Holly and Tyler are high school sweethearts and such a fun couple! They call themselves “weekend warriors,” and love taking weekend trips to the mountains to explore and get away for a few days! One of their favorite places to visit is downtown Banner Elk, North Carolina, as it’s just a hop and skip over the TN/NC border and just far enough to get away for a few days. When Holly told me about their trips, I figured it would be the best place to take their engagement photos since it’s so special to them! I cannot wait to photograph their wedding in June!

Mason proposed to Holly at the South Holston Dam in Bristol, so it was only fitting that we go there for their engagement session! We met up in March for their session, just a few months prior to their wedding day in May. Even though Spring had just started, the trees hadn’t yet decided to wake up from their winter slumber and give us any leaves. The winter sun still gave us such a beautiful, glowy, sunset that we watched from the top of the dam!

As engagement season is upon us and as more couples start to research and book vendors, and start the wedding planning process, I thought it would be the perfect time to share just exactly what us photographers do when you book us for your special day! Wedding photography can often seem like a photographer will just show up on the wedding day and click a button- but I’m here to tell you that as a professional, we do SO much more than that! I know that wedding photography is a huge investment and takes a big percentage of a couple’s budget when it comes to their wedding day. I want to walk you through the process and share a little behind-the-scenes information of what goes into being a wedding photographer!

We met up back in January for Kelsey and Eric’s engagement session while they were in town visiting their venue. At the time, they had planned on getting married in May, but thanks to Covid, they had to reschedule their big day for September. Because Kelsey and Eric were in town for a brief weekend, we had to squeeze in their engagement session on one of the coldest days of the year, but these two were troopers and dressed for the occasion.! We explored one of our local lakes here and were even lucky enough to get some snowflakes. They even brought their two dogs Kona and Bailey (who I absolutely love)!

I met Lakyn through a local photography group and asked her to second shoot a wedding with me out of town. We spent the weekend chatting about all of our favorite things and have since become close friends! I was incredibly honored (and ecstatic) when she asked me to be her wedding photographer!

I met up with Lakyn and Neal for their engagement session at Lakyn's father's land in Kingsport that happens to be at the base of Bay's Mountain. Needless to say, it was right up my alley! We hiked through the fields and chased the sun, touched some questionable weeds and laughed the entire evening. We ended the session at her dad’s private pond and sat around a campfire as the stars came out.

Today on the blog, we’re moving away from recent sessions and weddings and chatting about a super important wedding topic- DAY OF TIMELINES!

One thing that I love to include in all of my wedding packages — no matter if it’s a shorter elopement or a full-day celebration— is offering to assist in creating a day-of timeline for each couple. I know that usually this is the first time a couple has planned a wedding and understand that it can be tricky to put together a schedule for everyone to know where to be and when, coordinate where the photographer should be, and just how the day is going to go in general! When I help my couples create a timeline, I try to make things easy for everyone and try to keep their ideas and wishes in mind.

It all can be overwhelming, but it’s a super important part of the day, and here’s why!