This is a special one friends…Carlos and Stephanie are a part of our small group at Hope Church and their wedding was a collaboration of efforts by some of Stephanie’s dearest friends and other members of our small group…A few months back, when Stephanie started asking our friends if we would be a part of her wedding and help her put it together, I never imagined that we would be able to pull off such a special evening…but it was beautifully intimate and reflected Stephanie so well…Originally Stephanie and Carlos just wanted so badly to be MARRIED that they were going to forego the celebration…but I’m so so happy that as a small group we were able to come together and help make their wedding day memorable and special!

I arrived at our church around 3 PM and started gathering Stephanie’s details…one of my favorite parts of the day was that you could just tell how deeply Stephanie is loved by her friends and family…and that was reflected in her handmade brooch bouquet…each of the antique brooches in the bouquet came from a friend or family member so it had extra special meaning. I picked it up and just stared at it for a solid minute admiring how beautiful it was…and then I told myself to hurry up because we were already running behind schedule! (as wedding days typically do in one way or another…)

But the whole time I was shooting her details..her shoes, jewelry, etc…my heart started to overflow with pure joy…I felt so honored to get to be a part of putting together Stephanie’s beautiful wedding day…and it made me so thankful to be a part of the body of Christ and of a church where I’ve met a small group of people who care about me deeply in the same way that they care about Stephanie enough to help give her the most beautiful wedding we could!

Ryan and I have only known these people for just over a year, but it somehow feels like much longer and we are so thankful for the ways that we’ve seen God work in our church over this past year!

We love you Stephanie and Carlos! And we’re so excited for you and this new chapter in your lives!

There it is! Her pretty bouquet!

This box was actually just where she kept her bouquet…but I thought it was too cute not to photograph!

Another pretty pin for her hair…

Putting on the dress!!

Stephanie and her girls…so cute!

ahhh I loved the lighting in this room!!

There’s the groom! Waiting for his beautiful bride!

Here she comes…

I always love this moment…

Stephanie has such a beautifully tender and compassionate heart..we all knew that there would be plenty of tears:)

Then they prayed together…I loved this…

Portrait time!!!

Loved this backdrop…the leaves were so pretty!

Then we made time for a few more bridal portraits…and I’m SO glad we did…

So cute you two!

A favorite!

OH GIRL. check out that model face:)

The bridal party!

I don’t usually do poses like the one on the left..but it was Stephanie’s idea and I just loved how cute it turned out!

So pretty girls..

Stephanie with their cute little daughter Grace, and her dad!

I loved the S’more favors!

A few more reception details…

Some of the guys in our small group…The band did an amazing job!

There she comes!!

I loved the candles!

MARRIED!!!!!

Some of my friends from small group in the kitchen preparing the food!

And Stephanie’s maid of honor did an awesome job DJ’ing the night…

Father/daughter dance!

First dance…

beautiful toasts…

Then they did a really fun version of the money dance!!

Cake time! I loved when Grace helped her daddy clean off his face…

A little more dancing…

Congratulations again you two!! Thank you for letting me be a part of your big day!