June 2010
VENUE: Christian Life Cathedral, Bentonville, AR
SALON: Blue Door & Co. 479-273-9944
CAKE: Rick's Bakery
What an absolute blessing and honor to help capture memories of Melissa and Karl's wedding last weekend!!! Where to start...
Melissa and I grew up going to school together. My dad (who was a school bus driver for a short time) always reminds me that it was she and her sister who used to do flips in the aisle of the school bus when we were little! I remember maybe being on a few softball teams and having a few classes together in junior and senior high. I remember Melissa was always a fun-loving, bright and spirited person...
Fast forward to last year, Melissa popped up in my "suggested friends" list on facebook and I was so excited as I had wondered about her throughout the years!
Anyway, last December, we both finally got to change our relationships statuses to "engaged" :) Shortly thereafter, Melissa contacted me and asked if I'd shoot her wedding!
And what a special day it was...
We met up at Blue Door & Co salon in Bentonville Saturday morning for hair and make-up. It was so much fun and felt like we were shooting a real rockstar because she was having hair AND make-up done at the same time! At the salon, Melissa explained to us that she had three gifts to give to Karl before the ceremony....the first was waiting on him in his dressing room, and the others would be delivered to him by her parents.
When Karl arrived at the church, he did indeed see his gift waiting for him, however he was more anxious to finish putting together his gift for Melissa--a new Bible with her new married name engraved on the front of the cover. It took him a few moments as he wrote a special, personal message to her inside :) When Karl finally got around to opening his gifts (in between trying to get dressed!) he had received two new pairs of Toms shoes--his favorite. The final gift was something Melissa had custom made for him, and I'll tell you more about it in a minute :)
Meanwhile, back in Melissa's dressing room, she was busy getting together her "something old, new, borrowed and blue" while visiting with family and friends that dropped in for a sneak peak ;) I poked my head in to let her know that Karl had finished opening his first two gifts and was ready for the third...she gave me explicit instruction to capture his expression when he received this gift. She said if Karl was going to cry today, it was going to be when he got this gift!
40 days before their wedding day, Melissa wrote on their bathroom mirror a reason why she loved Karl. The next morning, she decided to do it again and wrote another reason why she loved him! And because this girl is SO in love, and I'm sure could come up with a bazillion reasons why she loves her man, she decided that she was going to write on the bathroom mirror every day until their wedding day! Being the creative planner that she is, Melissa sent her list to her sister who painted a humongo canvas of everything she had written on their mirror for the past 40 days! This was Karl's third gift :) And, yes, we were all bawling (including me behind the camera!) when Melissa's dad presented Karl with the painting!
It is so apparent that these two are the loves of each other's lives! Below is a slideshow of their wedding album...part one. Enjoy :)
(p.s. don't forget to view it in full screen :)
