Hello friends!

Get ready for a lovely and very long post full of pretty photos from the wedding of two of my dear friends. I got to be Sam and Graham’s wedding photographer (ah!) and although it was kind of exhausting, I had a ton of fun and I’m really pleased with the photos we got. If you don’t know Sam and Graham yet, check out their engagement photoshoot first to see and hear a bit more about them.

Now, enjoy some wedding photography goodness!

We’ll start off with the girls’ getting ready pictures. I had a lot of fun taking mirror pictures like this first one.

Top: The bridesmaids needed to get ready in one of the classrooms at the church, and the one with couches was also the one with crazy walls.

Bottom: a goofy picture which turned out to be Rose (the maid of honor) looking ferocious.

I loved taking pictures of Sam’s siblings getting ready for the wedding! Her bridesmaids were her three younger sisters plus Graham’s sister, and her two little brothers were the ringbearers.

Ah I love this one. Sam’s gentle and kind spirit shined throughout the whole day, but she told us she was getting a bit stressed as the ceremony approached. So Rose stopped what she was doing to give her a long hug. ❤

I love these pictures of Sam’s mom lacing the back of the dress! Aren’t the dress details so pretty?! It’s a vintage wedding dress which was so special.

Speaking of the dress… I left the bridesmaids for a bit to get some detail + dress shots. The colors and shadows look so peaceful in this one.

Look at these gorgeous lace details with the sun shining through! Ah!

A few of my siblings and I came the day before to help set up for the wedding, and I got to hand letter a bunch of chalkboard signs. Here’s one of them.

These details were super fun to photograph. There weren’t a lot of great backdrops in the church, but I found a pretty white bench seat and moved it over to the window for natural light. Add a bouquet and the sash to Rose’s dress and you have a lovely picture!

Sam made these book ring-holders herself! I believe she glued the outside of the pages together, cut a box out of the middle, and the lined it with more book pages. It turned out so well and looked charming with all the rings inside!

Now for some portraits. The guys got ready before coming so I didn’t need to take many extras of them, but we got some nice groomsmen shots near the woods behind the church. THE LIGHTING WAS PERFECT.

This one just makes me happy. 😀 Graham’s dad was his best man and his three brothers were his groomsmen.

Some of my most creative shots from the day resulted from asking the groomsmen if anyone wanted to swing. 😛 Who knew a playground could make for such great wedding photos?

Now for the bridesmaids portraits. Oh my goodness I adore these! The colors and the sun shining through the soft blue dresses… ah, it makes me so happy!

Isn’t this picture so sweet?

Another super fun group pose: have all the girls twirl in their dresses. Magical. ❤ The last one looks like a row of fairies.

Something about this detail shot just makes me happy. The ring, flowers, bracelet, pretty nails, lace…

On to the ceremony. Man, I’m skipping so many good photos but I can’t fit all 550 in this post. This is Graham waiting for Samantha to come down the aisle…

And here she is. I think this is one of the most special moments of a wedding.

Sam’s dad giving her a kiss before the ceremony continues…

One of my least favorite parts about wedding photography is how very loud and distracting your camera shutter sounds when you’re taking pictures in the quiet. Space doesn’t allow for many ceremony photos in this post, but here are two:

The other classic special moment of the wedding ceremony: “You may kiss your bride.” I just had to make one of these black and white. 😉

This is a picture of maybe my favorite moment from the wedding. After Sam and Graham made it out of the ceremony space, they both took a deep breath, started laughing, gave each other a big hug, and were just so HAPPY. It still makes me smile to remember.

Top: Graham’s mom is pure joy in this photo!

Bottom: This ring bearer + flower girl made an absolutely adorable pair, waving and smiling at everyone as they walked out.

Thereafter followed looots of family portraits and wedding party photos. Here are a couple of my favorites. Even though it was almost noon, we found a perfect patch of shade where the lighting looked almost like golden hour!

Haha, they got a picture with the pastor and oh my, he’s hilarious. I did get an actually good picture, but this one is too funny not to share. Sam’s expression… :’D

I told the guys they could relax their smiles for a bit but then Graham did this… I was like, “Are you happy or something, Graham? You won’t stop smiling!” Hehe.

This is the most fun wedding party pose. I told Sam and Graham to come out a few steps and kiss while everyone else made dramatic expressions. It turned out perfectly. :’D

Another of my top favorite photos from the entire wedding. Actually this whole set of Sam + her brothers are my favorites. My heart is melting, help. They were so sweet and hugged her so hard the whole time I was photographing them.

Moving on to the bride and groom portraits! Sam’s mom came with us and her help was most valuable for these veil pictures.

Ah, isn’t this beautiful?! I asked Sam’s mom to toss the veil up and step back, and here’s the result! The light tulle takes a long time to float down to the ground again.

Left: I made them kiss a lot for the photos, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. 😉

Right: This reminds me of some shots from their engagement shoot!

I don’t know what it is about this photo but I just LOVE it. The tones… the details… something just pleases me immensely. ❤

They are so cute.

(See previous caption.)

Give me all the wedding day joy. ❤

We had time for a few individual shots of the bride and groom. Here’s one of Sam with her veil and one without.

I love the sky blue dresses/ties and dark gray suits Sam chose! Also it’s so easy to get a picture of Graham smiling – every photographer’s dream. 😛

We had to do some more twirling photos because ah, look how perfectly Sam’s dress twirls!

Now for the reception. They had a beautiful seating chart sign in the entryway.

The tables were so pretty with long taper candles, sky blue runners, and different kinds of greenery interspersed among them.

The dessert table was also beautiful! One of Sam’s friends made the lovely little cake on the top. The ranunculus flowers + the edible pearls… ah, so pretty.

Megan (my sister) made the doughnuts with our family’s favorite recipe and yum, they were so tasty!

Graham and Sam and I were talking about the photos at church this Sunday and Graham was like, “I kept wondering why Sully was looking at the camera in several photos when the rest of the guests weren’t, and then I realized… ohhh right, because Allison was the photographer.” :’D Oh Sully.

Rose’s MOH speech was one of the funniest parts of the day – she told a hilarious story about her and Sam reading each other’s diaries. Note Graham cracking up in the background.

HAHA Sam’s expressions were so much fun to capture.

I’m pretty sure this beautiful guestbook “thumbprint tree” was drawn by another of Sam’s sisters! How neat is that?

I love this picture from the father-daughter dance.

Ah, these are so sweet!

Graham and Sam’s dance was really special because they recorded the music for it themselves.

Sam plays the flute and Graham plays… a LOT of instruments, including the guitar.

The best part of the dance, though was the dip and kiss at the end. Sam and Graham told me about this beforehand so I’d be sure and capture it. Isn’t this perfect?

I almost missed the cake cutting because I was outside talking while they were getting ready to start, oops. Someone came out and told me, thankfully, and I raced in and got the pictures. Phew!

I got so, so many more pictures I wish I could share with you guys, but this post is already massive so I guess I’ll leave you with one last sweet photo of a goodbye hug right before Sam and Graham headed out. ❤

*happy sigh* I hope you enjoyed looking through those! It was such an honor to photograph this beautiful day for these two lovely friends. Sam and Graham, you are such a kind, friendly, and godly couple and you brighten the world for so many people – including me. Thanks for choosing me to capture your day. I’m looking forward to continuing our friendship for many years to come!

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D7200 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.