This week’s wedding is Allison and Shane.  They came to me via a suggestion from one of my former photography students.  We set up a time to chat and found out that we had a lot of mutual friends.  As an Atlanta wedding photographer I am always surprised how small the world is.  Allison and Shane work at the Animal Hospital and I photographed the wedding of one of the doctors they work years ago.  I also know the wedding coordinator at the church Smoke Rise Baptist Church!

The day started right down the road from me at Smoke Rise Baptist Church.  It is a huge church in the community.  It has two sanctuaries, the original small sanctuary and the large add-on with 100 or more pews, chandeliers and choir loft.  The two sanctuaries are connected through a labyrinth of passageways above and below ground.  It took me a while to get oriented since a lot of these passageways do not have windows to see through.  As soon as I got there I was greeted by Lou the wedding coordinator.  I have known Lou for years and I am friends with her son because her son’s  kids how are the same age as mine and went to the same schools and played the same sports.  At the same time Lou greeted me, Chandler, the second photographer, showed up.  We got a tour of the premises and went over the rules of the church.  From there we went to the bridal room where I met Allison and her bridesmaids.  I let Chandler do the getting ready photos while I got the lights on in the main sanctuary for photos.  

When I was going back to the smaller sanctuary I saw a car pull up and a dog jumped out.  I knew it was Dizzy, Allison’s Service dog and star of the show!  Dizzy was sniffing about frantically checking out her new surroundings.  One of the groomsmen escorted her to the bridal room where she was reunited with Allison. She was so excited and all the bridesmaids treated her like the queen she is.  After the bridesmaids got dressed Dizzy was adorned with a new collar with a ribbon of flowers to go around her neck.  She was so cute and I could tell Dizzy felt pretty!  She was awesome to work with through all the photos.  She was a real pro!  Once we were done with the photos it was time for the wedding.

Everyone got seated in the small chapel.  Dizzy made a surprise visit via Allison’s cousin to get her used to the room and crowd.  After the visit Dizzy lined up with Allison and the rest of the bridesmaids.  The groomsmen entered first then the bridesmaids.  Dizzy was escorted by the maid of honor.  She got to the front of the church and laid down waiting for all this to be over so she could get back to her treats!  It was a beautiful ceremony with some light heartedness from Dizzy.  There was a special moment from the past also when they played a recording of Allison’s grandfather singing a hymn since he is much older now and has lost his tenor voice.  After the wedding we did family photos and a few photos all over the church then headed to the reception held at Vecoma at the yellow river.

We took a few photos there by the historic chimney on their grounds.  After that the DJ showed up outside and that was a surprise too since I just worked with him last month!  We lined the bridal party up for their introductions.  They came in full of sass and fun.  Allison and Shawn went straight into their first dance then the father and daughter dance.  It was a beautiful wedding reception full of old friends and family.  After a few toasts and dancing the couple had an exit in front of Vecoma.  

Thanks for checking out this Atlanta wedding photographers blog! I hope you enjoyed the read and found it helpful! Make sure you keep coming back to our blog to see what the Atlanta wedding photographers at Atlanta Artistic Weddings get up to! If you’d like to contact me go to the contact page and drop me a line at https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/contact-atlanta-wedding-photographer. I would love to hear from you!

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