I have been looking forward to this wedding for months because Jess was one of my closest friends in high school and I have not seen her or her family since they moved to North Carolina several years ago. This wedding was also particularly special because Jess’s older sister, Rebecca, was the very second bride I ever photographed back in 2013 and both Jess and Rebecca chose to wear their mother’s wedding dress on their wedding days.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and WARM! I knew that February in North Carolina would be warmer than Pennsylvania, however, they live in the western part of the state towards the mountains and it had snowed in NC just days before the wedding, so I honestly wasn’t sure what temperature to expect. But God answered all their prayers for beautiful weather: there wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day, it was mid-sixties, and the first signs of spring were popping up everywhere with new buds and the first spring blooms on the trees.

Jess & Benjamin are two of the most joyful people and they were completely relaxed all day long. They were married in a beautiful Catholic Church followed by a small, intimate wedding reception at the beautiful Emerald Farms in Denver, NC. Between the two of them, Jess and Benjamin have over a dozen nieces and nephews and with the big sweeping yard outside the barn, lots of backyard games, towers of cheesecake, an epic dance floor, and plenty of space to run wild, their wedding was a kid’s paradise.

It is such an honor when the same family brings me back to photograph another family wedding and this was no exception. Jess and Benjamin, thank you for your witness to pure and holy love and for entrusting me with the job of documenting your wedding day.

Xoxo,
Mary Kate

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

A huge thank you to all the other vendors who came together to make this day possible!

CHURCH //  St. Michael’s Catholic, Gastonia, NC

RECEPTION VENUE // Emerald Farm

DJ // Huskey AMA

FLORIST // Flowers by the Falls

DRESS // Her mother’s wedding dress