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RT Lodge Winter Wedding || Knoxville, TN || Rachel & Burton

RT Lodge Winter Wedding

Before we dive into how absolutely incredible this couple is, I want to shout out to the venue. This is my very first RT Lodge winter wedding, and guys…it totally lived up to the dreams. I’ve been back in Knoxville since 2015. I also went full time that year and shoot 20-30 weddings every single year, but I had not yet shot a wedding at RT Lodge. A lot of times in this industry, you tend to work with the same vendors at each event. This is because once we work together, we all refer couples to each other to continue working together. This happens even more frequently at established, high end venues like RT Lodge. So, I’m absolutely thrilled Rachel and Burton hired me to shoot my first official RT Lodge winter wedding. Hopefully, this will open the door for more in the future.

This venue is gorgeous year round. It has so much to offer, and to be totally honest, the food may be the best in all of Knoxville + surrounding areas. I hung out with their chef for a few minutes during the rehearsal dinner, and he is so down to earth, kind, and absolutely incredible at all things food related. I can’t say enough great things. Really. The rest of the staff was so organized and so welcoming and so great to work with as well. One really important thing I want to mention is if you are planning a winter wedding, this is a phenomenal location. I genuinely love winter weddings. They are just so different and unique, but the one thing that is sometimes difficult to navigate is too many leafless trees in the background of the photos. Enter RT Lodge. They have so much evergreen landscaping around the property. From the ivy, to the shrubs, to the evergreen trees. When I look at these wedding photos, I hardly know it’s February! There is so much life around the property even in the dead of winter, and it lends itself to some absolutely stunning winter wedding photos!

Rachel & Burton

I am seriously in awe of what a perfect day Rachel and Burton had. Actually, more than just a perfect day. A whole perfect weekend. They checked into rooms at RT Lodge on the Thursday before the wedding, ate all their meals together, sat around fires together, even helped the RT Lodge chef smoke a pig all. night. long. together. They had breakfast together the day after the wedding and sent Rachel and Burton off on their honeymoon in a sweet celebration. There have been a couple weddings in my career that have done the whole weekend event, and you guys, if I were to get married again, this is what I would do! It doesn’t mean you can’t still have the big event. It means you can have little microevents all weekend leading up to the big Saturday event. It is just so much fun and like taking a weekend getaway with all of your favorite people.

One thing Rachel and Burton did that I absolutely loved that is not something I see at every wedding happened during the reception. The parent dances can sometimes be a little long. I typically see parent dances get cut short by slowly fading out the music after the second chorus. Instead of fading it out while Rachel was dancing with her dad, Rachel’s mom (who otherwise wouldn’t be having a special parent dance), grabs Burton’s hand and joins Rachel and her dad after the first chorus. Then, after the second chorus, they invite everyone to join them on the dance floor which flowed so nicely into a jam packed dance floor for the rest of the evening. I seriously loved this. It didn’t steal away from the sentimentality of Rachel’s dance with her dad. Instead it embraced it, gave them their spotlight, and moved nicely into the dance party.

All in all, this wedding was stunning. Every single person was so joyful the entire day. There was constant smiling and laughing, and everywhere I turned there were candid moments unfolding so beautifully that I couldn’t stop snapping my camera. Even during the not-so-cute moments like steaming dresses or brushing teeth or applying deodorant, someone was laughing or smiling in the room, and I seriously took so. many. photos. ha!

So, without further ado, get to scrolling, my friends, because there are a LOT of photos to look at 😁

bridesmaid laughing RT Lodge Winter Wedding

I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel…I shoot anywhere! Click here to contact me with any questions you have about pricing or booking! 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!