“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed.

And you are beautiful.” - Amy Bloom

Brantly + Allen have known for some time now how much they mean to me. We connected right off the bat as friends and to watch their engagement, get to know their families, and be a part of their wedding was an absolute honor. I can't wait to share all about their wedding day and show the photos of Allen crying when he saw his beautiful wife that day. Can't wait to tell the story about how Brantly perfectly captivated everybody in the church on her way down the aisle. But before I talk about the story I want to talk just about her.

Brantly is absolutely stunning. Her smile and personality are magnetic and there's no doubt why Allen lights up when she's in the room. But what I've learned to love so much about Brantly isn't just her beauty but her willingness to be real and present in a moment. I think most girls these day's feel a lot of pressure to be perfect. Your day in that white dress brings with it so many dreams but also so much weight to bear. In all honest I can say that though we try as hard as we can to push our couples through those pressures we do see a lot of the insecurities of imperfection weigh people down on such a big day. Brantly did from the very get go probably the hardest thing that I ever ask a bride to do perfectly. Trust me.

For all the beauty that's obvious in Brantly what shines is so much deeper. Her love for Christ and her husband. Her kind family, sweet friends. Even her style all ties together to make her such a uniquely beautiful person. We spend a lot of time trying to convince our brides to roll with the punches. There's beauty in a loose hair here or there. There's beauty in the wind, or rain. There's beauty in walking with your dress in your hand instead of perfectly laid out behind you. That beauty is all summed up in a kind of organic moment that we all run from - real life. Here's my point. If you're willing to wrap your mind around it the truth is for all the little amazing details about what makes Brantly beautiful Allen fell in love with every imperfection just as much. In fact, the things that most girls hide or cover up. A weird laugh, a big smile, even a loud sense of humor - if I've seen anything in the 10 years I've been doing this it's that those things are often at the top of a husbands list of what he loves. So while we shot Brantly looking as beautiful as she can be, we let her be real. We let her walk, and laugh, and smile, and enjoy an afternoon all dolled up so that Allen could always remember this beauty. And when it was all said and done, we shook her hair out and let her be 100% Brantly. Beautiful.