August of last year, I set up a meeting to meet Joel and Liz for dinner to discuss wedding photography. Before them, I had only photographed weddings in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Even though I am from the Dayton area, I had never considered traveling all over Ohio. But, why not? Why only offer my services to a small part of Central Ohio? Why not offer services to the Dayton, Ohio area?!

The day prior to meeting with them, my great grandmother died at the beautiful age of 100 years old. It’s safe to say that I was not emotionally or mentally on my game and all I had to look forward to was their meeting. I had been a mess, my family was trying to make emergency arrangements to take a trip to Wisconsin for the funeral so I was drained. The only thing that kept me going in those three days was the possibility that I may be able to photograph their wedding and open up a whole new area of people to photograph. Dayton, Ohio is home to me. Every time I travel back to my stomping grounds, it just feels right. (Not to say I don’t love Mount Vernon, but you can’t ever NOT love you’re original hometown). So, Joel and Liz, when you read this post, please know that our meeting was my only sanity in my hardest part of 2013.

At our meeting, I loved talking to them about their idea for their wedding. Liz gave me a sense of historic details and the wedding colors sounded like a dream! So once they signed and we got everything in order, I counted down the days until I got to travel to Miamisburg and photograph this beautiful, spring, wedding that we had waited so long for!

The day before their wedding, I wanted to observe their rehearsal to get ideas on where to stand. I was lucky enough to think to get this shot. The first half of this wedding day was severe thunderstorms so I was glad I thought to get this shot before hand! This is the Baum Opera House in downtown Miamisburg, Ohio. SUCH a beautiful venue!

Joel and Liz had the great idea of creating a historical display of all past weddings on both side of their families. This created something for the guests to look at while they were waiting to be seated. It was VERY well put together and honestly, interesting to see weddings from the past.

 

Joel and Liz decided on doing a first look BEFORE their ceremony. I am SOOO glad they chose to do this. It was so raw and emotional!

Just melts your heart right?! I truly had no idea that they would get so emotional over seeing each other, it’s just so wonderful. It makes me feel as though Brides who feel they will “cry their way down the aisle” could consider this to get the nerves and emotions somewhat out of the way before hand and in a more private manner.

Liz had the most beautiful details about her attire, She was like a modern day Grace Kelly. Her hair, accessories, and gown were such a perfect fit for her and really showed off her personality (Which should be the idea for EVERY bride!) What was even better was her bouquet! The succulents chosen to accompany her traditional white flowers was the perfect touch of color that also matched her wedding colors! Just brilliant!

This moment was adorable. He wanted to snap his own personal pic for his phone. Awwww!

This bridal party was so fun. The guys made sure to keep Joel happy and not so nervous before the ceremony and the bridesmaids seriously CATERED to Liz and anything she needed. That’s a fine group of friends to have! On your biggest day, you need great friends to be there to help!

I almost died when I walked into the reception hall. I LOVE hydrangeas and they were all over. The room was filled with the smell of flowers! Don’t you just love her colors?! I think they are so beautiful together!

Cute story about the cookie bar, all the cookies were made by both sides of their families. Their favorite cookies were made and put out for all the guests to enjoy. I thought that was such a nice details to have and to allow both sides of the family a small part in the wedding prep!

Thank you so much for reading about their special day. If you would like an event or session photographed, please feel free to visit envphotographyy.com and view the ‘Contact’ page to learn how to contact us about a session!

**Vendor/Venue Information**
Ceremony Venue: Baum Opera House – baumoperahouse.com
Florist: Sherwood Florist – www.sherwoodfloristandgifts.net
Reception DJ: Absolute DJs – absolute-djs.com
Wedding Coodinator: Elizabeth Events with Betsey Beech – www.elizabethevents.net