janelle + kelly | fall wedding in pembroke, va - lindseyrickardsphotography.com

My hubby and I have known Kelly for years, and when he told us he’d met the lady he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, we were SO happy for him, and we couldn’t wait to meet her! And y’all, this girl is just the sweetest! I think my favorite part about being their wedding photographer was being able to get to know Janelle throughout the process!

Even though it poured down rain the entire day before their wedding, there wasn’t a drop of rain to be seen once Janelle and the girls started getting ready on wedding day! These two shared a really sweet, emotional First Look, and I most definitely had tears welling up in my eyes during their ceremony. It was one of the most purposeful (and interactive!) ceremonies I’ve ever photographed, with a shared communion with their guests and a time for guests to speak blessings over their marriage! (And because they are personal friends of ours, I even felt comfortable handing my camera over to my second shooter and hopping on the dance floor with my hubby for a few songs during the reception!)

Enjoy my favorites from Janelle + Kelly’s wedding day!

Janelle’s engagement ring and wedding band were made from a family heirloom – they found a local jeweler with the skills to deconstruct the heirloom ring, modify it so it fit Janelle’s style, and put it all back together as two rings instead of one, and I loved capturing them in as many different ways as possible on wedding day!

Next up was Janelle + Kelly’s First Look! I had a feeling Kelly might tear up a little during this part of the day, and I wasn’t wrong! Happy tears and happy smiles made for some of the sweetest First Look photos!

We had time for just a few bride + groom portraits before we headed to meet up with their wedding party!

Forehead kisses were some of my favorite moments between these two, and I love this next one on the right, especially in black + white!

I love this next shot of the girls!

If you’ve been following along for any amount of time, then you might recognize this handsome guy (in the middle) in this next photo on the left! He’s my better half (and he sure does clean up good!)!

Love this next close-up candid moment that my second shooter, Jade, captured of the guys while she shot from a different angle than me!

Also a little obsessed with this bouquet shot Jade captured, coming up on the left!

Aaaaaand FAVE shot of the girls right here!

Time to get MARRIED! Their wedding day took place on private property, and I loved that they chose to have the ceremony under this sprawling tree! (And they hung the cutest little bubble vases from the lowest branches!)

Also, Kelly made the arbor himself!

Their ceremony was one of the most purposeful, intentional, and interactive ceremonies I’ve ever photographed! They started off by having their parents speak blessings / their wishes over the couple.

After their vows and rings were exchanged, they took communion and invited all of their guests to join them, if they wanted!

During communion, Kelly and Janelle snuck behind the arbor and Kelly washed Janelle’s feet, as a symbolic promise to lay his life down for her as Christ laid his life down for the church. I think it’s one of the sweetest ceremony practices there is (but I’m also partial to it because we included it in our wedding ceremony, too!)!

I love, love, love this sweet moment during their foot washing:

Lastly, they invited guests to speak blessings over the new couple before concluding the ceremony!

Aaaaand they’re husband + wife!

It had been a really overcast day, so we called an audible and decided to do our second set of bride + groom portraits before the main reception events got going, before we lost all of our light!

After their First Dance as husband + wife, Janelle shared dances with both of her brothers, and Kelly shared a dance with his mom.

They played the Shoe Game (one of my favorites!) and DJ Bobby Hash’s commentary had all of us cracking up!

Then the dance floor really opened up (one of my favorite parts of any reception!)!

Aaaaand because we’re friends with the bride + groom, I went ahead and handed my camera off to Jade and hopped on the dance floor – sans heavy camera equipment – for a few of my favorite songs (liiiike the Cupid Shuffle and Shout!)!