Melissa and Luke | An Alabama Winter Wedding at Oak Meadow Event Center

Weddings

January 31, 2020

Melissa and Luke’s wedding day was one that I will never forget- not only because of how much fun we had and how incredible Melissa and Luke are, but also because it was the first wedding I’ve ever had to evacuate from due to weather! James Spann had been giving us weather updates all week about the chance of severe weather that day, but we all just kept believing that everything was going to work out the way it was supposed to, and it did!

When I arrived at Oak Meadow Saturday morning, Melissa was so calm and just genuinely excited to be getting married. You would have never known there was a severe weather threat. I reassured her that we would go with the flow of the day and whatever happened, we would adapt and make it work because at the end of the day, they would be married, and that’s the most important thing! She and Luke had decided not to do a first look, and held firm to that even the morning of the wedding day. We captured Melissa and all of her girls getting ready, popping champagne, and celebrating Melissa (and we only lost the veil once due to wind haha) and got some shots of Luke and his guys getting ready as well! We were about to begin family portraits when the Ohatchee sheriff came into the building and said that everyone needed to evacuate to the nearby high school as it was the nearest place with an underground storm shelter. Just like that, everyone hopped in their cars and headed to the high school to seek shelter from the possible tornado.

It was pouring rain when we got into the storm shelter, but Melissa looked completely untouched by the weather and absolutely breathtaking, while everyone else was soaked. I was just so grateful she managed to stay dry! She and Luke decided to do a first look at the high school in the storm shelter because they figured if something was going to happen to them, they at least wanted to see each other on their wedding day! We captured their first look in the storm shelter stairwell, and it was one of the sweetest first looks I’ve ever seen. After they took a few minutes to soak everything in, we decided to go up into the high school and take a few pictures in the hallways. We figured we might as well capture EVERY of the day, including the unexpected! 🙂 We got some precious pictures of them dancing and just walking and talking in the hallways, then shortly after got the all clear to head back to Oak Meadow!

Once we got back to Oak Meadow, the power was still out. They decided to push the ceremony back by an hour to accommodate everyone traveling to be there, as well as to give them time to get the power back up and running. We got all of their family portraits, bridal party portraits, and bride and groom portraits taken before the ceremony, so that afterwards, they could go straight to the reception and enjoy the rest of their night with their friends and family! Even though their first look was not planned and things went out of order than we had planned, it was one of the best wedding days I’ve ever gotten to be a part of! All of the vendors were so kind and helpful and truly wanted to do whatever they could to make sure the day was perfect for Melissa and Luke.

To Melissa and Luke, thank you so much for choosing me and trusting me to capture your wedding day! You two are some of the most kind-hearted, easy-going people I have ever met, and it was an absolute JOY getting to serve and celebrate you on your wedding day! Enjoy these highlights from their beautiful day!