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A Classic Wedding at the Historic Riverwood Mansion in Nashville, TN

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I almost titled this post “A Cinderella Wedding at the Historic Riverwood Mansion in Nashville, TN” because Jane was a stunning real-life version of Cinderella standing next to Steven in his uniform. I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Jane multiple times before the wedding and it made shooting her wedding feel like I was shooting a friend’s wedding. It also allowed me to be a calming presence when Jane was worried that Steven might accidentally see her before the wedding. Her gown was stunning, she looked like royalty, and she wanted the fairytale moment of him seeing her for the first time as she walked down the aisle to him. They had so many friends and family travel to see them be married and it was exciting to keep her hidden from sight as guests arrived early. My second shooter and I had to channel our inner Burt Macklin/Secret Service skills and get her tucked away!  

I wish you could have seen my face as I was shooting Jane’s bridal details and the groom’s brother walked by. I did a literal double take and then I probably startled him as I said “Whoa!” out loud. The groom has a TWIN! I had no idea! It was probably really comical to see my face as I watched him walk by. Oh, and you’re going to see a lot of photos of his adorable little boy and girl. They were the cutest little flower girl and ring bearer.

Steven and Jane’s entire wedding party was so sweet and awesome the entire day as we shuffled from one event to the next to make sure we were getting everything before the rain moved in. We were really really blessed that day. The forecasts had been calling for rain all week and there must have been a lot of family and friends praying because the rain held off until after we were done with portraits and tucked into the reception. 

I also want to mention that this was my first wedding at Riverwood Mansion and I was blown away by this beautiful venue and the amazing staff. They did such a great job with all the details of the day and were so helpful and hands-on whenever I needed something. Steven and Jane’s wedding was absolutely stunning and I hope that I get to shoot there again.

Steven and Jane, I’m so glad that I got to be your photographer for your wedding. Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your love and I hope that you love this sneak peek blog post of my favorite moments.

Just look at that ceiling! So gorgeous!

I just love all of her girls’ reactions to seeing her in her dress for the first time.

This ivy tunnel is just beyond amazing!

I loved that they gave their new mothers roses. It was a surprise to the moms and it was so so sweet.

She married her prince charming!

VENUE & DECOR // RIVERWOOD MANSION

FLORALS // ENCHANTED FLORIST

VIDEOGRAPHER // PATRICK MAKES

BRIDE’S DRESS // ESSENCE OF AUSTRALIA

GROOM’S ATTIRE // JOS A BANK

BRIDE’S HAIR & MAKEUP // BLUSH AND HONEY

CAKE // 8 LAVENDER LANE EVENTS

CATERING // 8 LAVENDER LANE EVENTS

DJ // CHRIS FAULK

PLANNING // JACEY CARLISLE AT RIVERWOOD MANSION

You can see a gallery of even more of my favorite images by clicking this link: Jac’s Favorites

To view all the photography services I offer, click HERE

I wanted to write this post to somewhat explain why you may not see a lot of weddings on this website.

Since I started my business, I made the personal decision not to pursue a lot of weddings. This is because it was just too hard to shoot and edit weddings while working full time as a civil engineer 45+ hours a week. Last year, after the birth of my daughter, I jumped back into shooting families as soon as possible and it. was. hard! I ended up neglecting my husband and felt constantly stressed from trying to balance being a new mom, being the wife my husband deserved, working 7-5 as an engineer, and then owning my own photography business. It was too much and I decided that it was just best to not pursue photography anymore. Being a good wife and mother were more important in the long run and I thought that photography was the reason I wasn’t being able to do that anymore. So I started referring out all sessions to photographer friends of mine that I knew could make my past clients happy. It was so so hard to say no to the clients that I so much cared for, but I thought I was doing the right thing.  Fast forward to this past August when my very good friend died. Shea was an unbelievably talented photographer and someone that I looked up to so so much. She was entirely way too good for this earth and it’s still so shocking that she isn’t here anymore. She was most definitely one of the best persons in my life and I truly mean it when I say that I feel honored that I was her friend. When she passed away, we photographer friends made sure that her clients were taken care of. Shea had employed an amazing assistant, Kathryn Mitchell, who managed her business through the end of last year and made sure that her weddings were photographed and edited. Below is just one of the weddings that I helped photograph. I wanted to share some of the images that I took at this wedding and say I AM TAKING ON WEDDING CLIENTS! After helping finish out Shea’s remaining wedding clients, I realized how much I absolutely missed photographing weddings and needed it in my life. Even though I was working more, I was such a happier person to be around. My husband noticed a huge shift in me and we had a long hard talk about me pursuing photography again. This time, we put pen to paper and we made a plan together. A plan that both of us are happy with and believe will work. I have some huge goals for 2017 and those goal include a lot of weddings. I will be rolling out a referral program soon and sharing some more amazing plans very soon. This post is already entirely way too long, and if you’ve made it this far, you are a true friend. So I will now stop talking and let you see this gorgeous wedding…..

But first, one more really important thing, please note that with the exception of the self portrait directly below, these were all edited by Shea’s assistant to match her style of photography. These are not my edits, but I wanted to showcase some photographs that I took and absolutely love to show potential brides my skills as a wedding photographer.

You can see all of the images from this gorgeous wedding over on Shea’s client gallery website. Just click here to see them all: Cox Wedding