Ben and Anita’s wedding was something special in 2018 at the UGA Chapel. By chance, I happened to be photographing at a corporate event when Ben proposed to Anita. Later that year, they got in touch to see if I could continue the story and photograph their engagement session and wedding. I love the continuation of stories through photos… We started their wedding day with photos of the bridal party getting ready at Tame Salon in Athens. The group later moved to the hotel to get into their dresses while I worked on photos of Anita’s dress. Ben was on another floor at the hotel and was also finishing up his getting ready process. I sent Ben off to the chapel for the first look while Anita came downstairs to see her dad for the first time on her wedding day. They shared a quick hug and he gave her a ride to the chapel to see Ben. They rocked the first look and we went ahead and stared on photos of the two of them around North Campus at UGA. The full wedding party came up and we were able to finish all wedding party photos well before the start of the ceremony. After finishing the formal photos outside, we went next door to the UGA chapel to wait for the ceremony to start… The ceremony started and soon all you could hear was the voices repeating their vows in front of friends and family. The amazing part about the UGA chapel is that it is setup more as a theater and the stage makes for the alter during a wedding ceremony. All of the floors (except for the center isle) are hardwood and the sound echoes and travels. You could hear the sand pour during the unity sand ceremony… Definitely a cool experience. After the wedding, we were able to transition to the reception at Magnolias quite quickly since we were able to do so many photos prior to the start of the ceremony. They started with first dances and the party quickly escalated. Their reception space was also unique for them since Ben actually met Anita while she was a bartender at Magnolias. Their friends filled the dance floor and we were able to sneak out for a few additional photos off of Broad Street at night. A light drizzle fell and it made for spectacular images with the two of them at night. After a few minutes of photos, we came back inside to spend the last hour or so with more dancing. They did a garter and bouquet toss and soon it was time for the night to end… All of their friends created an aisle of excitement and glow sticks as they shared one last kiss for the camera…
