Hello friends!

I got to second-shoot a wedding with my aunt back in June at the beautiful Melrose Caverns venue. (Yes, we actually got pictures inside the caverns!) If I shared all my favorite photos from the day it would take like three posts, but I managed to condense them into just one.

This mainly ended up being a portrait gallery of the bride, groom, and wedding party rather than the events of the wedding, but that’s because there were so many pretty and hilarious shots. Enjoy!

The first batch of photos we took upon arriving were detail shots. Kendall’s amazing veil provided the perfect backdrop. A lot of these flowers are made out of wood so they’ll last forever!

Some father-daughter first look shots. 🙂

Kendall looked so pretty in this stone archway. I took some portraits of Matt while he waited for Kendall to come down for a first look.

First look. ❤

This is one of my favorites! The rolling hills sprinkled with cattle fit their country wedding vibe perfectly.

Some more bride and groom portraits by the bridge.

A few sweet close-ups.

Isn’t Kendall’s dress breathtaking?!

Taking creative detail shots was part of my job as a second-shooter and man did I have fun with that! These are some of my favorite shots from my gallery.

Right after these shots it started raining and didn’t stop until shortly before the ceremony. But the lighting looks beautiful here!

While it rained we took some wedding portraits in the caverns. My poor camera did NOT like that lighting, unsurprisingly, so I mostly left these pictures to my aunt who had a special lighting setup and focused on helping her in other ways. I did get a few okay pictures though. Such a cool little cavern!

As you can see, very grainy. But I still wanted to post these because the colors worked so nicely together. And because that second picture is one the guys asked me to take and I found it hilarious and mildly creepy.

Another of my top favorite shots from this day. ❤ Simple yet stunning.

Moving on to the ceremony now. Kendall’s dad escorting her down the beautiful walkway and Matt trying not to tear up as he waits for his bride.

I realized this might actually be the first outdoor ceremony I’ve photographed. Rather surprising since they seem pretty common nowadays – and beautiful!

First kiss! These pictures were hard to edit because the arbor was on slanted ground but there were also trees and the building to take into account. So the lines look a little crazy but it’s still a sweet picture.

After the ceremony and a few more family pictures, we moved on to wedding party shots outside the building. So many beautiful backdrops! I LOVED this Secret-Garden-esque nook.

Isn’t Kendall’s veil magnificent? :O

More detail shots because I couldn’t resist, sorry. 😀

HAHA, the girls wanted to take a pictures holding the guys’ guns. I love these two pictures together: the girls looking fierce and untouchable and then one of the groomsmen coming to help extricate a spider from the layers of Kendall’s dress. Haha!

This picture is hilarious but also I actually really love it as a photo too.

In return, the guys held the bouquets and recreated one of Kendall’s bride poses with Matt. Hehe.

A moment for the groomsmen. I love catching candid moments like this.

EPIC.

We went down to the bridge again for some more wedding party shots.

Brands and lassos figured heavily into the wedding, HA. Kendall really wanted to get one that looked like she was chasing Matt with the brand, oh myyy. The wedding party came up with so many portrait ideas and were just having a blast. I’m skipping a ton of good ones but we gotta move on.

After all the wedding portraits were done, we moved on to the reception. Once again my camera did not do great with the dim lighting, so I’ll just share the moment that caused the most laughter: when Kendall’s dad presented Matt with a ball and chain after his toast. Oh deeeear. :’D

After supper I went outside to get a few more shots of the beautiful historic venue. The stone walls with those warm string lights at golden hour… ah.

I also spent a good amount of time getting tons of pictures of the ring bearer, Hayes, because I MEAN LOOK. How could I not??

Possibly the cutest ringbearer ever??

At the end of the wedding his aunt blew bubbles for him which kept him in ecstasy for a solid 15 minutes. He kept coming up to me and pulling me over to pop the bubbles with him instead of standing back and taking pictures.

After the rain earlier that morning, this golden sun was glorious. It reminded me just how beautiful the Valley where I grew up can be. ❤

The wedding party of course had to decorate the couple’s car. They did a great job with the cute messages and nice lettering. 😀

Kendall and Matt decided to move the timeline up a bit so they could have a sparkler exit before everyone left. Which was fine with me – look how nice the lighting was for these pictures!

We’ll end with another photo. I think Kendall looks like royalty in this shot somehow. So cute.

And that’s it for now! I’m sure some of the landscapes and random photos will make their way into an Etcetera post in the future. I hoped you enjoyed this tiny peek into Kendall and Matt’s day, and thanks to my aunt for selecting me for this job! 🙂 You can see her recent work at @beyondadreamphoto on Instagram, and you can visit her website here as well.

Which picture(s) did you like best?

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D7200 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.