I am very excite to share photos from Paul and Melissa’s beautiful May wedding. You may remember them from their engagement shoot which was on the blog last year, or maybe Melissa’s gorgeous bridal shoot. They are just awesome, happy people. Whenever I’m around them, it is nonstop laughing. I knew their wedding would be a blast, and counted down the days until it arrived. And oh may, what an incredible wedding this was!
Exchanging text messages with her groom.
This beautiful young lady looks just like her mother…
And has her sense of humor! We waited outside while Melissa was getting into her gown. Chase was put in charge of the door. No one in! Not even me!
This wedding was full of family involvement. Paul’s family made this delicious wedding cake as well as the cookies that were given out as party favors.
Paul and Melissa created their own cider and gave it out as a wedding favor. It was a great compliment to the wonderful cookies.
The ceremony and reception were both held at Art Space in downtown Raleigh. It fit this couple’s personalities perfectly! It was a elegant and fun space for a wedding.
As part of the ceremony, Paul and Melissa shared a special moment with Melissa’s three children. To symbolize their families coming together, the children joined Paul and Melissa up front in a circle. Paul’s face lit up as he addressed the children, telling each one what made them so special and significant to their relationship. It was incredible sweet!
There’s this thing called “the Paul face”. It’s a face that Paul makes all the time. Hang around him enough, you are guaranteed to see it at least once. It ended up being the running theme for funny photos all night.
While snapping a few bridal party photos, Gage was asked to hold Paul and Melissa’s wine glasses. He kept looking around with this look of “well, what do I do with these”. It was hilarious!
Now, here is where I have to mention that Paul comes from a family of Scottish dancers. Watching them all dance was amazing!
So remember how I said Paul’s family is full of Scottish dancers? Well, there is a family tradition that when someone gets married, the family performs the Reel of Tulloch, a Scottish Highland dance. Everyone knew that Melissa’s kids had been taking lesson to be part of the dance. What they didn’t know was that Melissa was also secretly taking lessons.
When Melissa and Paul were getting ready to begin, a family member came over to use and asked if there was any way we could record it. So we rushed to set something up and managed to get this video right as they were starting. Enjoy!
Photo bombed!
Nathan sitting down on the job? Not quite. We spent a few minutes catching up with our wonderful friend Hannah who happened to be a guest at the wedding.
Just so everyone knows, I love the Wobble. If you play it at your wedding and I am shooting it, you will have a dancing photographer. You have been warned!
This is one of my favorite photos from the night. All that dancing generated some serious heat. We were all coming up with creative ways to stay cool. One of Melissa’s friends took a giant fan and held it under Melissa’s dress. I think the expression on her face say it all.
There was no other way to end the night than to head over to the bar across the street and close the place down.
Melissa and Paul, thank you so much for letting us be a part of your special day. It was an honor to be there with you, and we had a blast. We wish you many years of happiness and love!
Also thank you for the incredible cider! You guys are amazing!
