Wedding: Alex and Sarah

Alas, time to finally catch up on some blog posts.

Starting with a sweet small town wedding.

This is Sarah, one of the cutest, sweetest, and tiniest brides I've ever worked with. 

And those special ladies helping her in to her dress, well that's Mom and sister. 

And this mister, is Dad.

Sarah is the oldest of 4 siblings, is adopted, and has one of the most loving families I've ever met.

While Sarah and her ladies got them selves ready for the day at her house,

The boys waited patiently outside with some Russian traditions up their sleeves.

In Russiah it's tradition to pay the family of the bride to see your bride on your wedding day. 

{Why couldn't we do this for my sister's wedding .. Only kidding!} 

So in holding up traditions, Alex {the groom} and his crazy fun group of groomsmen put all their cash together, 

knocked on the front door and paid Sarah's siblings till they were satisfied then Alex finally got his bride.

Sarah's adorable baby brothers, and her stone-cold-fox of a baby sister all walked away with 

{drum roll plllllllease ..... } One dollar each!

With that, Alex got is bride and Sarah got her groom. 

I'm thinking it was the best $3 Alex has ever spent, ey?

So then up, up and away we went to the hilltops of Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The campus of Eastern Mennonite University is where we spent most of morning frolicking, playing and taking pictures.

 And most of all having fun.

Honestly these guys were the silliest group of groomsmen ever. EVER. 

Things like this happened all day long, and I enjoyed it.

But don't get me wrong, they were pretty hardcore too. 

After all they did teach me "The Russian Smile" aka ... no smile.

Then back to the crazy.

Then back to the serious.

It was a balance of crazy-serious fun all day long. Just my style and my kindda people.

Alex and Sarah you are amazing for doing a first look, Russian traditions or not. 

Thank you for being so creative, for setting aside so much time for pictures and for being so much fun to work with. 

You guys made my job easy as pie. It's no wonder why I'm having such a hard time editing down the amount of pictures to post on this entry. 

*First look, all the cool kids are doing it .. but even more importantly a first look always allows for more photos with less time constraint, in a more intimate setting on a wedding day. Wink wink *

Sarah and Alex, you guys are the cutest!

Alright ladies and gentlemen, cue the Viva La Vida / Love Story mash up!

Go ahead, press play .. we'll wait.

Seriously, just press play ... it'll help the story along, I promise.

And it'll get you swaying and nodding your pretty little head off to the beat.

Gosh, I'm getting goosebumps just reliving their wedding in my head. 

Alex and Sarah were all butterflies all morning long on their wedding day. 

The mood was  light, laughter was always in the air and the moment their ceremony started ...  well it was perfection.

The bridal party marched in first while the piano softly sang Love Story.

I could expect no less for Alex and Sarah's wedding day.

And as the notes quickened, and as we all hummed the lyrics under our breath

{Who could resist a little Taylor Swift?}

 The anticipation made it's way to the tapping of our toes ...

{cue Viva La Vida!}

Then everyone turned to the back of the room, rose to their feet, and this tiny beaming bride and her 

ever so proud father walked down the aisle with so much pep in their step it was just short of dancing.

Sniffles came from everywhere in the room I tell you. Even from behind my camera, yep I cried too.

The entire room was smiling from ear to ear and it remained that way through out the entire ceremony.

It was the kind of ceremony where you didn't want it to end.

It was the most emotional I've ever gotten at a wedding, everything was just beautiful.

You know that's love when everyone at your wedding is smiling and in tears, even the photographer.

Then the celebrating continued and off I went to capture some sweet little details.

And when I say sweet, I mean catch-a-cavity-or-two kind of sweet.

Sarah and Alex's friends and family all pitched in and baked these sweets for their big day. 

Sarah's incredible and made more than 100 cranes for her wedding day!

During the reception there were more tears involved. A maid of honor speech with a referrence to Wicked's For Good,
 always a tear jerker. A best man's speech full of smiles and lots of brotherly love from a best friend.

 And lastly a speech made by Sarah's mom, in honor of Sarah's biological mother some where in South Korea who gave up her daughter
... blessing their family with Sarah. The love didn't stop there with the speech, but with a sweet gift of two handcarved ducks.

Sarah's mom looked up some Korean wedding traditions and made sure to embrace Sarah's heritage during her wedding day. The ducks are giving to newly weds in hopes to bring them blessings and children in the future. Each duck had to be handcarved only by an honorable man, who has alot of children. The ducks are placed in the newly weds' home and symbolizes their current state in their relationship for the household to see. If the ducks are facing beak to beak then everything is good. If the ducks are tail to tail that means they are fighting. Lastly each duck beak has a ribbon tied around it symbolizing submission to one another.

She had everyone in the room crying all over again, even the MC this time.

Alex and Sarah, your wedding day is one I will never ever forget. And I was soo blessed to have been  a part of it and in the company of your amazing friends and family. The way you share God's love to those nearest and dearest to you, as well as those you just meet {ex. myself} is such a beautiful testimony. I can't say thank you enough for allowing me to capture your day, and thank you for your kindness and friendship. I know God has only the best in store for you two! 

Let me wrap this entry up with my hands-down-absolute-favorite moment while working.

After Alex and Sarah drove off in their get away car, I turned to Sarah's mom and dad, thanked them for their kindness
and asked if I could get a picture with them though I just met them that day ... 

Well I got that picture, and a whole lot of love with it!!

See my face {my not-so-pretty-been-working-and-crying-all-day face} ... it was the best surprise ever,
 and this picture is now one of my favorites {despite how crazy I look}.