Elizabeth and Dominic tied the knot on August 9, 2014 at Cape Fear Botanical Garden in Fayetteville, NC. A summer thunderstorm and power outage couldn’t put a damper on their botanical garden wedding, though, and this couple’s celebration was unforgettable.
Read more about their botanical garden wedding experience (and triumph over the power outage!) in the Q&A below!
1. What was your favorite moment from the day?
My favorite part of the day was definitely getting to spend some quiet time with Dominic before the ceremony. We didn’t want to do a “first look” but I really wanted to hear his voice. Since we started seriously dating, we began praying together. It is something that neither one of us had previously done in other relationships.
We both agreed that we wanted to continue our nightly tradition on our wedding day. He got on one side of the door and I stood on the other and we just had a simple moment with us and God. It eased my tension (somewhat) and gave us the both the direction that we want to continue as a family.
2. Did anything about your botanical garden wedding day surprise you?
Hell yea- things didn’t go according to plan! 🙂 Not too much did except that we walked out of there married! We planned for an outdoor ceremony, it poured. The power went out in the middle of dinner (…ahhh!!) so we had to move the whole reception to another area. Our preacher got Gangrene and cancelled the day of the wedding.
But…it was amazing. I had a couple of moments where I wanted to lose it. Ok, I kinda lost it. Luckily, it was on my sister and she still loves me!
Despite all the snafus, it was a beautiful, chaotic, lovely, mess, and we’ll remember it forever.
3. You and Dominic were intentional about including your adorable 3-year-old daughter in your wedding day. From Dominic’s vows to her to the kids tables (and dessert!) at the reception, she was an integral part of your celebration. How did you come up with some of these ideas?
Lylah-Grace was a humongous part of our planning process! We weren’t just becoming “man and wife” (who says that…??) we were becoming a family. Before Dominic asked me to marry him, he asked my dad and my baby. He knows without both of their permission it wouldn’t have happened!! 🙂
He decided from the beginning to write vows specifically for her. They were amazing. He is an absolutely fantastic Dad! I know that some couples do different things if they have kids. To us, it was super important to make sure that everyone’s kids had fun. I can say with complete certainty that they did! We wanted parents (which most of our friends are) to be able to bring their kids and not worry if they would like the food, be bored, break things, talk too much, etc. We just tried to cater to that as much as possible, while still having fun ourselves. We asked Lylah-Grace what she wanted to eat, what she wanted to play with at dinner, who she wanted to sit with…she made most of those decisions!
4. What factors other than photos went into your decision on a wedding photographer? Why did you decide to pick me for your botanical garden wedding?
I saw this amazing wedding that you shot and I saw people’s emotions. It wasn’t people lined up in matching clothes with cheesy smiles painted on their faces. I knew that A LOT of stuff wasn’t going to go as planned (I’m a mom- it never does) and I want to always remember the day for what it truly was. In your work I’ve always noticed raw emotion and fun. I didn’t want a lot of posed shots. I just loved knowing that you would capture the “feel” of our wedding.
5. What’s next for you as a couple and family?
BABIES!!! Haha…just kidding! That’s what everyone keeps saying. Dominic has two more years of law school left. We hope to stay in North Carolina, but we’ll see where the job market takes us. Lylah-Grace just started a new year of preschool, today! So maybe, just maybe, I’ll start to get my house organized from the wedding and start writing some thank you notes! 🙂
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Elizabeth, Dominic, and Lylah-Grace, thank you for being such a joy to work with! I know things did not go as planned for your wedding day, but you rolled with punches and put on a fantastic celebration. I hope when you look at these photos you see the spontaneity and happiness from your day, in spite of the bumps along the way. 🙂
To view all of the photos from Elizabeth and Dominic’s wedding and order prints, you can view their gallery on my print service.
