This day…these two…!!! I feel so blessed to have shared in Mary and Eric’s gorgeous, heartwarming, love-filled, joyful wedding day at the Semper Fidelis Memorial Chapel a few weeks ago! Everything from the bridesmaid’s dusty rose dresses to Mary’s heirloom veil to Eric’s freshly pressed Dress Blues had my heart all a flutter and a big smile glued to my face alllll day!  I knew this wedding would be a blast after photographing Mary and Eric’s engagement portraits, but this pregnant lady was NOT prepared for all the perfect, intimate moments and amount of happy tears that were sprinkled through this day!! Each element of the day brought another batch of watery eyes and huge smiles from everyone present and it.was.wonderful!! The highlights for me were: Mary’s heirloom veil belonging to her grandmother with whom she shares a name, Mary’s momma and sister helping her into her dress, Mary’s incredible first look with her dad, Eric leading Mary in a time of prayer (without seeing each other) before they left for the ceremony, Sir Andrew the Corgi serving as one of the ring bearers (!!!), the Shoe Game, and sunset portraits. The waterworks and pitterpatters in my heart were seriously non-stop, ya’ll! You’ll see what I mean as you scroll through these images 🙂

Mary and Eric, the two of you are a source of radiant joy for so many people. It was an honor to document this moment in your love story and witness your first day as husband and wife! I pray your marriage will be blessed and your that your lives be continually filled with the abundant, overflowing JOY you share now. I love you both and CONGRATULATIONS!! Enjoy a few of my favorites from your day!!

This bouquet was STUNNING! And also heavy! Right Mary?! haha 😉
Mary is named after her father’s mother and Mary wanted to honor their connection by wearing her grandmother’s wedding veil. How sweet!!



A bride’s gotta have her girls! Loved their monogramed robes!


Sisters


Love this of Mary and her mom. They have the most wonderful bond.

Dad’s first look! He was a little unsure of what was going on or what to do – we all assured him that there was no way to mess it up! Mary choked back tears as she asked him to turn around. He was stunned and beaming the whole time. There wasn’t a dry eye around!!



And then!!!! Eric led his bride-to-be in prayer as they started the day.





We arrived at the ceremony location and knocked out some portraits with the girls before the ceremony!! It was suuuper hot out so we worked quickly and got those girls into some A/C!!




LOVED Mary’s EGA pin on her bouquet!!



What a stunning bride!! And how about that DRESS?! It was 100% custom made for her. Gorgeousness.



Nothing like a man in uniform!! Looking great Eric!!



A few of Eric’s Marine buddies. Seeing all these guys in uniform made me miss our Marine (my little brother!)

Loved this sweet moment between Eric and his dad as the ceremony started.

And another with his lovely momma!!


Beautiful Sarah, Mary’s sister and Maid of Honor…and their family’s dog Sir Andrew the Corgi!! He had a little pillow strapped to his back with the rings on it!!!!



Since the venue is made of glass, Eric didn’t want to see Mary until the last possible moment, so his Best Man Johnny had him turn around after the kiddos and pup came in.

Worth it for that reaction. He was grinning from ear to ear!






Favorite.

MARRIED!!!!


If you’ll notice in the left image: the Marines have a little tradition with these sword exits. A Marine on the end will swat the bride on her rear as the couple comes out from under the swords and say “Welcome to the Marine Corps!”




Bride & Groom Portraits!!










Their first dance was the sweetest! Poor Eric actually broke his hand a few weeks before the wedding and had a cast on it until shortly before they got married, so his dominant hand was a little fragile for their dance! He also had to wear his wedding band on the opposite hand all day because of the swelling!


Another favorite!!

The bridal party brought these signs to score the couple’s first dance!! So fun!!!

Then came the Father’s dance with the bride. They danced to “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman and were all over the dance floor! It was beautiful.


Eric’s dance with his momma was so sweet, too!


Love.
Then Eric’s dance with his stepmom turned into a whole family dance!



And finally Mary shared a dance with her momma. LOVED this. Their family finds so much joy in each other and it’s really the best thing ever.

They invited Eric to join for a moment 🙂

Then the party started!




The Best Man and Groom cut the Grooms cake and decided to feed each other cake! haha!!




The Shoe Game!!

Mary checking to see that he answered one of the questions correctly, hahahahaha!


My favorite part of the wedding day: sunset portraits!!!!



So. GORGEOUS!!






Sparkler send-off!


xoxo,
Amanda