DON'T HAVE A TRADITIONAL WEDDING.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!  Okay, so let me explain my title for this post.

I'm not a good blogger, but I'm a great blog READER. I adore photography blogs. I gather inspiration, poses, techniques, and a drive from reading other photographer's blogs. I follow some amazing photographers {thanks to twitter and instagram} and I'm currently left feeling awe-inspired over both the weddings they book and the magic they make with all of the help from those involved.

Recently, I was blessed enough to meet Jenna of Red, White and Green Photography. We shot a wedding last night and spent hours in the car talking about ourselves, our dreams, our techniques.. everything! It's so nice to meet someone so well-rounded and totally open about her photography.

Upon stalking her blog {which I highly recommend you doing} I stumbled across a particularly awesome wedding of hers that was shot in Denver, Colorado. What struck me was how un-orthodox her couple seemed to be. They had a first look in front of the beautiful, sprawling Colorado mountains, and then greeted their friends and family together before heading down the aisle per tradition. Most traditional families balk at the idea of a first look, much less a celebration of hugs and cheek-kisses before the wedding happens where the bride and groom are hand in hand.

And that's not for everyone. I'm totally aware that some brides really do love the idea of the super "traditional" not seeing each other before the wedding, butterflies in the stomach walking down the aisle feeling..

But you're also talking to the girl who breaks out in hives when I think about getting married inside a church with green carpets and artificial light! :]

I'll be happy to photograph either kind of day, but I think it's important to remember that your wedding day is one of the biggest parties you will EVER throw.

You've spent so much time (and money) planning and coordinating a wedding day. Embrace how beautiful she is in her dress. How handsome he is in his suit. Allot special time for bride and groom portaits, without feeling rushed to get back to the party. Don't worry about Aunt Betty feeling neglected while you sneak away for pictures with your husband/wife, or your guests getting restless. Just plan accordingly for them until you can arrive and when you are done with your glorious portraits, you can totally continue the party they've started! Have cornhole and games or drinks with awesome appetizers set up. Let them know in the program what your plan is! Tell them to go ahead onto the reception after the ceremony is done. Don't be afraid to break tradition. Use whatever colors you want. Don't wear a long dress. Guys, you don't have to wear tuxes. Use paper flowers.

I've been blessed to have some amazing weddings this year. In one of my most recent weddings, Kristen decided against doing a bride-groom first look and instead we did a bridesmaids first look followed by a father-daughter first look. Both of which I had never been privileged to do before, but ABSOLUTELY loved it!

And then there's the first look. Which a lot of photographers will tell you they LOVE doing, for a couple of reasons.

A) It totally helps the time schedule for the day. If you can see each-other first, then there's no stress about hiding from one another, you can knock out the bridal party shots before the ceremony.. yatta yatta. The flow of the day just feels more cohesive and less rushed. B) It allows us to capture amazing moments between the bride and groom. You know just as well as I do that when you see pictures from a first look, your heart swells just a little bit. And what's that saying? Real men don't cry? FALSE. They totally do. Especially at first looks. The emotion that can arise from both parties literally charges the air with such love that it's indescribable.

I want to be the kind of photographer that helps you to get to know the couples I'm blessed to meet through my blog posts and photographs. Let me show the world your personality! 

So, when I say, "don't have a traditional wedding"- what I actually meant was that you don't have to do your wedding like anyone else's. It's YOUR special day. I'm a believer in some aspects of tradition (guys, girls love chivalry!).. a groom asking for his bride's hand in marriage from her father. Wearing white on your wedding day. I just feel like times are changing and so is the photography world. Don't feel locked into what everyone else does, or what your mother did on her wedding day. Keep her veil but change the venue. Realize that natural light is there for a reason and yes, your pictures WILL look better if you take them outside under most conditions. Remember that people are there to help you, not the other way around. Wear a dress with feathers if you want. Wear red lipstick. Have mason jars. Grooms, wear suspenders or glasses if you want to. Don't have mason jars. Traditionally, yes. There are rules. But in reality- there are no rules on how to "properly" celebrate the day you commit to spending the rest of your life loving someone.
Oh, and just for fun because we all love weddings and pinterest, I spliced together a tiny inspiration board of things I love for weddings!
{all blog images ©Emily Chidester Photography aside from the above collage found on pinterest.com}

FEATURED // WHIMSICAL WONDERLAND WEDDINGS

A dear friend of mine, Elizabeth (of Almond Leaf) was featured on this beautiful UK-based blog not too long ago. After seeing her feature and the way that Lou lays her website out, both with the professionals that she chooses to feature and the look of the blog, I thought "why not" and submitted to it. Submitting weddings or engagements to blogs that are as beautiful as WWW, Style Me Pretty, Ruffled, Green Wedding Shoes.. it's all so nerve-wracking. It's like being back in college, at a critique, waiting to hear if you're good enough. I've been denied from blogs a lot, but I think it's so important to keep pushing. When I submitted this to Style Me Pretty, I was rejected- and I've finally figured out why. I think Kristen and Tyler's engagement session is too pure and simple for a highly-detailed blog like SMP. Instead of a fancy set up with long dresses or exquisite tablecloths, we have nothing to distract us from the love radiating from these two.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE SMP, Ruffled and Green Wedding Shoes just as much as the next. I've been fortunate enough to be featured on Style Me Pretty (which any photographer can tell you is a highlight of their career) - but sometimes it's nice to see that someone can agree that the beauty isn't always in each little detail.. more like the grand scheme of things!

