Intimate Backyard Wedding: Katie + Luke

Katie and Luke have been smitten with each other since the day they met. They finally tied the knot in an intimate backyard wedding last month amongst their closest family and friends. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm accented with soft creams, golds, pinks and champagne tones.

When Katie pulled her dress out I was in awe of how beautiful it was. All the fine stitched flowers and the soft fluffy tulle. It was stunning; I instantly knew Katie was going to look like the prettiest princess alive.

Luke is such a sweetheart. I knew he was a child at heart, but when I saw the boutonnieres I knew Katie and him were the perfect fit. "The amazing super hero Luke swoops in to sweep his princess off her feet, marry her, and live happily ever after."

This girl knows how to work the camera whether she thinks she does or not!

Katie and Luke chose to do a first look prior to the wedding. I am so thrilled when people decide to do this. It is such a special intimate moment that is shared privately between the two and makes for some very special memorable memories caught on film.

I love the uncertainty in Katie's face as Luke turns around and sees her for the first time. . .

. . . her smile says it all! Luke thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen!

Katie and Luke started off a little stiff in front of the camera, but it ended up not taking long for their fun, silly, loving relationship dynamic to shine through.

Katie will probably kill me for sharing this next picture, but this is my absolute favorite picture of all time. One of the ways I like to create natural moments is by setting the couple up to sneak behind each other and surprise the other person. It always creates the most beautiful natural pictures. Little did I know that Katie is a very serious person, she does not mess around; so when I said, "Katie I want you to SNEAK up on Luke and do whatever you want to him" she took it literally and created by far the BEST sneaking picture ever. Katie thank you for listening and following directions perfectly!

I just can't get over how absolutely stunning these two looked. Luke you are one very very lucky man, Katie is absolutely breathtaking.

So I have to say this was one of the most fun group of bridesmaids I have ever had. They all shared a close friendship that kept them laughing the entire day. The faces they gave me literally made it hard to take pictures because they had me laughing so hard. By the way girls can I be your best friend as well? You seem like you have so much fun together!

So there's this picture of all the Disney princess characters making silly faces. I wish I could find it to share, but seeing that this wedding was princess based the girls thought it was only right that they recreated that princess picture. I'm sorry Cinderella but I think these girls have you beat.

You can tell how amazing a couple is by how large the wedding party is. I would say this couple is a couple you want to have as friends because they obviously are some pretty amazing people.

Katie and Luke congratulations on your beautiful marriage. Thank you so much for allowing us to capture your day. You both were amazing and I wish you a lifetime of happiness. I know by putting God first in your marriage you will have no problem living an amazing life together. I wish you both the best and look forward to hearing when you have the first mini Harkleroad coming along ;-)