Last year Allison Isbell and Kevin Gaddis were married at Church Street United Methodist Church in downtown Knoxville. The church and weather were beautiful, and we got some great photos of the bride and couple in the courtyard and around the church. After the ceremony, the wedding party rode a trolley to the reception at Southern Graces Bistro where everyone let loose and enjoyed the evening with dancing, drinking, and laughing. The DJ was provided by Special Notes who I recommend for wedding music.

Allison's sapphire engagement ring was beautiful (sapphire is my birthstone, and I have a couple on my e-ring as well).









At many weddings, the guys are reluctant to catch the garter, but these guys were practically fighting for it. Unfortunately, the chandelier caught it before they could.




I'm photographing the wedding of Allison's sister Sarah in October and can't wait to see everyone again.

On Wednesday, I drove out to Deerfield Resort on Norris Lake to photograph a family reunion. Anyone in the area this week knows how very hot it has been so we did photos outdoors and indoors at one of the lakeside houses that they had rented for the week. It was a large group with lots of happy children of all ages.

The first set of twins, Nicholas & Caitlin.


Fiver-year-old Sarah. Tracy & her daughter Ella.



Second set of twins, three-year-olds Erin & Kelsey.



and one of the two together


... and Hannah who started out being very shy but turned into a little model



The last photo is a HUGE moth that was hanging on their rental house. It was just too pretty not to be included in the photos. ETA: I did a little research and discovered that this is a Luna moth.

On a sunny August day in 2005, Alicia Sawatsky married Brent Altum on top of a mountain near Gatlinburg. The bridal preparations took place in a nearby cabin that was included in the venue's wedding package. Alicia's family traveled in from as far away as Canada to share in the special day. After the outdoor ceremony, the couple released doves and then retreated into the enclosed pavilion for dinner, toasts, a bit of dancing, and of course cake.











A tip on destination weddings in Gatlinburg:

There are many small venues in Gatlinburg that specialize in destination weddings. These places can be an excellent choice for couples who want a small wedding, and they often have various packages to fit different budgets. However, these venues usually do perform many, many more weddings than venues in other cities, and couples often have less say in how their day will play out. The main problem that I have seen is that venue employees will agree to special requests by phone or email and then the people there on the wedding day know nothing about it and can't allow the changes.

If you are planning such a wedding, absolutely get everything in writing, and take it with you to the wedding. Learn who will be there on your wedding day and only deal directly with them. The day before (or at least as early on the wedding day as possible), get together with the person to go over your plans for the day and reiterate any special requests that you have made. Alicia and Brent did have a problem with their venue early on their wedding day, but they were able to speak with the owner and straighten things out because they were well prepared.

Many of the venues will not allow outside photographers, and many will not even allow guests to take photographs. They will even separate the guests from the wedding party and couple during the photographs. I once witnessed an employee yell at the groom's mother for trying to take photographs. She then stood in front of everyone to keep them away from the couple and to block photos.

However, you may be able to work out a deal with the venue in which you either pay an additional fee or pay for their photography service and then just don't use it. This is an example of a special request that you would want to have in writing.

Hannah Wright and Jeremy Vest were married in 2005 at Laurel Church of Christ on Kingston Pike. The couple chose to meet before their ceremony so that they could spend some private moments together and then complete the formal photos. We also drove down Cherokee Drive to get more relaxed couple photos at Sequoyah Hills park before returning to the church for the ceremony. 

The couple met and live in Alabama, but they're from Knoxville. Hannah's father was one of my favorite teachers in High School, and I remember him talking about his little girls Hannah & Hailey. In a way, I felt like I knew them. I was honored to be there on Hannah's wedding day and to watch him proudly walk her down the aisle to Jeremy.

These two are just genuinely good people, and it's always a pleasure to see such deserving people find happiness together.

Before the wedding day, I did a bridal session with Hannah in the Knoxville Museum of Art courtyard.





Hannah was a beautiful bride who radiated happiness.



The ceremony was a mixture of laughter, sincerity, and love. On the way up the aisle, Hannah stopped off to give her father a kiss.






The bon-bons at the reception were AMAZING.



After a reception at the church, the couple exited to their limo through a shower of rose petals.