Mr. and Mrs. Puff | Catholic Church of St. Ann and Primrose Cottage | Atlanta Wedding Photographer

I am so excited to share Christine and Joe’s wedding with you all today! The wedding was at St. Ann’s and the reception was at Primrose Cottage.

I always love hearing about my couple’s proposal stories and Christine and Joe’s is one of the cutest: Christine says: “Joe planned it out so that both of our families would be there! He was on shift at the fire station and I was spending the day with his family. My family was ‘driving through’ to visit my grandparents in North Carolina, so we planned a joint family dinner, minus Joe who “couldn’t get off”. I knew something was up, so being the surprise ruiner that I am, I investigated and was sure that he was surprising me with a puppy! Finally! Mid-afternoon, a fire truck pulled up outside Joe’s parent’s house and his mom told me to come outside and look. I said “nah, I’m good” because I am NOT that nosy neighbor. I eventually joined everyone and went outside and sure enough there was a fire truck with Joe (and his entire crew) inside. He came out wearing his Class A uniform which confused me. He looked SO handsome, but it didn’t make sense because Lucy’s (our future golden retriever) fur would get all over it. I asked him why he was wearing that as he was coming forward – puppyless – and he got down on one knee and proposed. Of course, I said yes! We went out to a celebratory dinner with our families. It was such a great day! Side note: I am still waiting for Lucy.”

I had so much fun with Christine and Joe at their fall engagement session so I was so excited to see them again on wedding day! I started off the day with the girls in their hotel room. Christine’s maid of honor gave her the sweetest gift, she had a tag sewn into her wedding dress that said I’ve got your back, it was one of the cutest gestures! The guys got ready in Joe’s parent’s hotel room. Joe’s grammy came in while the guys were hanging out, she is hilarious, I just wanted to hang out with her all day. We all made our way over to St. Ann’s for the ceremony. Christine and Joe decided not to see each other prior to the wedding, but did share a sweet moment behind the door where Christine’s dad led them in a prayer.

Christine and Joe both said that the ceremony was one of their favorite parts of the day. Joe said “: It was important to me that we wait until the ceremony to see each other – I am just traditional in that way. I loved seeing Christine coming down the aisle in her wedding dress.” Christine said, “exchanging our vows was such a precious moment for me. Though we were reciting vows that were written hundreds of years ago and have been pledged by countless couples, it felt like a unique experience that was made for just the two of us. Another highlight for me was my dad singing at the ceremony. That is a memory that I’ll always treasure!”

Their reception was also so much fun. From their sweet first dance and parent dances to Joe singing “That’s Amore” with his Grammy every moment was full of laughter and happy tears. I especially loved the end of the best man’s speech when he and his wife presented Christine and Joe with a hilarious renaissance style painting of the two of them! Best gift ever! Joe’s garter retrieval was also a highlight of the night. He completely surprised Christine by putting her in a special chair and then jumped into his fireman bunker gear. Once in his gear, Joe proceeded to retrieve not only the garter, but a firehouse and axe from Christine’s special chair.

I asked Christine and Joe if they had any advice to offer couples planning their weddings and they had some great tips, “don’t stress over planning it. Remember that in the end you are going to be married whether things go “as planned” or not. Just have fun & celebrate your love as a couple and the joining of your families.”

Christine and Joe, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your wedding day! I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

So I normally don’t post photos of food in a wedding blog, but you have to know how excited Christine was about this cheese wheel. When I sent her a text on the morning of the wedding she wrote back saying “9 hours until the wedding!!! 12 hours until the cheese wheel.” So yeah she was just a little excited and rightfully so, it was yummy!