Old Salem Wedding

Meet the groom. Matt is one of those thoughtful, kind, articulate, compassionate men that jumps at every chance to be a true southern gentlemen. He holds open doors, offers to carry the heavy boxes, knows how to wear a bowtie, cares for his girl with an unwavering gentleness and abounding thoughtfulness, puts the comfort of his groomsmen as priority, and stores away random information to be used at an opportune time.

Meet the bride. Kristen has a unprecedented, impressive work ethic (how many shifts did she work the week of her wedding?!), she’s smart (hello, nursing degree!), she’s absolutely gorgeous (proof positive below), she puts her friends first in very real ways (I saw that in so many ways on her wedding day — too many ways to count!), she loves to laugh (and especially loves when Matt makes her laugh!), she’s an adventurer (a Neuschwanstein castle engagement, for example!), she’s Matt’s perfect match. Most impressive on her wedding day, though, was the way she took time to love on and genuinely greet all of her guests in a personal, caring, genuine conversation.

(And one of my favorite moments was watching she and Joy recreate the wedding photo from when the bride and the bridesmaid were in opposite roles.)

Besides being thrilled to see his daughter and maybe just a little overwhelmed in the moment, Kristen’s Dad was adorably excited to show off his fabulous socks.

The story goes something like this…

Remember how I said Matt stores away random information for use late? Last year, at Kristen’s sister’s wedding, the groomsmen all received fun socks but, of course, Dad isn’t a groomsmen and, of course, doesn’t need matching socks. Apparently, though, Matt noticed that Kristen’s dad seemed maybe just a teeny bit sad that he didn’t get cool socks, too, and decided to include Dad in the sock fun of 2015.

Kristen, with that kind attention to detail coupled with Matt’s delight in making you smile, I think it’s easy to realize that your highschool friend-turned-sweetheart-turned-husband is going to enjoy celebrating you every day of the rest of your lives.

For the photo geeks among us, two notes.

1) The above photo is created using a Pocket Wizard powered SB-900 held outside the stained glass window by my fabulous second-shooter Adrianne.
2) My FAVORITE ring shots (EVER!) were created by piling Kristen’s engagement ring and Matt’s wedding band on the lid of the Starbucks Frappucino bottle. Adrianne held Kristen’s wedding band about six inches above the lid and let it fall. No rings were harmed in the creating of this art. Promise.

When Drew started playing playing with Matt’s light sabers, we conspired to grab a few of the bridal party and write a message for Matt & Kristen. In three minutes and twelve seconds (I checked the time stamp! :-P), we snuck outside, took five three second exposures, and wrote our love in the sky.