It’s never too late to find a reason to wear your wedding dress again, even if it is just to have a little fun on the farm. Ashley & Mike recently celebrated their three year wedding anniversary, and she wanted to celebrate it by doing a barn inspired Rock the Dress photo shoot. I just love how the colors of the barn and her bouquet were just enough to make everything pop. Read below to find out what inspired Ashley to do this shoot three years post-wedding.
Photography by Lori Cuthbert Photography – Voted “2014 The Knot Best of Weddings”
What inspired you to do a Rock the Dress, three years after your wedding?
Three years ago, we had planned our beautiful, outdoor fall wedding. Set on the farm of long-time family friends, with the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia as our backdrop, it was going to be perfect, down to every last detail. From the stunning fall colors filling the fresh bouquets and pumpkin arrangements, to the majestic old red barn that would be the site where we would give and receive our vows in front of family and friends, to the homemade caramel apples for our guests to enjoy later that evening — our elegant, country wedding was set. One of the things we had looked forward to the most, other than marrying each other (of course!) was having a treasure trove of the most spectacular wedding photos of our special day to cherish forever. Then, on what was supposed to be our perfect September wedding day, the one thing that I think most brides dread happened — it rained. No, it poured! Buckets and buckets of cold, fat raindrops splashed and sloshed and washed down the hillsides, washing our visions of those coveted outdoor photographs down with them. We refused to let the rain ruin our day though, and still had an amazing time!
However, when it was all said and done, we never did get those wonderful photos we had dreamed about for so long. And living in Indiana at the time, it wasn’t very feasible to have photos taken after the wedding festivities and our honeymoon had come to an end. Fast forward three years, we found ourselves moving back home to Virginia and talking about the farm, and our wedding, and those darn photos. And the idea started forming that maybe, just maybe, we could get our wedding garb back on and get those photos we’ve always wanted, before too much time passed. So I reached out to a friend from high school back in West Virginia, Lori Myers-Cuthbert, who had started her own photography business that I had been following for some time. Whose work I had come to admire as I watched her grow, learn and develop her aesthetic; always trying new things, but keeping the style strictly her own. As soon as I told her what my husband and I wanted to do, she was thrilled and already had a ton of great ideas running through her mind! We got all of the details of the photo shoot worked out and then waited for the day to come — partially with anticipation and excitement, but with a certain amount of hesitation that the weather could turn sour on us, again. When the day for our session arrived, it was glorious! The sun was shining and warm, the breeze was light, and it was dry! Lori was fantastic to work with that day. She listened to what we wanted, added her own twists and creative flare, and made it fun and easy. We played all over the farm that day, from the barn, to rolled hay bales, to the grassy fields and meadows.
When Lori posted our first sneak peaks later that same day, we were beyond thrilled. The two photos that she had placed online for us to view were just stunning. Later, when our full gallery was posted, we were speechless. As we scrolled through photo after beautiful photo, we realized that our dream had finally come true — we had those gorgeous, magazine quality photographs that we always wanted. Honestly, by doing the Rock the Dress session later, after the wedding festivities were done, was so great (even if it was three years later!). It was fun, relaxed, and we could focus on getting those perfect shots that we really wanted, instead of rushing through to get on to the next event. Our advice to any bride and groom would be to do a Rock the Dress session with a great photographer. If you’re planning on getting married soon, or if you’ve already been married for a while and didn’t get the photos that you really desired, do this, you will not regret it for a single minute! Now, the hardest part comes — which ones do we order and in what sizes?! 🙂
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