This couple is amazing. Their 10 year anniversary together was their wedding day on January 1, 2016.  These two met in China where their family served as missionaries.  They lived in the building across from one another and grew up playing together every day.  Evelyn is originally from the states and Matias is originally from Finland, where most of his family still resides. Their wedding was stunning and so intimate with only their closest friends and family from literally around the world came to support them.  Evie and Matias had their guests stay on the grounds at Shaker Village just outside of Lexington, Kentucky.  Shaker Village is a tiny community that is made up of historical houses from the Shaker Community dating back to the 1800’s.  The house where the wedding took place, was basically one large bed and breakfast.  It had rooms for almost every guest to stay in the night before and also housed the reception.  The family got to set up all of the decor the night before making the actual wedding day FAR more relaxed.  Then if you’ve put two and two together yet, you know that the night before was New Year’s Eve. The whole family got to ring in the new year together as they prepped for Evie and Matias’ wedding day.  Evelyn and her family bought myself a room in the same building so that I wouldn’t have to wake up super early to get there.  My husband and I came up together and when the clock struck midnight we heard the family shouting and celebrating together and it was so special.  Everyone just loved each other so much and genuinely enjoyed being in each others’ presence.

One of my favorite stories from the wedding day happened when Evie’s mom gave Evie and Matias a wedding gift after dinner.  She did so just before the coffee was to be served so that the two would have special cups to drink out of. As she’s about to give them the gift to open, she accidentally tells them what the gift was which caused some amazing laughter shots.  But after the couple opened it, it was two coffee mugs with a little stick figure boy and girl on each of them holding paper cups up to their ear and mouth with a string between.  Evie continued to tell the guests that when they were kids, their parents wouldn’t let them talk on the phone at night.  Matias’ solution to this was two paper cups strung together between their buildings in China so that they could communicate.  How stinking precious is that?? I love their love story. Their history together. And the future that I know they will have so much fun adventuring through.

Throughout this post, I’ve left some commentating around some of the images, then at the bottom I have tagged all of the vendors! Don’t forget to scroll all the way through because this wedding had some SUPER fun Finland wedding traditions that were kind of awesome!This picture above houses just a couple of the fantastic photo booth props that Evie’s mom accumulated.  This was probably my most favorite photo booth I’ve ever ran because of how fantastic the props were.  At the end of this post, you can see some of my favorite images from the booth.  The old glasses, pipes, fur coats and 1930’s hats made it so much fun. I’m absolutely obsessed with Evie’s wedding shoes.  They were just so classic. I tried to trim down the amount of photos that I took of them, but there are still a TON!  This image above is Evie’s mom on her wedding day.  Evie told me how when she was a little girl that she was just obsessed with this picture and she wanted to recreate it.  You will see as you scroll down this image recreated with Evie in her gorgeous dress and veil.   Because this was a destination wedding, Evie didn’t want to pay a special hair and makeup lady to drive over from Louisville (where Evelyn currently resides) but did want to have a trial run of her hair and makeup done.  Photographed above is Evie getting her hair done by her sister Hannah who is not a hair stylist or makeup artist. Hannah attended the trial run of Evie’s hair in Louisville and took notes the entire time so that they could duplicate it on the wedding day.  As you will see below, Evie had some gorgeous finger curls to go along with her vintage look.  When Hannah was done I was pretty impressed at how well she did, especially not having a background in hair.  How much more special is it that in all of Evie’s getting ready pictures it is her sister and not some stranger doing her hair and makeup!   As we were wrapping up groom and groomsmen pictures, Matias looked at me and said, “You know, we kind of have a lot of tree themed stuff at this wedding, I think we should get a picture climbing a tree…” Of course my photographer heart went crazy because how often do grooms and groomsmen actually want to climb a tree in their button ups and suspenders?! It was awesome.   The Beetles everyone. Although I think I love it in spite of them. Perfume and earrings are always some of my most favorite getting ready pictures.  

These rings are so unique. When Matias couldn’t find the perfect vintage ring for Evie, he went to a jeweler and had it custom designed just for her finger. Then if you look really close, you can see two little trees engraved onto Matias’ wedding band. Favorite shot of the day, above.And this picture above is the one replicated from her mom’s frame. See caption above.  So rarely do bride’s where a piece of their veil over their face anymore.  It is traditional, classic and makes for a very awesome kiss at the ceremony!  All three couples above skipped out of the ceremony like champs.  It was so adorable!  This is the iPad slide show that I give couples of pictures that were taken before their ceremony.  Most weddings I get time to do this and every single time, the reaction on their faces when they flip through the 15-20 images is so priceless.   The story I told you about the gift from mom to the bride and groom… this is it.  Seconds after she accidentally blurted out what it was before they opened it! Right in the middle of cake cutting the above happened.  A Finland wedding tradition where the bride gets “stollen” or kidnapped by the groomsmen and the groom is assigned some embarrassing tasks to perform in order to win her back! This was absolutely awesome. You can see the pictures below of the process… I was laughing so hard it was kind of difficult to take pictures! Instead of champagne flutes, they did their coffee mugs (above).  Then below you will see a close up of the super cute little coffee mug gifted by Evie’s mom.  Okay, so I’ve seen the shoe game at many weddings.  But this one was especially cool because after dinner, they had the guests write on the back of their name cards questions to use for this event.  So the questions were not generic questions that could be used for any couple, it was tailored to this bride and groom which made it that much more hilarious! Most priceless father/daughter dance I’ve photographed.  This one wasn’t even specifically suppose to happen which I think made it that much more special. The couple did not specifically have a “first dance” set on the agenda, but when I saw this on the dance floor I had to capture it.  As I was on the floor photographing their feet, one of the bride’s sisters whispered in my ear that this is always how they slow dance.  This mom is precious and one of those moms that everyone looks to as a mom.  Just seconds after meeting her, I already knew that I respected and looked up to this woman because of how she loves her family.  It is amazing.  I can’t quite explain it, but there’s just something about her that makes my heart swell.  Matias wasn’t around so I hopped in one with the bride above! I was eye’ing these glasses down (pun intended) since I laid them out the night before.  If you love to support local artists like myself, you can follow me on my social media accounts here: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. There’s also one other way that you can help me out… you can subscribe to my blog! This means that anytime I make a post, you will get it directly to your inbox.  You will also be the first to hear about promotions and giveaways that I run!

Vendors that were apart this wedding:

Wedding Designer: Essence of Australia

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Shaker Village

Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal

Groomsmen Bowties: Bowties by Tie Bar

Invitations: Minted

Favors: Old English Crackers