Intimate Wedding at Zion Lutheran in Abilene TX | Angela Wilson Photography

Happy New Year! What a whirlwind of a week it’s been in my household. I’ve been in vacation mode since December 21 and it was rough returning to routine. Super rough. After a couple of weeks of sleeping in until 10:00am it is tough to awake to an alarm. Even my little one slept in on most of the days I was off, it was a true Christmas miracle! I’m glad to be back, though!

Following a Christmas that I would call “way overboard” I had to kick into high gear organizing the house. I think one of the most stressful things after you open gifts is to throw away all the boxes – along with the rest of your street, in the same dumpster. We had to take multiple trips to the alley this week to finally purge the house of trash. After that, I decided to organize my office/play room. Oh, my goodness, what a task. Dust bunnies who have been hiding for a year decided to come out and play while I was deciding what to keep and what to discard. I’m talking four years of photography related items in corners I’ve forgotten about – it really adds up if you neglect it. To make a long story short, I’m 48 hours into a completely clean office and it makes me so happy. Why do we let things get out of hand?

Moving on, I wanted to share a few words about a wedding I was lucky to be a part of at the end of November between Rachel and Corey. I had hinted around on a Facebook post how I came to be their photographer, but I’ll summarize again.

Back in the summer of 2018, I decided to do a couple’s giveaway on my Facebook business page (linked here if you haven’t visited). Multiple people submitted but Rachel’s name was literally drawn out of a hat. I posted the winner and got in touch with her immediately, and we scheduled her session in late July. You would have thought it would be brutally hot, but it was quite an enjoyable little session. You could tell Rachel and Corey were completely comfortable with each other and it was a breeze to capture their true emotions.

A little over a year later, Rachel reaches out to me that they’ve set a date for their wedding and my heart did a little backflip for them. We met at Starbucks to talk about details and a couple of months later I found myself documenting their day for them (Side note, I had met Rachel’s sister a couple of weeks prior for a maternity session that I blogged about here. This family is so sweet!)

The groomsmen at every wedding, in some form or fashion, tend to have me cracking up the entire time. This wedding was no exception, of course. Corey’s brother, brother’s-in-law, and son all stood up to support him on one of the best days of his life. As you can tell in the pictures, they love to joke around.

I loved this wedding, you guys. Simple and sweet, filled with their closest friends and family. Everyone was so kind to each other and the tears flowed often that day. During the ceremony, the most touching moment for me was when the bride was walking down the aisle and all four of her bridesmaids were trying so very hard to keep their emotions in check. It was clear, they love their girl.

While it was very chilly that evening, the party started with heaters blowing in all corners. Everyone ate on stuffed baked potatoes, cake, and assorted beverages. Corey and Rachel added a special dance with his children that was quite touching, and dancing lasted for several hours. When Corey tossed the garter, the courtyard erupted in laughter as we all collectively watched it fall to the ground – no man was picking it up willingly, no sir! When it was time to wrap the evening up, the couple was sent off through a line of love ones holding sparklers.

Like I’ve said a million times, I feel truly blessed to be a part of this family’s lives on a very important day. Thank you for taking the time to venture through my rambling and make it to the most important part, the pictures! Until next time, stay save out there!