First of all, props to Miguel for the really cool proposal in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas. That was one of the awesome stories that we got to hear when we had our initial meeting with this couple back in December of last year. All of the details lined up to be beautiful and right up our alley so we knew that this day and couple would bring us a ton of joy from the very start. The big day took place at one of our favorite local venues as well, White Oak Road Farm in Appling, GA. Now that we’ve set the scene a little bit, let’s talk about the beautiful wedding day.
As mentioned above, it was all at the same venue and the ceremony was scheduled to start at 4:30 but we started our day with them right around 2 PM and started off straight into photographing details after saying hey to Taylor. We got to work with one of our favorite local florists, Honeycomb Florals and she even had some extra flowers and stems for us to have with detail photos (she is literally the best). Once we got all of the smaller details finished and it was time to photograph the dress, we had to move some family around inside the main house to avoid them seeing the dress too early and then set it up up stairs carefully to be photographed. From there, Morgan and I split up and I went with the guys to get just a little bit of them getting ready and take them outside for their group photos. Miguel and his guys were all hilarious and so we were pretty quick once everyone was ready and had a good time just before sending them back inside to blockade so we could bring Taylor and her girls outside for their group photos but first thing was first, the Bridesmaids reveal and Father/Daughter 1st look. We had all of the girls in place and then brought Taylor out to fluff the dress and make sure everyone was ready and then as soon as they all turned, they lost it pretty quickly and I don’t think anyone was prepared for the happy tears to start (they pretty much kept going for the rest of the day until the reception). Once Taylor wiped a few tears and was ready, we brought her Dad out for their first look next. We love these moments because you never know what the reaction will be but it’s always super sweet and wholesome but, Steve lost it when he saw his little girl in her dress and we’re not going to even lie, we had to wipe a few tears ourselves after that beautiful moment. We all quickly pulled ourselves together once finished hugging and then all of the girls came outside for their photos with the Bride and then were on our way to the ceremony to get ready as they all lined up. It was here that we got to meet the Officiant, Nick, and figure out our angles of coverage and see what to expect with the Sun setting to the right of the ceremony and before we knew it, Grandparents were making their way down the hill. Once everyone made their way to the ceremony accompanied by the hilarious cheering of a relative, Miguel was facing away until his Bride made it the start of the aisle. He did a great job of holding it together up until the moment that she was being handed off by her Dad which is where he let some of those tears out but, the pure joy all over the entire ceremony was contagious. They exchanged beautiful vows that made us wish we were doing a video for them and everyone was crying until the moment where Nick uttered those magical words, “You may kiss your bride”. They had tied the knot officially and made their way back up the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Lantigua. It’s in this moment where we start gearing up for the family, bridal party and couples photos as soon as the guests have all or mostly made their way to the reception. We quickly got the families to the reception after their photos were finished and then the same with the wedding party. It was at this point that we did a few of just the couple near the ceremony site before taking a golf cart down the hill to the pond for a few more. We always love this part of the day and are always honored to be a part of some of the first quiet moments for the newlyweds before going into the reception and seeing the joy and love in their interactions. Being that the Sun sets at 5:30 this time of the year, it began getting dark pretty quickly so we finished off with just a few bridal portraits before getting back on the golf cart and taken to the reception where Taylor would have her dress bustled for the introductions and dances. Once the wedding party had all danced their way into the reception, the whole place erupt with cheering as the newlyweds were announced in and they went straight into their first dance. That was followed by the Father/Daughter dance and Mother/Son dance which were all so incredibly sweet and full of these tiny little moments of loving embraces or tears of joy being shared which led to everyone basically having a hand full of tissues coming off the dance floor.
It was officially that time of the night where the DJ gets to take over and everyone gets to eat some delicious food which is exactly what happened but in a way that you don’t normally see because the two were intertwined in a way we hadn’t seen before. With the okay from the Bride and Groom of course, Kelly (the coordinator and second half of the DJ team) got to take over the mic and have people perform for their dinner as a fun game. That was either singing or dancing and this was probably due to knowing that they had so much talent in the venue that night because we saw everything from an acapella group to and operatic singer to many talented dancers and sweet couples enjoying a quick slow dance. Once everyone was finishing enjoying their delicious meal, we got to check out the photobooth setup outside that was gifted by the Mother of the Bride and not only was it really cool but, Leigh Zurek who runs Southeastern Exposure was an absolute joy to meet. From here we made our way back inside for a little bit of dancing and then cutting the cake/toasts. The toasts were full of many laughs and some tears and super heartfelt gestures which we loved getting to capture. During the night we also came to the Bouquet and Garter toss moments and another surprise and hilarious moment was during the Garter removal where a bunch of different people came out of the crowd with a “key to Miguel’s place” to release him of any worry and there’s so many funny moments here that we couldn’t possibly share all of them without this being one of the longest blogs ever photo wise. After that the party got started and everyone was dancing for a while before arriving to a special couples dance to see who had been married the longest. As the night was slowly winding down, we had a huge sparkler line heading out of the front door going up the hill to do a send off followed by going right back inside to the party because they weren’t actually leaving yet. Other than seeing so much fun being had dancing and the newlyweds being covered with love, the last event of our night before leaving was one that is hard to put into words. A bridesmaid had planned to get into a hot dog costume and surprise Taylor on the dance floor for one last funny moment to capture. So if you had already left at this point and are reading this, you missed out and will have to look out for Taylor sharing those photos here soon! It was an absolute honor to be a part of the joyous day and we know without a doubt that the Lantigua family has big things ahead for them and we couldn’t be more excited to see what happens next!
