Tag Archives: memphis wedding photography

Featured on Brenda’s Wedding Blog!

Dorie and John’s Memphis wedding is a favorite of so many people these days! I was so pleased to wake up this morning and see my work featured on Brenda’s Wedding Blog – a great blog that Dorie herself read often for inspiration. So cool!

Here’s a screen shot of the post, go read it in its entirety and peruse the rest of the great stuff that Brenda has blogged about – it’s a fantastic resource for brides. Thanks, Brenda!

Featured on Brenda's Wedding Blog

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Featured on Style Me Pretty!

I was so pleased to receive an email today from Abby at Style Me Pretty, letting me know she was featuring Dorie and John’s Memphis wedding on her amazing blog today! SMP is one of my favorite wedding blogs on the planet and I check it daily for inspiration. If you’re planning a wedding, or just like to look at pretty things, make sure you check it out!

I was even more pleased to find that not only did Abby feature the wedding, but she featured their Memphis rehearsal dinner, as well!

Here’s a screen shot from the rehearsal dinner post. Click the image to see the full post!

Style Me Pretty Feature

And here’s part one of the wedding post:

Style Me Pretty Feature

And here’s part two of the wedding post!

Style Me Pretty Feature

I am so honored to see my work on Style Me Pretty, along with all of the other beautiful images that have been featured there. Such a treat! Dorie and John planned an amazing wedding, and I’m so glad the photos are able to serve as inspiration for future brides who are looking to plan unique weddings for themselves!

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Memphis Wedding Photography | Beale St. Day After Session – Dorie + John

Dorie and John’s wedding weekend came to a close with a Day After session. A Day After session is just what it sounds like – a photo session that takes place the day after a couples’ wedding. The benefit of one of these sessions is two-fold: the couple gets to wear their wedding attire one more time in a setting other than their wedding venue, and their portrait session isn’t under any sort of time crunch. These sessions are a stress-free way to get a variety of bridal portraits, often times with a different look and feel than the ones taken on their wedding day. Dorie and John’s Day After session took place in front of the world-famous Sun Studio and on Beale Street in Memphis. In case you missed, them, check out their Memphis rehearsal dinner and their beautiful wedding at The Inn at Hunt-Phelan.

I loved the idea of capturing the juxtaposition of a bride and groom in their wedding attire among the grittiness of urban Memphis streets. This is my first shoot of this nature and I can’t wait to do more. Many thanks to Dorie and John for getting themselves dolled up again after a long weekend and letting me play with this idea. I love the images we made together.

We started at Sun Studio. To those not in the know, Sun Studio is the place where Elvis Presley (among many other rock ‘n roll legends) recorded many early demos and singles. This place is a pretty big deal.

Memphis Wedding Photography at Sun Studio

Memphis Wedding Photography at Sun Studio

Memphis Wedding Photography at Sun Studio

Memphis Wedding Photography at Sun Studio

Finally we moved on to Beale Street which is like the Bourbon Street of Memphis. We had a lot of fun here.

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

Memphis wedding photography on Beale Street

I had such an amazing time in Memphis and I was so honored to be chosen as the photographer for Dorie and John’s wedding. I felt like an important part of their entire weekend, which was so great. Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Nolt! I love you both!

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Memphis Wedding Photography | Hunt-Phelan Inn Wedding – Dorie + John

Dorie and John’s wedding at The Inn at Hunt-Phelan in Memphis was nothing short of amazing. You may remember them from their rehearsal dinner, featuring an Elvis impersonator. Obviously this wedding was destined to be a good one, right?

What I loved about this wedding is Dorie and John weren’t afraid to do things their way. They didn’t follow any traditions unless they wanted to, and in fact, they even made up their own. The details of the wedding were a lovely arrangement of vintage elements mixed with beautifully-crafted DIY projects. Needless to say, this wedding was a dream to photograph.

There is just so much I wanted to share about this wedding, keep reading and you’ll understand why I had a hard time cutting this post down. Everything looked so great!

Dorie and John both got ready in separate quarters of The Inn at Hunt-Phelan. I say this over and over again, but it’s worth repeating: photographing a bride and/or groom getting ready for their wedding is one of my favorite parts of the day.  Dorie’s beautiful hair flower was made by JMG Jewelry Design.

Memphis wedding photography

Dorie wore three strands of pearls – each of them handed down from a different woman in her family. Wedding jewelry just doesn’t get any more special than that, does it?

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

I just adored the details of Dorie’s dress, and she looked absolutely gorgeous in it.

Memphis wedding photography

Meanwhile, our happy groom was getting ready for his day, and looking pretty snazzy, too.

