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!

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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!

And here’s part one of the wedding post:

And here’s part two of the wedding post!

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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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.

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

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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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.

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?

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

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

Dorie 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

Hooray, they’re married!

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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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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!

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.

Here’s Dorie doing her best Elvis impersonation

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

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

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.

Dorie’s dad was totally feeling it.

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

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