The Couple

I received a text from Melissa that Alex wrote the “couple” and “relationship” part. She said she cried and laughed, and didn’t have the heart to do anything to it. I have to agree with Melissa and I don’t have the heart to do anything to it either.

So below is their relationship from Alex’s point of view:

Slid into his DM’s and connected over baseball, music concerts, exercise, and tailgating. Got to know each other’s family over dinner and fishing with her Dad and weekends to the beach visiting his parents in Delaware. Started living together in a Dundalk row home OR as she would say, “Fundalk”. Our combined love for animals provoked us to rescue two more cats, right off the streets of Dundalk! Now we have a total of three cats; Ollie, Gwen, and Nala. She would take him to Hot Yoga, and he would reluctantly go, finding out it, he enjoyed it. She found a Dog on her way to work, surrendered her to the shelter in hopes her owner would come for her but after 7 days she was not claimed, that was the day he filled out the papers to adopt Pearl, an 85 pound pancake. We learned a lot from Pearl. Next stop, more animals, but that required a bigger house… Well, really just a bigger property. We want chickens! We based our entire house hunting on this dream. Farm fresh eggs! Different color eggs, different breeds of chickens, different sizes of chickens. We learned a lot, but we figured it out, together. We were a unit, a team, honestly she was the driving force, the motivation, making him a stronger man. He loved what she was and knew it was time. He asked permission and built her next dream. It was tough because how do you surprise someone with a garden… that takes time. Fortunately, she had a weekend planned with her parents. He got to work, thankfully he had some help from his parents to install a fence, arbor, gate, AND, oh yea, a sign and lights. This was a garden but this was also the place he would ask her to marry him. He waited up late for her to come home from the weekend trip. He immediately blind folds her and he escorts her to the back yard. He counts to three and like Clark Griswold, he blinds her with all lights. It was the first time he has successfully surprised her. As he dropped to one knee she was still in disbelief. Collected herself, and said YES. He is a lucky man.

The Wedding

It was a gorgeous day at Pine Ridge Farm! The Fowler family and their team do an amazing job coordinating and setting up for the day. Melissa chose a simple, yet elegant dress. She dressed up the entire location with beautiful wild flowers. We were told that she went to three different farms to collect these beautiful flowers for her vision of “planted” flowers down the aisle of their ceremony and for centerpieces at the reception. This was such an original and gorgeous way to add pops of color! When we entered the bridal suite, Melissa was finishing up her hair and makeup by swept (Kristin and Wendie).  When Melissa was putting her finishing touches on, I caught her mom looking into the mirror at her little girl all grown up. After some family pictures it was time for the first look. It was extremely cute how nervous Alex was. He was so thankful they decided on a first look to spend extra time together and get the jitters out of the way. Once the reunited, we found a gorgeous swing hanging from a tree tucked away behind the house and we fell in love!  We could see the nerves melt off Melissa and Alex and they relaxed and started to really take in the day!

The bridal party was Alex’s best man, Ryan. He took his job very seriously and had the best speech ever! Mommom was able to make the celebration and we were told she is 90 years young. We could not believe it!  She brought a pile of cash for the apron dance and kept up with the best of them! For entertainment, the couple chose Jenny Z. She is one of our preferred vendors for events. She kept the party going and the mood light and joyful throughout the evening. For sunset pictures I usually do more contrasty/bright sky colors, but the bride wanted “glowy” and I think we delivered on that!

Congrats Melissa & Alex!

xoxo,

Your Photography Team

This Wedding Was Made Possible by the Following Vendors:

Venue: Pine Ridge Farm- @pine.ridge.farm

Caterer: Hunt Valley Catering-  @huntvalleycatering

Photography: Northern Lights Photography- @nlightsphotos

Florals: Floral Expressions by Jennifer @floralexpressionsbyjen

DJ: Jenny Z- @jennyzweddingdj

Officiant:  Jodi Lutz

Bridal Shop: K & B Bridal

Custom Suit: FIATI @fiati.co

Bakery (cookies and Brownies):  Cookies by Kathryn cookiesbykathryn_

Hair/Makeup: Swept -Kristin and Wendie @sweptllc

Bus:  JDT Transportation INC