to capture that!

After relaxing, playing, and cooling off (it was HOT!), the girls got their dresses back on and got ready for a wedding! What do you need for an outdoor wedding? Something old, new, borrowed, and blue.......and bug spray!
Brittany got this one of Ben getting ready. :)
And another favorite by Britt of Ben reading his special wedding day note.There are MANY more images to come! I might even do another blog post tonight.....we will see.