A+K Fairytale Wedding

Have you ever shot a wedding with a day’s notice, for clients that you never even met before with a complete stranger? I did! This is the story of A+K, and how I was blessed with the opportunity to second shoot at their wedding.

I was contacted through Facebook from another great Austin Wedding Photographer, J with J. Bell Photography. Through what I can only assume is an act of God J found me with my very limited (literally only one and I didn’t even think the images were that good) wedding portfolio and asked me to second shoot with him for a wedding. The catch? The wedding was tomorrow. Without any insight on the couple, the type of wedding, or any details really, I took a leap of faith and agreed to join him. Boy, am I glad I did. I feel like this is THE wedding. The one that ignites a fire in your heart and solidifies in your being that wedding photography is what you want to do. THIS was my shifting point away from general photography into fairytale weddings.

I arrived 45 minutes early and anxiously sat in the car thinking I was in the wrong spot. When I pulled up I knew this wedding was going to be a HUGE deal. It was being held on acres of land, with what looked to be thousands of flowers, dozens of vendors, and a whole arsenal of fireworks. I met with J and the bride and the day began. There were essentially four main locations for this wedding. The building where the bride was getting ready, the building where the groom was getting ready, the ceremony site down by the river, and the reception area in-between the three. I definitely got my steps in that day! By the end of the day my smartwatch said I had done 25k steps, and I was feeling it.

I started the day by photographing the bride and her bridesmaids getting ready. Then we transitioned into the groom’s building and photographed him and the groomsmen. The bride and groom had chosen to exchange gifts prior to their ceremony, and wrote personal letters to one another to be opened during this time. While I won’t share their gifts to one another, or the contents of their letters to protect their personal lives, it was adorable and they both cried

From there we moved down to the ceremony site. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was clear that everyone in attendance really cared for the couple. After the ceremony we stayed behind with the immediate family to take family portraits. The photo below is JUST the bride’s side!

After family photos the bride and groom stayed behind for photos together before heading to their reception area. And what a party their reception was! The couple had a fully catered cocktail hour, Mexican dinner, ice cream vendor, pinatas, a photobooth, a bounce house for kids and so much more. It felt more like a carnival than a wedding, and everyone had a blast! After dinner, speeches, dancing, and cake they moved on to their sendoff. It was a twenty-minute-long firework show and sparkler exit.

I was incredibly blessed to have been contacted for this wedding. Without it I do not think the spark for wedding photography would have been ignited the way that it was. A+K set the bar for fairytale weddings!