“Today I received my wedding gallery from Ali, and just like that, I’m back in Tennessee, reliving every beautiful moment of my wedding day. Honestly, I struggle to put this experience into one review because it was so much more than just getting photographs…it was an EXPERIENCE. And that alone should speak volumes. My husband and I traveled from Louisiana to Tennessee for our wedding, and searching for vendors from another state was no easy task. But something told me that Ali was the one when I was looking for a photographer, and I’m so glad I trusted that feeling. Ali won’t just be your photographer; she’s a storyteller, an artist, and a friend. She has a way of capturing the raw emotions and little moments that you didn’t even realize were happening, all while making you feel completely at ease. Booking her for my wedding was hands down the best decision I made for the entire day. Ali’s work goes beyond delivering pictures. It’s like she creates a living, breathing story of your day. Every shot in my gallery feels intentional, thoughtful, and full of life. She didn’t just take photos; she captured the essence of us. If you’re considering booking Ali for any event, let me just say this: it will be the best investment you make. And if it’s for your wedding? Trust me, you couldn’t make a better choice. Thank you, Ali, for helping us hold onto these memories forever. Your talent is truly unmatched!” -Abagayle

Can we talk about why the ‘getting ready’ part of your wedding day is secretly the most underrated? (Good, because I’m going to. Glad we agree on things already.)

Not to be dramatic or anything (I know, right… have you met me?), but let me level with you here… if you rush through your wedding morning, you’re passing up some final gallery GOLD.  

The giddiness as you step into your dress. The way your flower girl watches wide eyed from the corner. The frantic we’ll-laugh-about-this-years-from-now-but-why-is-this-happening FaceTime call when one of your wedding cakes suddenly goes MIA.

These are the tiny, true-to-life slices of a wedding day that will stop you mid-scroll, hit you right in the feels, and remind you exactly how your wedding day actually felt.

Abagayle and Hunter’s wedding morning was the kind of emotional masterpiece I LIVE for because they gave themselves time to ease in. 

And now, slower mornings are the hill I will die on for my couples. (Oh, and blue hour. But also golden hour. And butterfly bride portraits… You’ll see.)

Vendors | Venue: Idyll By the River | Florist: Bobbie’s | DJ + Photo Booth: Brice Clark with Moove DJ Group | Bride’s Ring: Olive Ave | Bride’s Dress: Maggie Sottero | Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Catering: Flour and Forge

The Flat Lay Exception (Why The Tiny Details Matter)

I’m just going to go ahead and out myself right up front: I’m not a flat lay gal. I’m too infatuated with turning every emotional beat of your wedding into a cinematic moment. 

(The heart wants what the heart wants, and this heart wants to soak up every inch of FEELING that unfolds in front of me). 

But Abby’s details? They were just so… her.

Anyone who knows Abby knows she’s big on butterflies. And not just because they’re beautiful but because she studied forestry and wildlife habitat management, fell head over heels for entomology, and learned how vital butterflies are in nature. 

They are such a spot-on reflection of who she is (read: basically the coolest).

Who knew flat lays could make me emotional? But here I was, arranging butterflies and treasured trinkets, thinking, “Okay Abby, you’ve cracked the code to making me give a damn about flat lays.”

And she had. We weren’t curating a Pinterest-perfect aesthetic with this part of the getting ready wedding photography— we were crafting a mini cinematic story that made Abby feel seen beyond the ring boxes and ribbons. It’s been a MINUTE since I’ve done flat lays, but these are easily my favorite detail shots that I’ve taken in a loooong time. 

That’s the power of giving yourself more time in your wedding morning—you get to pause, reflect, and actually put pieces of yourself (or even your actual self) into your details. And trust me, it makes all the difference.

The Key to Getting Ready Wedding Photography is Letting the Chaos Be

You know what ISN’T a secret? We have made getting ready wedding photography way too f***king complicated.

Honestly, you just need to give your morning more time to do its thing. That’s it. That’s the tweet. You just need more time.

Not just for the big moments but for the quiet, unscripted ones—the ones you don’t even realize are happening in real-time but hit you like a freight train when you see them later (and possibly on the day, too… weddings are wild). 

And Abby and Hunter’s morning? It had them all.

The oh sh*t FaceTime call when Abby found out one of her cakes was MIA (and someone was en route to the grocery store to save the day). The kids weaving in and out of the rooms, giggling and playing, totally oblivious of the schedule. The tenderness of mother and daughter dressing each other while outside while Hunter fastened his cufflinks with equal care. 

And then, the first look with her dad. Not just a moment, but a whole scene—every emotion etched on his face, the same misty blue-eyed expression mirrored between them, their matching gaze carrying a weight that didn’t need words.

And as for Hunter?

You could feel every heartbeat of anticipation stretched between them, the late November air crisp enough to hold it. And then—he turned around.

No theatrics. No over-the-top reaction. Just the quiet, soul-deep recognition of the person he was about to spend his forever with.

THIS is why I fight for slower mornings for the sake of your getting ready wedding photography. Candid photos can’t happen when you’re performing for the camera. They happen when you actually have space to breathe and lean into them.

More Time in Getting Ready Wedding Photography Means More Presence in Your Ceremony

There’s a good chance that Abby and Hunter’s ceremony stopped my heart for a few seconds. (Don’t worry; I made it out alive.)

It hit deeeep—the prayer they shared while covered in golden November sunlight, framed by a floral ceremonial arch that contrasted with the distant winter treeline just right. Time didn’t slow as much as it stilled, and Abby and Hunter felt still in it. 

