Tennessee Wedding Photographer – Rustic Lodge Wedding

Melanie Grady Photography

Congratulations Amber and Brian!

Tennessee Wedding Photographer:  Melanie Grady 

Wedding Venue: Five Star Retreat 

Amber and Brian are just the BEST.  Amber is such a beautiful woman – inside and out, and I knew Brian was one in a million from the first time I spoke with him.  He contacted me because he saw my work on Facebook.  I remember him saying, “My fiancé loves photography and wants the best photos of our wedding day!” It’s very rare for a groom to call me about my services.  Most guys just sail through the wedding planning process answering, “sure” or “yep, that looks good!” while the bride works her tail off to make sure everything is perfect.  Not Brian.  He wanted to make sure Amber had her perfect wedding day, and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to create her dream wedding.  I quickly got to know Amber and Brian as a couple and photographed their engagement session (check it out here).   It was one of those engagement sessions that I left and couldn’t stop smiling the whole way home.  Their love is infectious.  They are passionate about their relationship!  They’ve been together almost 5 years, but they are still giddy-in-love.  Just look at Amber’s beautiful smile and the way Brian looks at her.

Their wedding was a labor of love.  Amber and Brian planned everything themselves… and did everything themselves (with help of a lot of family and friends!).  The beautiful florals and centerpieces were DIY, their family cooked and served all of the food for all of their guests (and it was GOOOOOD), their very good friend officiated, and even the music entertainment was DIY.

The best part for me was the relaxed timeline.  Since photos were very important to them and we had about 300 acres of land to use, they gave me plenty of time for portraits.  There were some EPIC photo spots – like a rickety and long bridge over a stream in the woods and a picturesque pond surrounded by fall foliage (YES, we talked them into taking a canoe out into the water!!).  This blog post will have more portraits than most… but I promise you, they are amazing.  I’m just going to leave it at that.  Enjoy re-living Amber and Brian’s perfect wedding day!!    (Thank you to Jessica McIntosh for being an amazing second photographer for me again!)  and Happy Birthday Brian!

LOOK at how gorgeous Amber is!!  That dress!  Those eyes!  That smile!  🙂

Tears started flowing – her girls were in awe.

“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.”

Nashville Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

Nashville Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

Nashville Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

I LOVE Grandmas!  I rarely use family photos for my blog (typically not the most exciting – although some of the most important photos of the day), but this one… OMG.

Tennessee Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

Tennessee Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

Tennessee Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

Ready to climb into a canoe in your wedding gown!?  I promise it will be worth it!!

Tennessee Wedding Photographer, Melanie Grady

If you enjoyed this blog post, please tell your engaged friends that I am booking 2017 weddings now!!

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Thank you so much!  Much love! xoxo