Fountain City Church || The Standard || Knoxville, TN Photographer || Max & Elise

Fountain City Church Wedding || Reception at The Standard

I love church ceremonies. That love is more because of the beauty of a marriage ceremony taking place in God’s house of worship and less because it’s pretty and makes for great photos. This Fountain City church wedding, however, was gorgeous. The church had AMAZING, massive windows going down both sides of the sanctuary, AND it was painted in really light, bright colors so all the light was just reflecting everywhere. AAAAAND there wasn’t red or purple carpet. Yes, it was blue carpet and pews, but still so much better than bright red or purple carpet. Then, outside… so so so gorgeous. Huge white columns that you will see plenty of as you scroll through, beautiful brick archways, and immaculate landscaping. Right across the street is a middle school with the biggest oak trees perfectly dispersed among this green lawn with just the right amount of shade when the sun did decide to make it’s debut. While we are talking about sun and weather, I have to share another rain story. Do you know why I keep sharing these stories? Because God keeps making them happen. I know I sound like a broken record, but honestly, I feel like He keeps making it happen because it has given me one more reason to shout His name from the mountain tops…or at least from the little hill I live on in Fountain City ;-). The forecast was 20% rain. I quickly dismissed it because 20% is nothing in photography world, and it might as well be 0%. Despite the cloudy day, there was nothing in me that was even thinking about rain. So, we did the first look, and then started in on the bridesmaids’ photos. All of a sudden, we hear a HUGE rumbling of thunder, and the wind starts whipping around. Trees are swaying, cool air is coming in, and it’s all the ingredients to a massive summer thunderstorm. The bride looks at me like…are you sure I should still be outside in my gorgeous white wedding gown, perfectly sculpted hair, and perfect makeup without even an umbrella in sight? I reassure the bride and all the bridesmaids that I have the Dark Sky app, and it always tells me 3-5 minutes before it’s going to start raining. It hadn’t alerted me. We did not have anything to worry about. It would alert me. It always does. So, we moved on to full bridal party photos, and honestly, I’m starting to question my Dark Sky app. Surely, the heavens are about to just open up. But still nothing. We move on to photos of the groomsmen, and I think my imagination starts feeling random rain drops every 2-3 minutes. Portraits wrap up, everyone is inside, and I head to my car to go take reception detail pictures before the ceremony. It was literally 1.5 miles down the road, and the heavens opened. They not only opened, but the road was resting in puddles like they had opened 30 minutes ago. 1.5 miles you guys. There were 1.5 miles between beautiful portraits and them getting completely rained out by a massive thunderstorm. I quickly text the bride (while sitting at the red light) and praised Jesus that He saw fit to give us dry land while we got some amazing pictures for Max & Elise’s wedding day. So to sum up, if you are looking for a gorgeous ceremony location, you should check into having a Fountain City church wedding at Fountain City Presbyterian, and if you are looking for a weather app, go with Dark Sky. It won’t let you down.

Max & Elise

I always reminisce after a wedding day and think back to what my favorite moment was so I can share it with you guys on here. This time, my favorite moment changed as I started going through the wedding images. This is another reason why I love photography so much. There are moments that you are part of, but because of the distraction of the moment itself, you can’t fully grasp 100% of it. Until you look back at the pictures. Like when a bride is walking down the aisle and her mother, grandmother, future mother-in-law are all looking back at her with happy tears in their eyes and proud smiles on their faces. She isn’t looking at them. She has no idea how honored they are to be there because she is just focused on her groom. The man she loves and is going to spend the rest of her life with. She is focused on him for the perfect reason and shouldn’t be focused anywhere else. When I deliver the pictures, she can see those expressions. She can look around that image and take that moment in again in it’s entirety. She can feel what she was feeling and relive exactly what she felt the first time, but she can also experience the things she couldn’t see when that moment was live. As I went through all of the thousands of images from Max and Elise’s day, I realized this was happening time and time again when Elise was caught in a moment laughing, smiling, or concentrating, and I catch Max staring at her. I use the word staring precisely because he was not just looking at her. He was so joyfully staring at his bride, and you can see the difference even if it is just a snapshot in time. I know as you scroll you will begin to see this, too, and only because I didn’t want to have ALL of those moments totally revealed in the blog sneak peek, I have included three below. As you go, I will point those images out to you, although I’m sure that you don’t need me to. In this stare that you’ll see on Max’s face, you’ll see his love and adoration for Elise. It truly is the sweetest most precious thing, and there is nothing I love more than the fact that I have preserved this forever for them. For them to show their children and grandchildren. For them to show their parents and grandparents. And for them to look back on fondly as their marriage ages and matures. This. This is what it’s all about for me. Just in case you were wondering.

I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel… I shoot anywhere! If you have any questions about pricing or booking with me, click here to contact me now! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!

 

Vendors used by Elise & Max:

Ceremony Venue: Fountain City Presbyterian Church

Reception Venue: The Standard

Florist: Powell Florist

Cake: B&G All Occasion Catering

DJ: Professional Touch Entertainment

Hair & Makeup: NuCreation Hair Studio – Tabi 

Wedding Dress Shop: Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique

Wedding Dress Designer: Stella York

Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Azazie

Tuxedo Rental: Generation Tux

Linen Rental: Anderson Party Rental 

 

If you loved this session, you’ll also love:

Elise & Max Engagement Pictures

Brittany & Chase Wedding Pictures

Allison & Mike Wedding Pictures