Katie and Jon didn’t have the easiest road when it came to planning their 2020 wedding. Like so many other couples, they were forced to make some hard decisions. While they wanted to have their dream day, they also didn’t want to risk having a large gathering in the middle of the pandemic. COVID couldn’t stop them from having their dream day though! They decided to go ahead with the celebration on their original date and have a larger gathering next year.

Navy and white wedding invitation and bouquet

Their home minimony couldn’t have been more perfect! They decorated their backyard with beautiful florals (created by Katie’s father) and stunning twinkly lights.

When I first began talking to Katie and Jon about their change of plans, Jon mentioned they wanted to have the ceremony right at sunset. Immediately, I thought ‘ooh pretty, golden hour,’ but he said they wanted it to happen as the actual sun goes down. This would mean the majority of their ceremony would take place after dark.

As a photographer who loves using flash, this idea excited and terrified me at the same time. I know how to light portraits after dark, but the thought of having to use artificial lights during a ceremony kind of scared me. When I’m working with portraits, I have plenty of time to adjust lighting and change their position to make sure everything looks perfect. I don’t have that luxury during an actual ceremony. So, I began brainstorming and came up with a plan. I wanted to still capture the ambiance of their backyard while making sure skin tones were accurate. Well, I’m pretty proud of the results! I love the opportunity to do anything out of the norm and this ceremony definitely stretched me creatively. I’m so glad they chose to have their ceremony when they did!

After dark wedding ceremony with twinkly lights

Even though this wasn’t the day they originally pictured, it was the most beautiful and intimate minimony! They were able to surround themselves with around 10 of their family members and Katie’s dad even officiated the ceremony!

Katie and Jon are the absolute sweetest couple. I’ve loved working with them over the last year. From their Fall engagement session last year to minimony to epic party next year, it is obvious how much they care for each other and love each other! Their vows were written from the heart and so emotional. Before the ceremony, Katie even gifted Jon socks with their cats on them, which was absolutely perfect to capture.

To cap out the night, we were able to play with some smoke bombs! Typically, there isn’t enough time during a wedding day to create these unusual portraits, so I’m glad they let me stay past dark and capture some epic shots for them!

Thank you so much for trusting me with your day! I can’t wait to celebrate with you in April! Here’s your full preview! More to come shortly!!

Venue: Private Property

Hair: Rachel Chase

Makeup: Shani Overfelt

Photography: eGolden Moments

– Hear from the bride –

Share your inspiration and the atmosphere you’re creating for your wedding:

Our vision for our wedding was simple, romantic, lots of greenery, and an intimate atmosphere. Now that we have shifted to a family-only ceremony in our yard, achieving this atmosphere was pretty simple!

Share how (or why) you chose your wedding venue(s):

We’ll be getting married in our backyard. We bought this house together in 2019, and have been working hard over the last few months to turn our backyard into a beautiful space. Little did we know, we were preparing it to be a ceremony venue! We love spending time in this space, and it will be wonderful to have this space we created together be where we get married. For our reception, we’ll be getting married at the Magnolia at Brookside. We loved the ability to have indoor and outdoor space for our reception, and to be in one of our favorite neighborhoods!

What is your most valuable piece of advice you can share with future couples planning their wedding?

Remember what matters! No one will care about the favors or the cutlery, so focus your energy on the stuff YOU care about. Sure, you’ll have to deal with a lot of other details, but don’t feel like you have to do something simply because other people do it. It’s your party, after all!

What was your favorite part of the planning process?

Although it was incredibly stressful at first, it was really enjoyable planning our new COVID-era ceremony! It was nice to have one part of our day be just for us, and another big party 6 months later to share with our extended family and friends!