Kelly & Taylor. These two made my little photographer’s heart so happy. Originally, they planned on getting married last November, and I was going to shoot their wedding. But a few months before, she emailed me and said they were going to call off the wedding. Still get married, but weren’t sure when, where or what it would look like. I was so bummed, because I really enjoy these two and would have LOVED to photograph them.

Fast forward a few months ago. Kelly reached out and told me they got married at the court house, just the two of them, back in February. They were legally married, but hadn’t done any photos yet. She had bought a dress last year while she was planning her wedding, but never got the chance to wear it. So she asked if we could do belated wedding portraits. And of COURSE I said yes yes yes yes!

She asked if I had any locations in mind, and clearly I threw out the idea of Max Patch, in North Carolina. Its seriously one of my favorite places ever. They were down. So one Sunday afternoon, we all hiked up to the top, in wedding dress, tux, and all, and photographed their beautiful love story.

I so appreciated Kelly & Taylor’s approach to their wedding. When I asked them why they chose to cancel their big wedding plans, she said that over time, they were focusing so much time on their wedding, and less on their future marriage. It became expensive and stressful and they just weren’t enjoying the process. They said they wanted to focus more on starting their marriage off on the right foot, rather than focusing all their time and energy on planning a wedding. Your marriage is WAY more important than your wedding. I’ll always support and applaud people for prioritizing marriage over wedding. I’ll always support people who take the “untraditional” route when it comes to their wedding, if it’s what they love and what’s best for them.

Kelly & Taylor, thanks for letting me document your love. It’s beautiful just the way it is. I’ll climb a mountain any day for you guys xoxo