There I stood, finger on the shutter, watching (and doing my darnedest not to ugly cry, but some things are just a lost cause, you know?) as the music swelled through the speakers and their guests stepped forward, placing their hands on them.

I don’t think I expected to feel as much as I did. I NEVER expect it, and then there I am (again), instantly welling up because you are, then busting out into laughter a mere three seconds later about our collective lack of composure, with you.

This was just something bigger than words, something you felt more than you saw, and it was really, REALLY beautiful. And I feel so infinitely thankful for the reminder that your wedding photos are just as defined by the milestones as the people who carry them with you.

Why Relaxed Mornings = Better Golden Hour Photos Later

Abby, Hunter, and I had been in it together with our whole hearts since the morning, forever bonded over butterflies, doomed wedding cakes, and first looks fit to make grown men (and me) cry.

By the time the sky turned that honey-dripping shade of gold, they weren’t trying to catch their breath after a whirlwind morning. They were just… here. Exactly where they needed to be.

And that’s when my camera heard the song of its people. 

Golden hour wrapped around them, soft and cinematic, like Nature’s Photoshop, and Abby and Hunter melted into it. Unrushed. Unforced. Unfazed. 

Their ease with me, with each other, with their whole damn day gave me the green light to play. To pick up a different lens than I usually would and capture their golden hour portraits in a way that felt light and… fun. They brought the energy, and I followed it: Abby doubled-over in laughter under her veil and somehow still serving peak ‘this should be a damn movie poster’ energy. 

It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of magic.

But we didn’t blink. 

Just look at those photos… What you see there is why I chase light like my entire life depends on it. 

When Cocktail Hour Becomes a Work of Art (Because You Let It)

Golden hour faded, but Abby and Hunter’s energy showed approximately ZERO signs of dipping, and their loved ones were ready to meet it back tenfold. 

Cocktail hour kickstarted and the kids ran the show like it was their own personal playground—and honestly? Here for it. 

Weaving between legs, piggybacking their way into every frame, and posing for selfies before tearing off again in their ADORABLE little formal threads—it’s that total childhood abandon that feels oh so welcome at a wedding of this… speed. 

I mean, a paint-by-number guest experience? Abby’s stroke of genius strikes again (did I mention that she is the coolest??).

Everyone grabbed a brush and dove in, adding their colors to a giant, custom canvas. By the time cocktail hour wrapped, the whole thing had come to life in layers of overlapping strokes blending together like they had always belonged.

The same way their hands had found each other at the ceremony. The same way I felt, slipping into the background like I’d been part of the day all along (because I HAD been). I wasn’t ‘Pro Wedding Photographer Ali’, I was part of the unhurried rhythm, moving with them instead of around them, my lens painting its own canvas one frame at a time.

Why Making Time For Blue Hour May Be One Of Your Greatest Wedding Investments

Ah, Blue Hour. My unsung hero. If golden hour is the grand finale, blue hour is the quiet encore.

If I could go back and tell Pinterest-era Ali that blue hour is like golden hour but a MILLION times better, I doubt she’d listen. (She was too busy following the Pinterest Guide to Photographing Weddings™). 

So instead, I’ll tell you: blue hour > golden hour. Full stop.

The sky shifting every few seconds, colors bleeding into each other. Face the sun, and the light is barely there, soft and delicate. Turn away, and the shadows deepen, moody and cinematic.  It’s fleeting, temperamental, and HARD to get right… but to DIE for when you do. 

And as it unfolded, so did everything else. Inside, the reception swelled—dinner turning to dancing, the hum of conversation blending into the pulse of the music.

But outside? It was just me and Abby. Her, wrapped in the last stretch of daylight that barely lingers before surrendering to night, and me surrendering to her serenity. 

Some of my favorite photos of her exist in these twilight tones—so naturally perfect they needed zero editing.

And then, as if I couldn’t be floored any further, she turned right toward the camera.

A single moment, held in stillness and in her expression, everything: The weight of the day. The quiet exhale before the music called her back inside. The full, unfiltered depth of what it means to be here, in this moment, standing at the edge of everything. An intimacy slowly built over an entire day of slow moments.

Past Me was NEVER going to find inspiration for this on a Pinterest board. Not while she was still tracking posing trends and purchasing presets to beat the band. But NOW, they are the very moments that define my work—my ART. 

Experience has shown me that the best way to tell my couple’s stories isn’t to disappear behind the camera and document. It’s to express a bit of my own journey every time I pick up my camera. 

The more I lean into that—the more I chase the light, the stillness, the unposed, the unexpected—the more seen my couples feel.

And, like all good things, that kind of trust and intimacy? It takes time.

If You Want Cinematic Getting Ready Wedding Photography, Let Your Morning Have Its Moment

Just trust me on this one: give yourself more time in the morning.

Not just for the photos (though, duh, the photos will be GORG-EOUS). But for the moments you won’t even clock are happening in real-time until you see them in your gallery—the ones that make you feel your wedding day, not just remember it.

If you want your photos to feel like living, breathing memories, then make like Abby and Hunter and give yourself more time and space to breathe. Their getting ready wedding photography wasn’t rushed, and because of that, everything that followed—the golden hour, the blue hour, the slow exhale of the night coming to a close—had the kind of ease you can’t fake. 

And I’ll be right there in it with you, feeling it as deeply as you are but outside it enough to catch the light, frame the moment, and give you a wedding gallery that pulls you right back in—mid-scroll, mid-year, mid-lifetime—like no time has passed at all.