Airlie Gardens & The Elia Wedding Photographer

Well I’m a little behind on my blog posts since I went away to the UK – but I’ve been SO excited to share this wedding. Olivia and Sean chose Airlie Gardens to host their wedding ceremony, and they even risked the hurricane that decided to show up on their wedding weekend and not cancel the plan for their outdoor ceremony, and I’m so glad they went with their gut, because it passed quickly and we were able to continue outside as planned!! Airlie Gardens is simply stunning – lush greenery, the draping Spanish Moss on all the trees, the massive historic oak trees. You genuinely cannot take a bad photo at Airlie Gardens. After the ceremony, we headed back to The Elia in downtown Wilmington for their reception, which was a welcomed air conditioning hug after the summer sunshine! Seriously – I highly recommend an indoor reception for summer weddings in Wilmington! The Elia is still one of our newest venues in Wilmington, and it’s easily made my top favorites for a reason. The building itself is stunning, with gorgeous lighting inside (a photographer loves this), brick walls, open concept layout, a BEAUTIFUL bar which not only serves your guest delicious drinks but make for a great photo backdrop, a great location to walk to the river for portraits, and the freedom to transform it into whatever your heart desires! My favorite part about using both of those locations is that we were able to get portraits both downtown and at Airlie – an opportunity for two unique photo locations that most people don’t get all on one day! I LOVED having both tropical and downtown backdrops!

Olivia and Sean are two people who make you feel instantly comfortable and welcome in their presence, and their love for each other was incredibly easy to capture on camera. I loved how caring they were towards each other and I loved the words that their family members spoke about them in their speeches. I loved their decor, their taste in music, the live band, honestly this day was such a VIBE. I can’t say it enough, but I am forever grateful to get to work with clients like these two who just make me feel like one of their guests and friends all day long. CONGRATS OLIVIA AND SEAN!!!! I cannot wait to see what comes next in your story!