What a year 2021 was! We can probably all agree and add in a million reasons why it was a whirlwind for us personally. But that’s not what we are here for!

We are reflecting on our 2021 couples…they were just the best couples ever. Seriously! Not only were they planning their wedding during the pandemic, several of these couples postponed their date because of it. To my knowledge, at least 5 of our 2021 couples had to postpone in some way. Two of them, an entire year. Some of them had many guests who couldn’t attend, and one couple….even the bride’s parents weren’t able to be there. But still, at the end of the day, they got married.

I am amazed at the perseverance of these sweet brides and grooms.

We shot 15 weddings in 2021. Two of which I didn’t shoot…our first two weddings of the year while Grayson was just 16 days old and then about 1 month old. 

I had wonderful photographer-friends who filled in for me and took great care of my couples! I was the one who touched base with brides leading up to those couple’s weddings, I shot their engagement/bridal sessions, created their wedding day timeline, and then handed it all over for my associate shooters on the day-of. Then I edited all of the photos, which was so fun seeing firsthand how amazing Sara and Crissie, and Mary Katherine & Mitchel did together! While editing those weddings, I think I cried tears of happiness that I could trust that my couples were being taken care of, and I could be at home loving on my baby boy during maternity leave.

The rest of the year, our couples have been so so gracious to me as I learned to juggle being mom and a business owner. Whew! What a crazy year figuring out all of the ins-and-outs of what that entails, and I am still learning every day. Learning how to allocate my time, give myself grace, and schedule time for Grayson with our babysitter during the week were just a few!

This year also led to some differences in our business that we would have never dreamed. Mitchel and I have always shot weddings together the last 8 years, with the exception of one 2 other times in that timeframe. In 2021, with the unexpected issue of Grayson being colicky and him just figuring out this big scary world, we knew we had to adjust and so Mitchel stayed home with him for five of our weddings while Grayson was so young. 

Again, I was overwhelmed with how the Lord worked it all out, both in providing absolutely wonderful ladies to second shoot with/for me, and also for the most kind and gracious couples working with the change of Mitchel not being there. These ladies who served my couples with me went above and beyond and I get teary about it just thinking of how it all worked out. Could not have done wedding days without Mitchel without the help of Carissa, Leah, Christine, and Mary Katherine’s amazing help.

Some of our Favorite Wedding Venues this Year

Other fun things about this years weddings…we got to shoot the wedding of a high-school bff of Mitchel, Addie and Corey! We also shot at some venues we’ve been dying to photograph. Some of our bucket list venues were crossed off this year, including: Heyward Manor and The Barn at Sitton Hill Farm. And of course we revisited many venues we’ve been to and loved before, like The Bleckley and The Hollow at Paris Mountain. We were also introduced to places we had never been which is always fun.

All around, it was a year for the books and I’m heading into 2022 so grateful!

Enjoy a few favorite images from our 2021 couples weddings!