Heather + Cliff’s gorgeous mountain wedding at the Brasstown Valley Resort was absolutely breathtaking! Heather and David are cousins and being a guest at a wedding is so much fun for me! I hope you enjoy this gorgeous & rustic wedding.

The men in the wedding party all wore seersucker suits — they were so light and summery. I love capturing both of these moments below, they are high on my list of favorite moments at a wedding: the Groom seeing his Bride for the first time and the beautiful Bride walking down the aisle with her Dad.

The beautiful wedding reception was decorated with eclectic centerpieces — each table had a different configuration of vases. Heather and her family spent months antique shopping to find gorgeous vases & candle holders… to me, that sounds like a dream! I’d love an excuse to antique shop! Added benefit: you get to keep the fabulous vases after the wedding.

Heather + Cliff’s wedding cake was perfectly elegant & rustic with beautiful tree bark detailing and the fun heart with their monogram!

Cliff is a big football player & fan so what better grooms cake than a tower of yummy cupcakes with fun football toppers!

I absolutely adore monograms: on paper products, on cakes & why not make a big monogram made out of moss letters for the head of the room? I love this!

And now a fun inspiration board from this Rustic, Elegant wedding:

I had a blast & loved meeting new friends too!

When Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events came to me about this Bridal Fashion shoot I got SO excited! We had so much fun brainstorming ideas for this shoot!

Our beautiful model Lacey got to wear two amazing dresses from The Bride Room! Brides, if you haven’t been to The Bride Room yet, you NEED to go there! It’s like bridal heaven!!

So without further ado… here is our Bridal Fashion Shoot at the Historic Carnton Plantation and in downtown Franklin!

I am so incredibly proud of how this turned out & I couldn’t have done it without all the amazing vendors. Thanks to all the amazing vendors who helped make this shoot a success:

• Design & styling by: Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events
• Fabulous dresses & accessories: The Bride Room
• Model: Lacey Young
• Makeup: Shannon Wright
• Location: Historic Carnton Plantation

This is definitely one thing that I wish someone had recommended to me: to have an amazing makeup artist come to YOU on your wedding day so you’re not running around like a chicken with your head cut off! Just read below about her de-stress treatment… I seriously want her to come over to my house every day and do that! I hope you enjoy getting to know Amy Lynn!

So you’re in the Nashville Wedding Industry! Tell us what you do!
Faces and Hair! I do makeup for all occasions. My weekdays are spent working on photo shoots for album & book covers, head shots, advertisements, and various other print materials and videos. And weekends are for helping brides look amazing on their wedding day.

What is the spunkiest part of your job?
Well, it’s really fun to use color and light to change things. When a girl is so self conscious about her zits, I can use the techniques I know to make them almost disappear. And when she looks in the mirror, she’s taken aback by how flawless her skin looks. Or when someone wants their blue eyes to dazzle, using color correctly can make them jump out of her head! So it’s a lot of fun to alter parts of a face to give them more radiance, color, or to hide them all together.

What is one accomplishment or accolade that you’re most proud of?
Being able to do this job at all is an accomplishment. It’s unbelievable that I never have to go to work. This career is not work to me. It’s just hang out, fun time. I get to be around amazing people and do an activity that really completes my being. Very few people can say they enjoy what they do that much. So being able to call myself “A Makeup Artist” is a huge deal and I am so proud that my business has grown so strongly that I can commit myself to it.

What do you feel that brides know the least about as far as your role in the wedding is concerned?
When you are 60 years old, you’ll have a husband and pictures to remember your wedding day…that’s it. You want those images to make you feel incredible each time you look at them. Makeup can make or break your pictures. It can totally transform the way you look in pictures. Not just because it adds color and definition to your face, but because it reflects light and uses the pigments to give certain effects. Professional products are made to work well with camera. Using your typical everyday foundation is not going to look nice underneath a lens that sees EVERYTHING.

What does a successful wedding look like when everything has gone according to plans for you?
Bride is smiling and happy. Bridesmaids look good. And we’re on time.

