The Lovely Red Fox: Our Wedding Day

It's been over a month, and I still barely even know how to begin writing about this day. SO much work went into this day. So many hours of planning and driving and thinking and meeting people and combing the internet to make decisions that felt just SO BIG.

When we got engaged I really didn't have a whole lot of a picture or idea as to what planning a wedding takes. I had only really attended a handful of weddings, and I had no idea what it would be like, or what it would feel like planning a wedding other than what you see in TV and movies. The only thing I really knew going in was that no wedding is the same, and whatever we ended up doing would naturally be very 'us' because we would naturally choose things that are things we like, right?

I will begin by saying it turned out to be everything that we had dreamed of and so much more.

Things we weren't sure about and couldn't control turned out for the best in pretty much every scenario, and unexpected things happened that made everything that much more special.

Being a very anxious person planning arguably the most important day of mine and Drew's lives, I pretty much needed to know every detail of everything that was going to happen right down to the types of wine glasses on the tables— but wouldn't be able to physically do very much of it myself. That's basically a nightmare for an anxious person. Relaxing and letting other people handle things isn't really in my wheelhouse. But when you're getting married that's kind of a forced scenario. I couldn't be getting ready with the ladies and also laying out flatware and place cards all while sporting a 4ft wide ball gown. Thankfully, we hired an extremely talented team of vendors that really took everything and hit it out of the park for us. I literally shed tears over how beautiful the flowers were. We are extremely thankful for all of the hard work put in by our all of our vendors. Just SUCH incredible talent all around. Not to mention, all the love and time put in from all of our family and friends that we are so thankful to have come out and celebrate with us in the forest!

It's daunting to try to begin sharing the details of our special day on here — there's just so much to cover.

So I think I may spread it out over a few posts actually. I want to be able to accurately convey how incredible our vendors were and also share a bit about the experience of planning a wedding not only from 2,000 miles away from home, but also heavily DIY'ed and in a creatively unconventional venue. Because it's crazy to do any of those things on their own — and we proceeded to do all three!

So right now I'm so excited to share with you guys some of the incredible preview photos that we've received from our photographer, Kristen Marie Parker.

Kristen is an incredibly talented photographer. Photography was possibly the most important aspect for us, partially because of my background in photography, but also the mentality that comes with that. I knew that the day would move quickly and the most tangible thing that you have afterwards (other than your betrothed of course!) would be photos of those precious moments. So we had to find someone who we knew would see the day for all the small moments that you feel in your heart, and not just staged photos. We needed someone who would capture all of the little daydreams that we've had over the last three years as they came to life in real time. When we came across Kristen's portfolio we knew she would shoot the day in an incredibly thoughtful way — it just comes through in all of her work. Her attention to detail in the moment is simply unparalleled. When we shot our engagement photos with her and actually got to meet her in person, she just instantly won us over. She's relatable, she's incredibly professional, and she's hilarious (and not in a cheesy gimmicky way, but in a real, human way.). She just so fluidly swings from professional, getting people together, to saying clever things to make people smile, to slipping into the shadows and getting those candid images you only get when people are unaware and at ease.

Even for someone who is acutely aware of where a photographer is in the room, I was totally unaware of where she was half the time. And from the sequence of some of the photos, the time in which she was able to get from spot to spot and still get such incredibly shots leads me to wonder if she's actually Hermione Granger with a Time Turner up her sleeve!!

Not to mention, she just knows the best way to interact with everyone's different personalities, and handles any given pressure with grace and humor. I honestly wish I could be more like her!

I worried about possibly every other thing in this wedding, from the fears of my dress getting torn on the airplane, to imagining our lights falling down in the middle of the night, to 'what if we forgot an important rental' or 'what if it pours down rain or people can't find the venue?", but the two things that I had zero doubts about were:

Andrew and I would get married and Dan's officiating would be perfect no matter what

Kristen would capture the most thoughtful and stunning photos, no matter how the day unfolded

She sees things in a truly refreshing and wistful way, and I feel so fortunate to be remembering our day through the frame of her camera lens. I don't know how else to describe it other than that her images make you feel how a memory should feel. They make you want to stay here in this moment, and remember every bit of it. How the air smelled, how the wind felt rushing through the trees, how your voice quivered, and how full your heart felt with all this love surrounding you.

So, please enjoy a peek into how Kristen captured our most special day ♥