Heading to the beach, dressing up in a wedding dress, sipping Champagne… it doesn’t get much better than that.
Hunter and I got married in Franklin, Tennessee on May 15, 2022. We celebrated our one year anniversary golfing for three days in the rain in Fairfield Glade. While we were there, we decided it would be a blast to put our wedding attire back on in one of our favorite locations, 30A.
Every year my family takes a vacation to Watercolor, Florida with the dogs. This year we spent one beautiful sunrise morning taking wedding photos with our dog Frisco.
Unlike our wedding day where I had professional hair and makeup and a room full of girls beside me, this morning was quiet and romantic. It was fun doing my own hair and makeup and having Hunter by my side as I put on my wedding gown for the first time since we said “I do.”
Our wedding theme was Tulum. We tried to capture the essence of this dreamy place with terracotta and neutral hues, lots of mirrors, disco balls, and tropical plants. My bouquet was made of dried palms and we had cocktails with tropical fruits.
But at the end of the day, our wedding was still on a farm in Tennessee. 🙂 One year later, we wanted to truly capture what we felt was our most natural environment.
Rather than take photos on the beach, we loved the laid-back and bohemian vibe of a beach town. We wanted to have palm trees and tropical plants in the background with sandy streets and lots of crisp white buildings.
I have to give a huge shoutout to our photographer, Sidney Ruedy. She is incredibly gifted and creates the most romantic and artistic photos. We first met her when she did our engagement shoot, and we have loved working with her ever since.
4 Reasons to Put Your Wedding Attire On Again
This photoshoot ended up being one of the best decisions we ever made! Here are 4 reasons I highly recommend dressing up in your wedding attire again for a fun photoshoot.
1. You’ll Be More Relaxed
On our wedding day I was blissful, but there was still that underlying stress of making sure everyone was having a good time and that everything was going according to plan. Type A personality, anyone? 😉
During our photoshoot at the beach, Hunter and I were completely chill and relaxed. It made it so easy for our photographer to capture our relationship and our true personalities. We didn’t feel rushed to get back to the party. Instead, the photoshoot was the main event.
2. You Can Take Photos Anywhere
While it can be really expensive to plan a destination wedding or book out your favorite hotel or venue, planning a 1-2 hour photoshoot in your dream destination is a great alternative if having your wedding at your dream locale wasn’t an option.
We wanted to have our wedding in Tennessee where it was accessible for our family and friends, but having photos from the beach in our wedding attire makes it feel like we got the best of both worlds.
3. You’ll Look & Feel More Like Yourself
I remember when I came back from my makeup trial for our wedding and Hunter was like, “babe, that just doesn’t look like you.” Fortunately I was able to switch to a more natural look for our wedding, but it was so nice to do my own makeup for our beach photoshoot and do things how I felt most natural. My hair fell out fairly soon in the humidity, but it felt like me—laid-back, beachy, and carefree.
4. It’s a Blast
Ultimately, dressing up and snapping pics with the love of your life is a downright blast. We were looking forward to it on our trip and we made an event of it. After the photoshoot we found an adorable coffee shop and sipped on mimosas and ate croissants. We joked about making this an annual tradition…who knows, maybe we will. 🙂
Whether you do what we did and have an anniversary photoshoot, or you simply put on your dress, turn on some music, and dance for fun, I think it’s important to reminisce and savor the sweet memories of your wedding from time to time.
Anniversaries should always be celebrated, no matter the number of years or the challenges you’re facing in this season. This just happens to be one fun way to do it. 😉
Headed to the beach? Don’t forget to make my Grilled BBQ Tofu and some of my other favorite summer grilling recipes!
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