i hope you find someone who is brave enough to enter your storm, and respects you enough to love the size of your waves.
i hope you find someone who will relish the calm you can have, and who is eager to set sail on the expanse of your mind.
i hope you find someone that can’t escape the love they have for you, because now they have you in their very blood, always reminding them that
you are the only sea worth exploring.
-t.b. laberge [unwritten letters to you]
“i wanna love you, forever i do.
i wanna spend all of my days with you.
i’ll carry your burdens and be the wind at your back.
i wanna spend my forever - forever like that.
well i’ll be the words on the pages.
if you’ll be my sweet melody.
and the tune can keep changing, cause i’ll keep arranging.
and this is the song that we’ll sing.”
elias and katelynn russell.
with an iced caramel macchiato + extra caramel and hazelnut in my cup dispenser (hand delivered with a kiss at 6:30am by my personal starbucks barista), i set off on the hour and a half drive to columbus, ohio. page xvi + amy seeley playing and cruise control set at 80mph. up to this point, i didn't know anything about the wedding. i didn't know what it was going to look like, i didn't know how many were in the bridal party, i didn't know what the venue was like, nothing. nada. zilch. i just knew that this was going to be one of the best weddings of all time, and i was the one getting to photograph it.
and then all of this happened:
my second shooter (jonathan niega) wore bright orange chinos. to shoot a wedding. raddest thing ever.
the bridesmaids dresses. all 100 percent vintage. like, literally the girls all went to shops and played dress up and bought the dresses and then wore them for this wedding. and then kati accidentally found her wedding dress in a shop too.
all the girls did each other's hair. that's 10 girls in 1 apartment with 4 mirrors.
eli's grandmother wanted her ears pierced, so naturally, eli pierced them. right then and there.
kati planted her bouquet. it was living. in a glass vase. it was the first of it's kind and if living bouquets start catching on as a trend, you can thank kati.
kati's father gave eli a thumbs up as he finished walking kati down the aisle.
eli cried during the entire wedding ceremony. words can't explain how precious this was. no one expected it, especially him. the day was that good.
every single groomsman watched eli as he watched his bride walk down the aisle.
kati + eli + kati's father all forgot who was supposed to stand where and when kati was supposed to be handed over to eli. eli was so excited to be beside kati that he jumped the gun. and everyone laughed and cried and it was perfect.
there was a piano at the wedding/reception venue. i wanted to play it. i did not play it.
their cake was incredible. it belongs on pinterest. somebody pin it.
eli and kati did not shove cake in each other's faces. totally unexpected.
eli and kati had a very loving + sweet first dance that ended with i'm sexy and i know it. boom. just like that. and seriously from that moment forward there was the biggest dance party ever.
i obtained 57 mosquito bites throughout the day. always and forever bringing bug spray to weddings.
i'm telling you. there was an honest-to-goodness commitment, love, joy, passion, community, peace, and excitement about the entire day. and an epic dance party. i tried my very best to capture it all. because i want you to see it. to feel it. this couple is so perfect and amazing, and i would shoot their wedding every weekend if i could.
and this my friends, is the wedding of eli and kati.
a large handful of these images are thanks to my INCREDIBLE second shooter jonathan niega. he's talented and awesome and stylish and single. go check him out here. >> niega.co