Will + Gia | The Lightner Museum | St. Augustine, FL

May 17, 2018

Elopements (or in this case, super small low key family weddings) are the best. Seriously, I’m questioning every decision I made in having a big “traditional” wedding. Gia and Will’s special day was so much fun! I hadn’t ever shot an elopement style wedding before theirs and was super looking forward to it. Gia and Will chose to get married at the beautiful Lightner Museum in downtown historical St. Augustine. Why there? Because that’s where Gia and Will met! The two both attended the University of St. Augustine for physical therapy. They now both live in Huntsville, AL, but thought it would be really cool to tie the knot in the city where they fell in love. Ugh, so romantic. The cool thing about St. Augustine is despite the fact there are a million tourist and college students milling about, there’s still such a romantic feel to the city. There’s so many neat little spots tucked away amongst the many brick streets of the city, not to mention the old Spanish architecture that’s to die for.

I think one of the things I liked best about Gia and Will’s wedding day was there was no fuss with all the formal photos of a bridal party. Don’t get me wrong I think bridal parties are really fun and I love all the colors that come together having one, but the nice thing about this day was we had all the time in the world to take photos of just Will and Gia. After all, it is all about them anyways, right? We got to do their first look at the quaint and oh-so-lovely Collector Inn. Quick side note about the Inn: we had just finished with the first look moment when an employee approached us and told us we couldn’t take wedding photos here unless we had bought out like 10 rooms (which obviously we didn’t). In that moment all three of us were prepared to politely leave, knowing we had the entire city as a backdrop. Then the employee followed up his statement with, “but I won’t say anything and I’ll let you finish.” Ha! I was personally glad and thankful he let us continue shooting, but also why say anything at all!? It was a funny moment we all joked about for the remainder of the day.

After The Collector we also took photos on Magnolia Avenue, one of the most photographed streets in all of Florida and the famous Castillo de San Marcos fortress. Both made for excellent locations – good choices Will and Gia! The final destination was the Lightner Museum of course where the two exchanged vows led by Gia’s brother-in-law Mark. It was such a sweet moment to witness! Gia’s sister, Erin even surprised her with a pair of violinist who played a song for Gia and Will to dance to right after their kiss! What an awesome sister move! All in all it was an amazing day. Gia is such a cool girl, we met on a missions trip to Guatemala about 2-years-ago. When she reached out to see if I was available I knew there was nothing that could stand in my way of photographing her big day! Congratulations to the both of you! Here is a snapshot of your St. Augustine wedding day! 🙂

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