Memphis wedding photographyDorie and John chose not to see each other before the ceremony, which was just fine because their ceremony started early enough so we had plenty of amazing light to work with afterward. It was fun sneaking around the grounds taking solo portraits of them before the ceremony.

Memphis wedding photography

So, here is something wonderful. The only fresh flowers used at this wedding were for Dorie and her Maid of Honor’s bouquets. That’s it. The boutineirres were made out of folded maps and were purchased from Hope and Joy Studios on Etsy. I thought this was an amazing idea and the lack of fresh flowers phased absolutely no one. Love this! But, I think we can all agree at the fresh flower bouquets were quite gorgeous in their own right. They were provided by Gesture Gifts.

Memphis wedding photography

A vintage brooch from Dorie’s mother was pinned to her bouquet.

Memphis wedding photography

John runs an online music community called SongFight! and to propose to Dorie he enlisted the help of some of his SongFight friends by having them each write a love song for Dorie. When he posted those songs online, he showed them to Dorie and stayed nearby with a ring while she listened to the songs. So sweet! Those same songs were played during the ceremony and made into a mix CD called “Super Secret Love Maneuver”, which  was given out to the guests as a favor. The amazing programs were designed by Dorie’s friend, Sara Jackson.

Memphis wedding photography

This cute ring plate was made by Elm Studios – another Etsy find!

Dorie was walked down the aisle by both of her parents, which is something I love to see.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Now here’s where the new traditions come in. Dorie and John decided to literally “tie the knot” during their ceremony. They used two pieces of rope – one from Dorie’s family, and one from John’s family – and tied the two ends together. I thought this was a beautiful idea and I fully expect it to catch on and see it in other weddings!

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Hooray, they’re married!

Memphis wedding photography

The grounds at The Inn were beautiful and perfect. I stole these two away after their ceremony and had so much fun photographing them. I think they had fun, too. ;)

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Never has sun flare in a portrait been more appropriate. You Are My Sunshine sign made by YeeHaw Industries.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Here are even more amazing details from the reception. I think i squeed a million times checking out all the craftiness that was put into this wedding.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

These beautiful (and yummy!) cupcakes were provided by Sugar Bowl Cupcakes. The birds cake topper  was made by Dorie and embellished with a piece of Dorie’s mom’s wedding dress and some old modeling clay of John’s – making it unique and special to them.

Memphis wedding photography

In lieu of the standard floral centerpieces, beautiful lanterns adorned the tables and guests were invited to take their favorite ones home. Now that’s what I call a wedding favor!

Memphis wedding photography

And of course there was a photo booth. This one was from Party Booths, and it was an absolute hit.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

The rest of the night was one big dance party, naturally. These are people who know how to have fun. I will leave you with these sweet images of Dorie and John’s first dance as husband and wife.

Memphis wedding photography

There are a million more images where these came from, but I must stop here! Stay tuned for another post featuring this couple’s Day After session on Beale Street. Yes! You are excited! So am I.

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Memphis Wedding Photography – Dorie + John’s Rehearsal Dinner

Hey, y’all – I’m in Memphis! I have the distinct honor of spending the weekend in Elvis’ hometown to photograph Dorie and John’s wedding. The wedding is tomorrow (or today, depending on which timezone you’re in), but today the festivities started with a really great rehearsal dinner. I don’t get to shoot rehearsal dinners a lot, so this was particularly fun for me. It’s really wonderful to get to meet close family and friends before the wedding so that on the big day, people who know I am and they’re already comfortable with me and my camera. Love it!

It’s definitely out of the norm for me to blog images the day they were taken, but I wanted to rest up before the wedding and there’s not much else to do in this hotel room, so of course I had to spend the evening processing photos. :)

I went to the wedding venue to check out the grounds while Dorie, John and their wedding party were there rehearsing. I can’t wait for the real event!

Memphis wedding photography

I loved the details Dorie and her mom put together for the dinner. All of the tablecloths are vintage and belonged to Dorie’s grandmother. They were beautiful and were such a great way to personalize the tables.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Here’s Dorie doing her best Elvis impersonation ;)

Memphis wedding photography

But then this guy tried to show her up. I have to admit, he gets extra points for the outfit.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

I discovered babies are skeptical of Elvis impersonators. Go figure.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

John is a musician – as are several of his friends – so to close the evening out, guests were treated to some acoustic songs by candlelight. Even though it was pitch black out, I purposely didn’t use my flash in order to capture the mood and ambiance of this impromptu concert.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

Dorie’s dad was totally feeling it.

Memphis wedding photography

Memphis wedding photography

I am so excited for Dorie and John’s wedding tomorrow – it’s gonna be amazing!

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