Oh these two lovebirds…. First of all, I didn’t meet them until the morning of their sunrise wedding on Jacksonville Beach. But, I’ve been talking with them for months! It all started because Chris reached out to me to do a small intimate wedding at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. I had been dying to do a wedding there, so I was all in. Both Amanda and Chris wanted to keep it really small and I talked with them about changing the time of the wedding to optimize light and the ability to use every location at the park. That was my first recommendation for change. A few weeks later, I heard from Chris, and he said they changed their mind about having a photographer. They were trying to keep a very low budget. I’m not gonna lie, I was bummed. When I hear things like photography being on a low budget for a wedding, I try to remind people that the pictures are what they are going to be looking at in 50 years! That is why it is 1. Very important to have a professional photographer 2. MAKE SURE you love the style of the photography (just because they are “cheap” doesn’t mean they are “good”) 3. I can’t stress this enough.. GET AN ALBUM! I love my albums. They are not cheap, but if you think about it, that is your MAIN MEMORY! Make sure it’s worth it!

Anywho, back to Amanda and Chris. Just when I thought I lost them all together, I get a call from Amanda. She was like, Chris told me I would love you, and we decided to change to a sunrise wedding at Jax beach. I said great! Amanda said they were just going to walk out to the beach from the Hampton Inn, and get married there. I said absolutely not. We’ll jump in the car and go to the pier. At sunrise, it’s good to have something to block the direct light, and I also knew it would make the images spectacular. I met Amanda for the first time as she was walking out of her hotel room ready to go. I’m as witty at 6:30am as I am at 6:30pm, so we hit it off immediately! She and her cute nephew Isaac jumped in my car and we drove down to the pier. Of course Chris was already there, and I jumped out and told him to go to the beach and turn around until I tell him he could look. There’s just something about a groom seeing his bride for the first time. It’s one of my favorite pictures to take!

The wedding was perfect. There were some nosy people on the beach, and one drunk guy that tried to approach (I took care of him pretty quickly, I may or may not have mentioned that I was a black belt). We all just had fun. I get involved in all of my weddings as if it were my own. I want the best day for my couples period. My P-OCD (Photographers OCD) Kicked in, and I edited a few right after the wedding and showed them when I met them at their hotel. Then, I couldn’t stop editing that day (Hey it was nice they got married at 7am! It gave me more time the rest of the day) So, I didn’t stop until I was done editing, and Amanda and Chris had their pictures that night before they left on their honeymoon. Because that’s How I ROLL.

Love them, Love their pictures.