What’s one fun product or service that your Brides really love?
Probably the de-stress treatment that begins our time together. Your wedding day is full of people fussing over you. But when I’m 6 inches from your face with an arsenal of brushes, people tend to leave you alone. So the time we have together to work on your makeup and hair, is a quiet time for you; time to reflect upon the biggest decision of your life and to really absorb everything you are feeling. We begin this appropriately with a de-stress treatment which includes a hand massage and stress release spray. It signals the rest of the room to give you a break.

Any other random factoid that you’d like to share about yourself??
I’m a vegetarian! I’ve been meat free for almost 2 years and don’t think I’ll ever go back. Animals are my weakness so I couldn’t justify eating them and contributing to their abuse anymore.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not being a fabulous wedding vendor?
I have a great husband that I spend most of my free time with. We like to play board games, cook, and watch sitcoms.

Connect with Amy Lynn:

• Amy Lynn Larwig MUA Website
• Become a fan of Amy Lynn Larwig on facebook
• Follow Amy Lynn on Twitter

As if I haven’t convinced you enough to hire Amy Lynn as your makeup artist, checkout her promo video:

Amy Lynn Larwig, Makeup Artist. from Mark Brown on Vimeo.

Chris & Sarah were by far the most laid back couple I have ever photographed! They were go with the flow kind of people, and you could tell how much they truly loved each other.

This black and white color palette with pops of yellows and greens definitely made me swoon. It all looked so classic and elegant but still fun at the same time. Take time to oogle over the reception decor: the incredible flowers, gorgeous linens, pretty cake and incredible lighting.

In my opinion, it doesn’t get better than Hillary of Brocade Designs when it comes to flowers. Look at how beautiful the bouquets are below & also checkout how unique and gorgeous the altar flowers were.

The following picture makes my Daddy’s girl heart melt:

Ceremony: Vanderbilt University’s Benton Hall
Reception: Country Music Hall of Fame
Wedding Planner: A Delightful Day
Hair and Makeup: Amy Lynn Larwig, MUA
Flowers: Brocade Designs
Cake: The Bake Shoppe
Stationary & Paper Products: Sweet Life Designs
Event Lighting: Nashville Event Lighting

That’s what I’m offering for you! Winner receives: full coverage on wedding day, a Portrait session at your wedding location the day before or day after, rights to all images on DVD, online slideshow, online ordering and viewing gallery and a 10×10 20 page flush mount album!

What do you have to do?
Email me your engagement story, about your wedding (where, when… p.s. Places like New York and London will get bonus points) and why you would like to have me along on your destination wedding day!

Must be a destination wedding in 2011. Travel is not included {winner must pay for round-trip transportation, accommodations, and meals for my assistant and me}. A destination wedding is considered any location more than 500 miles outside of Nashville.

Lily and Javier contacted Bonnie of My Weddings and More to be her Destination Wedding Planner. Bonnie helped coordinate their Italian wedding by handling all the paperwork (did you know there’s a LOT of paperwork to deal with if you want to get married in Italy?? More on Bonnie in another post!) and coordinating the day of details.

The joy, the excitement and the sheer happiness between Lily and Hanier was palpable as we walked up to the scenic overlook where they got married. The ceremony was sweet and meaningful and the best part?? When Lucca the officiant said, “Hanier, you may kiss your bride.” The BELLS STARTED RINGING. All of them. There are probably 4 or 5 bell towers that we were overlooking and all of them started ringing at the same time. I seriously got goosebumps!

I think that part of my job as a destination wedding photographer is to capture the feel of the town I’m in, so along with Lily + Havier’s wedding photos I’ve included some of the scenes around Volterra. I love the shot of them walking up the cobblestone street (that was VERY steep) with the beautiful Tuscan sun streaming in and all the tourists walking by staring. That is the “behind the scenes” shot to the other photo.

Best Wishes Lily + Hanier and thank you so much for letting me be a part of your very special day!

p.s. For all you New Moon fans, I didn’t find Edward in Volterra… better luck next time!

After this picture, bubbles are now my new favorite going-away thing! They make such a fun picture!!

Brian and Ariel, I hope you two are enjoying your amazing honeymoon in Mexico and love your sneak peek!!