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Friends, I’m so excited to post this today!!

Many of you remember my brother Andrew proposed to his fiancee last year, on Siesta Key Beach in Florida!  You all have been so supportive and wonderful with your well wishes I can’t believe it, but his wedding day is already in 8 weeks!  How did that happen?!

Well, it’s been quite the ride being intimately a part of a wedding!  Not only am I the groom’s sister, but I am so blessed to be one of Katelyn’s bridesmaids!

I am so used to seeing a wedding from a photographer’s perspective, and Andrew and Katelyn’s wedding is my first time being involved in lots of details.  Really, I’ve seen all the HARD WORK that goes into them.  Here are all the things behind a wedding that I’ve seen for the first time!

 

– When Andrew purchased Kate’s ring and examined it 5 million times, to make sure it’s just right for her.

– How Andrew sweat through planning the engagement and talked with Kate’s best friends to make sure she would be over the moon as he planned a scavenger hunt for her throughout Sarasota!

– I’ve seen Andrew and Katelyn have to communicate with each other about what’s important to them, and make sacrifices for the sake of the other person.

-I’ve seen the process of making so many decisions for the wedding, and for their future life together.

– I’ve seen the real feelings that are behind the engagement session and seen their faces as they look at their photographs.  (Usually I’m not next to my clients as they look at their images – it felt so weird!!)

– I’ve pinned to Kate’s Pinterest wedding and bridal shower board, and had to communicate a lot with the other bridesmaids.

– I had a huge part in planning a bridal shower and setting up lots of pretty decorations (stay tuned – that one is coming later this week!)

– I was there when my little sis said yes to the dress!

– I sat for hours with Kate gluing together all the pieces of their rustic DIY wedding invitations with lace and kraft paper

 

Here’s a look at what being involved in Andrew and Kate’s wedding process has looked like up until now!  Some of these REAL behind the scenes photos were taken with iPhones – ignore the quality!

Even before the proposal last year, he was so excited when the ring came in!  He couldn’t stop looking at it – and I was so grateful to share in the moment

Then, the day came…last December 18, 2013!  I was hiding behind a trash can capturing her walking onto the beach, and then THIS really happened!  I don’t know how I wasn’t crying!

Ahh this moment!!

That’s our mom on the end – she really is the biggest cheerleader!  This touches my heart…

Such a fun group!!  I can only imagine what the wedding day will be like!

I was so happy for him…

We couldn’t stop looking at Kate’s beautiful ring!

Loved this shot!

An iPhone photo of me taking those shots!

The sunset was so perfect after their engagement dinner that night!

My brother decided to move to Florida to be near his future wife and start his life down there!  So this past Spring, I took a road trip with him and our parents came down separately.  We were super excited here because his car broke down, but thankfully it made it!  I was so sad to leave him, and that was tougher than I imagined.

So I was super excited when Kate and Andrew came up to New York to visit this summer!  We went on this hike together at Breakneck Ridge!

And, while they were in town we got a lot done for the big day!!  First and most exciting, Katelyn said YES to the dress!  And my mom and I were there for it!  Huge shout out to Erika from Be Unique Boutique for being so helpful

It was such a great moment to share!!

Then, we did their engagement session!  You probably remember this rowboat and woods session we did?!

LOVE those!!

This trail was the best!

Her ring is SUCH a beauty!  I might be biased…but still.

An iPhone picture with them after the shoot!  What you don’t know is my brother HATES pictures of himself, but did all this for his girl.  So by the time that photo was taken, he was done.  And…there was a concert of bagpipes practicing in the woods right next to us.  You just can’t make that up!

The next day, taking the REAL shot of their ring, since the guitar that made it into the shoot didn’t have any strings on it!  True story.  You’d never know I took this image in my backyard (and laying in that position – man photographers have a crazy job!)

I designed their Save the Dates with this image from the rowboats on the front!  I loved how it turned out – and the kraft envelopes were perfection!

Last month, Andrew’s wedding band came in!  And of course I took photographs to show him how awesome it came out!

When I was in Florida for Thanksgiving, Katelyn and I sat together one night to put her DIY invitations together!  The kraft paper and the lace looked beautiful together.

On Christmas day, Kate and Andrew BOTH tried on their wedding bands – and it started becoming real.  This is really happening!

And finally, I did lots of prep work for my almost sister’s bridal shower this past weekend!  I took lots of trips to the store (Hobby Lobby is my new favorite!) to find decor, and it was the first time I ever used gold spray paint I can’t wait to share photos from the bridal shower later this week – it turned out so beautifully!

 

It’s been an awesome journey so far, and it’s been really fun being inside these details and so close to a wedding!  I know that gives me a new perspective for all that I capture on a wedding day – I see how much TIME and ENERGY it all takes, how much COMMUNICATION, and how much PERSEVERANCE as a couple.

You know what?  It has actually made weddings more beautiful to me.

I see now that weddings are hard, and they’re not perfect – there are lots of crazy feelings all over the place.  But it’s beautiful to know that you can persevere through anything as a couple, and love will always win.