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The Mill & Mine Wedding || Knoxville, TN || Lindsay & Kendrick

The Mill & Mine Wedding

Lindsay and Kendrick are really pretty incredible. I knew at the very first meeting I had with them how similar of personalities we have. It was a little scary, actually, how much we have in common. Fast forward to shooting their engagement session this past spring (which you can revisit here!), and it solidified that even more. They kept telling me what amazing friends they have, and how they were so excited for me to meet them all. I really didn’t know just how great all these people were going to be. Seriously, no way. Their original The Mill & Mine wedding date was set for June 5^th. It wasn’t long after the engagement session that they decided to postpone their Mill & Mine wedding day to September 4^th and have a small Hunter Valley Farm elopement on May 1^st. I got to see them again on their elopement day (which you can see more of here), and even though they were legally getting married, it just wasn’t real without ALL of their family and friends there. Thankfully, their parents and Kendrick’s sister could attend, and the same dear friend married them. But there were still so many people missing, which was everything to Lindsay and Kendrick. You should see these friendships. It puts the Sex & the City girls to shame, you guys. I’m not limiting this to just Lindsay and her friends either. Kendrick has it, too. It is so powerful.

Lindsay and Kendrick were so incredibly sweet and invited me to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. Not to shoot it as a hired photographer, but just to attend. I’ve talked before about why I love going to rehearsal dinners. I love meeting all the VIPs of the wedding day and hearing sweet, sentimental stories from their friends and family. This time, however, I also made some friends of my own. I sat with three girls from Lindsay’s small group at the rehearsal dinner, and when I came up to them the next day at cocktail hour, it was like we were long time friends. These types of personalities cross my path regularly in my line of work, but what’s unique is there were SO many together in one place at the same time. I sincerely can’t explain it other than it made me want to go join their friend group.

It’s not just me though. Before Lindsay and Kendrick’s Mill & Mine wedding, they had already invited Dustin and me over for pizza night at their house (not just ordering pizza either…I’m talking hand made crust, fire roasted, kind of pizza). I was already 100% on board for that night, but now after meeting their crew, I’m over here like can we invite all your friends, too?? Hahaha.

So, yeah. It was a really great wedding, and I know God crosses my paths with every single AMP couple with a purpose. For the Stileses, I’m thinking it just might be for the impact their friendships left on my heart.

In other not-so-mushy-gushy news, I also wanted to share some really great tips that Lindsay and Kendrick implemented to have an incredibly safe COVID wedding. Right now, there are either weddings that really care about COVID and are intentional, and there are weddings that you forget COVID even exists. There’s not really any in the middle ground. So for those still planning and trying to navigate this, I learned some new tips and tricks for you from Lindsay and Kendrick:

I’ve seen chair spacing during ceremonies, but they also added a TON more chairs so households could more easily put chairs between them and the next family unit .
They spaced the bridal party out.
They cut their guest list. Then, they used the massive amount of space at The Mill & Mine to spread fewer tables out to take up the whole room.
While Lindsay, Kendrick, their immediate family, and their bridal party were mingling inside, they all wore masks. I will go ahead and say, if the bride and groom are wearing masks, most everyone else will, too. And they only wore them when they were mingling and socializing.
This is the first time I’d seen pre-plated hors d’oeuvres, and it’s genius. They had little plates with a generous portion of cheese, fruit, and crackers on each of them, and instead of everyone having to touch the same serving ware to dish out their appetizer, they just grabbed a plate and moved on.
They required masks to order anything from the bar (ding ding ding ding…if nothing else makes people wear a mask, this sure will!).
The biggest and scariest one for all couples everywhere…they didn’t have a dance floor. SAY WHAT?! No dance floor??? That’s right, guys. They didn’t have a dance floor, and they still had so many guests stay until the very end and have so much fun. They also still had music. I know this has to be SUCH a bummer for the DJ, but if you are genuinely terrified of COVID being passed at your wedding, I’m fairly certain it’s the dance floor that’s going to make it happen, as much as I hate to say it. So, what did they do instead? They had lawn games. So. Many. Lawn. Games. They had three sets of corn hole boards. Ladder Toss. Kanjam. Giant Jenga. Giant Connect 4. A Ping Pong table. And probably others that I’m forgetting, too. Now, I know this can’t happen at every venue. And it’s not ideal in the winter. But it is definitely a viable option if the dance floor is something that is keeping you up at night.

Now, of course, I’m sure at this point you’ve read DOZENS of other “Planning a Wedding during COVID-19” posts that give you all the more classic suggestions. Just in case you haven’t, here is a short summary of them: Your wedding favor can be a mask for your guests, post signs about social distancing, run sanitizing diffusers in the bathroom, put hand sanitizer everywhere, have a plated meal vs. a buffet, cut the guest list to 50 or less, and have everything outside, if at all possible. There’s probably more you can find with a quick Google search, too.

Okay…I’ve done enough talking. If you’re still here…God bless you, and scroll on, little homies…scroll on.

wedding dress hanging up at the mill & mine

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