Alli & Mitchell | Intimate Rainy-Day Wedding | Middletown, Virginia

Have you ever seen so many big laughs on a wedding day?
So many silly family photos?
This amount of JOY.

I love these two so much. Their wedding day was the sweetest ever, and the weather was WILD, going through everything possible from downpour to bright sun, back and forth.

Rainy wedding days are my favorite - it’s almost forcing you to just let go and make the absolute best of the day.

They got ready in their parents’ homes - their ceremony was in a tiny small-town church, and their reception location (which was changed 2 weeks before the wedding?) had an incredible view for watching the rain storm ebb and flow. The dance party was lively, the food was delicious, and AGAIN the smiles were huge.

So, if you’re worried about rain on your wedding day, I promise that it doesn’t ruin anything. Your wedding dress will show signs that you wore it and had a BLAST, you’ll have gorgeous even lighting for photos, and you get to snuggle together even more.

Mairi & Jude also had thunderstorms on their wedding day - except their reception was all outside in her parent’s backyard and the mud was real.

Sarah & Peyton | Foggy and Rainy Sunrise Engagement Session | Shenandoah National Park in the Fall

If the day of your photo shoot is calling for rain or thick fog, here is your inspiration to not postpone. Rainy days are the most romantic. It means you get to snuggle extra, and who doesn’t think of every rain scene in a movie? Admit it, you’ve always wanted to make out in the rain.

Even though we missed out on a colorful sunrise (fingers crossed for one on their wedding day this fall!) it was stunning with the colors Sarah and Peyton chose for their outfits, because they stood out so much against the fog in colors that matched a sunrise. Shenandoah National Park is known for its views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but it’s also wildly famous for the autumn leaves, which makes the Park incredible busy during the fall - BUT, because of the rain and fog, we had the entire Park to ourselves and the fog only made the leaves stand out more! It was a win, win, win, win, win.

Always going to be grateful that they trusted that the rain and fog would only make their engagement session more fun.

November Sunrise Elopement | Adventurous Wedding with Family in Shenandoah National Park | Brewhouse Reception in Harrisonburg, Virginia

Marion & Stephen’s wedding weekend started in the evening the night before - people traveled in from all over the States to spend the weekend with them. They rented out a ton of rooms at Skyland and had a rehearsal campfire where they gave out blankets to all their guests so they were warm for the chilly ceremony and gave them all the details for the 4am hike the next morning.

In the weeks leading up to their wedding weekend, they sent out emails to everyone with information and plans for the weekend - they also asked that everyone send flowers instead of gifts, so they used flowers from all over the United States (including Hawaii!) as their flowers for bouquets, flower crowns, leis, and to decorate the brewery for their reception.

For the hike, there were two ways to get to the ceremony location - all their friends and family and Stephen took the shorter hike while Marion, her parents, sister, and myself took the longer hike. When we reached the summit, everyone was there waiting. They had their ceremony RIGHT as the sun was rising. Marion walked up the “aisle” with her dad to bagpipes! After the ceremony, they had hot coffee with Irish Cream, bagels and cream cheese, and took tons of group photos. We hiked back down, took a small siesta, and then went to Restless Moons Brewery in Harrisonburg for a live band, delicious food, and brews.

Up on the mountain it was the absolute coldest I have ever been in my life - but by the time we went down to the brewery, the day had warmed up and it was perfectly delightful.