Thanks again to Lou- you were absolutely WONDERFUL ;]

Click here to see our feature on International Saturday as international guests and get lost on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. You know you want to.

WEDDING // KRISTEN & TYLER, PART I // BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA

Okay. You know when you're a little kid, and you get a new toy... and it's so awesome that you don't even want to play with it because you're afraid it'll get dirty? That's how I felt about this wedding. I have coveted it, and nurtured it and poured over this wedding because I adore Kristen and her fiance Tyler so incredibly much. You may have gotten to know these two through their engagement session, posted back on my blog in June (click here!) - but I hope that you can truly see how much love there is between them and all parties involved.

Kristen (seriously, go follow her on tumblr) is a super creative person. She literally put so much heart into their wedding, hand-melding each decoration together to completely represent their personalities. I can honestly say I have never had such a detailed filled wedding. They're my favorite! I love feeling overwhelmed by all of the details that you don't even know where to start photographing them. I literally just started crying when I walked into the reception hall, partially because of my relationship with Kristen and how happy I was for them.. but seriously, look at this place!

I will forever remember the moments of this wedding that have set it apart and made it completely different than any wedding I've shot before, both aesthetically and because of the mood that was set by Camp Sky Ranch. The wooden cabins where the separate parties were getting ready, the Bon Iver playlist (which was coming from my phone! Whoo!) that softly played in the background of the ceremony while the rain was POURING down outside, lightly misting everyone in the chapel (and thankfully cooling all of us off).. the beams of sunlight coming over the umbrellas and backlighting our portraits. Baby Jude (Kristen and Tyler's sweet boy) running around, making everyone laugh, the absolutely delicious southern dinner & family style seating.. I could literally go on and on with how special this wedding was.

I never do posts this big, and this is a part one of two because I had so many images that I couldn't pick and choose. Between a first look with bridesmaids, then with Kristen's father.. a gorgeous little chapel with open windows, a surprise Katy Perry performance (just wait for the video).. I just had to split this up!

{From the bride...}

"This wedding had been a long time coming.  After we had Jude, it was only a matter of time as to 'when' we would tie the knot. Even through all the craziness of an unplanned pregnancy, there was never an 'if' we would get married.... it was just when. So this left me a lot of time for planning while I waited for the “when” part.

During that time, so many ideas bounced around in my brain of what I wanted. The most important thing was having The Blue Ridge Mountains incorporated. Of course, this is where we met so it made the most sense. This idea eventually led me to find Camp Sky Ranch, which was very much under the radar in the wedding world and even better, was in Blowing Rock which also held sentimental value in our relationship .It was a stellar find for us because it captured everything I could have ever wanted in a venue: rustic comfort full of love and originality. The owners were beyond sweet and accommodating, which really helped me because I was planning everything 3 hours away. The food was from one of the best restaurants in the High Country, which specializes, in unique tasting of game like duck, trout, pheasant, ostrich etc. After the food and venue were decided everything else just came along naturally. I spent months researching color palettes, themes and wedding blogs like every other future bride. And just like others, it just seemed overwhelming and confusing. That's when I decided to go ahead and ditch the normalcy of what I was supposed to do...This was the fun part.

I guess if I had to describe my wedding, I would want it to be portrayed as a fun bohemian family cookout. Maybe this is why I avoided going over themes. I wanted my wedding to convey a feeling and a mood, rather than a matching color scheme attached to a generic wedding tradition. I would ask myself the same questions over and over... Is this all going to go together? Are people going to understand what I'm doing?  And fortunately it did.  I couldn't help but cry tears of joy after I saw the final product of all of my hard work...and let me tell you, wrapping over 30 bottles of yarn by yourself is worth it. Don't let anyone steer you away of those precious details you hold dearly. My wedding was beautiful beyond words and went so smoothly I couldn't believe nothing went wrong. I even squeezed in enough time to perform "Firework" by Katy Perry for Tyler (he’s her biggest fan) who also cried tears of joy during my performance! It was the best thing I've ever done and I would suggest for other brides to surprise their guy with something special too.

Overall, everything was perfect... the music, mood, food and decorations came together. Even the weather was beautiful because you know they say its good luck to rain on your wedding day!"