Callaway Gardens Wedding | Joy + Andy | Georgia

They first met in the gift shop at Cracker Barrel.  They were both picking through the piles of toys for the perfect gift.  He was looking for his nieces, she was looking for her young relatives as well.  They smiled at each other over the stuffed animals and started chatting.  He asked her to lunch right then and there.  After all, they were already at a restaurant.

You may remember them from their couple’s session last summer, which I ended up taking a few short weeks before they actually got engaged.  Andy is one of my good friends from law school, and one of the kindest souls I know.  When Matthew and I started dating, Andy excitedly told me his story about the first time Matthew saw me…

It was the first day of school and I was sitting in class waiting for the professor to arrive.  I started talking to Matthew, who was sitting next to me.  We had been chatting for a while and he was in the middle of telling me something when you walked in the door.  Matthew looked at you and his words just stopped.  He didn’t say anything to me, but I knew right then that he was going to fall in love with you.

That story just melted my heart 🙂  It made me so happy when Andy and Joy found each other, and I could tell when I first saw them together that they would end up married.

The wedding gave us all butterflies.  Literally.  Joy loves butterflies and they were the central theme of the wedding.  Andy even had Joy’s ring designed just for her with butterflies embracing each side of her gorgeous diamond.  The wedding was at Callaway Gardens which is where Andy and Joy got engaged.  He proposed in the butterfly gardens, and we visited the gardens the morning of the wedding.  It was lovely!

There were several cute little ones involved in Andy and Joy’s wedding and that gave us the opportunity to get some great children’s shots as well as wedding shots.  I may have gotten a bit carried away with the children’s shots.  I couldn’t help it!  They were adorable!

These first few are from when we visited the butterfly gardens the morning of the wedding.  It was a HUGE hit with the kids!

Little Miss B LOVED the butterfly gardens!

For maximum little girl cuteness, you can’t beat a pair of piggies!

Little Miss C checking out the butterflies and people below her.

Little Miss M tired at the rehearsal the night before the wedding.

Love this one of Joy’s veil and dress!

I’d just finished their portraits and was running to get set up for the introductions and happened to turn around and snap this.  Don’t you just love it when things work out like that?

The Ceremony was in the Discovery Center at Calloway Gardens.

The newlyweds!

One benefit of working with my husband is I can get shots of me in action!  There are several other benefits of course 🙂

Another benefit of having Matthew as my partner in photography…He gets sweet shots of the groom getting ready like this!

Andy programmed this into the car and I thought it was so sweet and cute!

The groom…Or as I call him “ANDO COMMANDO!!”

Another great detail shot by Matthew.  Note to all brides to be!  Flats are ESSENTIAL to your happiness on your wedding day!

Joy’s cousin Greg about to give her away.  Love this.  Just love it.