Wedding | The Estate at Cherokee Dock, Second Shooting for Victoria Hjelte (@throughvictoriaslens)

Getting Lana and Ryan married was one of the best experiences of my life. These two just rolled with all of the punches that they day gave them, and came out of it stronger and with just so much joy. Ready for some amazing photos and a sneak into their day? Keep scrolling!

First off, let me just shout-out Victoria Hjelte. She is a very talented and very kind wedding photographer in Nashville, and oh my goodness, I’m excited and grateful to be friends with her. If you haven’t checked out her work already, go do it right now! She’s sweet, kind, encouraging, and just all around really cool.

OKAY. So wedding day!!

Lana and Ryan met TEN YEARS AGO, so this day has been coming for a while. They met while at a country music festival and have never looked back since they’ve been dating. Ryan is kind, hard-working, and just over the top in love with his incredible wife. And Lana? Y’all, I have the biggest girl crush on her. She’s hilarious, kind, selfless, passionate, bold, social, intentional, and is just truly a PRESENCE and JOY everywhere she goes. She impacts people in the deepest of ways, and it was truly beautiful to watch these two marry each other.

Elizabeth Events planned the wedding here at the beautiful Estate at Cherokee Dock, and y’all, they did their job so well! As everyone checked the weather for that weekend, it looked like it was storming the entire day. Saturday morning came, and magically, the weather had disappeared and seemed to be only coming for an hour or two that day — no problem! Elizabeth Events set to work.

However, as we got nearer to the afternoon, the weather was looking crazier and crazier. So Elizabeth Events, who had been wedding planning for a year and a half, changed up the finalized plans and came up with a brand new ceremony idea. They implemented it for the afternoon.

We spent the morning taking getting-ready photos, having first looks with Lana’s step-dad and brother and then later with Ryan, taking allllll the photos, and prepping for the ceremony. They even had cute first looks for the reception area, because Lana and Ryan trusted Elizabeth Events to do all the decorating and they killed it!

Y’all. Everything was magical. And then the storm came. 

We were about 10 minutes from the ceremony start time (guests were already seated) when out of NOWHERE this raging storm came by. Rain pounded the area and water flooded the altar and the first few seats of the area. Guests squeezed into the back of the area as much as possible. All we could do was wait for 20 minutes and try not to be soaked by the rain. It finally passed, and y’all, this is where it gets good.

The venue obviously did their best to keep the area dry. But guess what? Lana embraced everything about the day. She walked down the aisle with her veil and dress soaked in the water and mud. She and Ryan stood across from each other, and didn’t bat an eye to anything else that was going on — they were just so ready to look each other in the eye and get married.

Guys. This hit me so hard. They weren’t just throwing this party for show and trying to protect the dress and make sure everything was perfect. These two lived in the moment and embraced the day. Such an inspiration. (Brides! Take this as a reminder — you can get your dress wet. You can spill food on your dress. TODAY IS YOUR DAY. You’re allowed to make all the memories. Don’t be too much of a perfectionist that you forget to live.)

The ceremony was everything. Ryan cried as he read his vows and these two kissed and hollered to a very enthusiastic audience. The reception was STUNNING (their color scheme was so on point) and the toasts were so emotional. Keep reading for why .

Lana’s dad has early onset Alzheimer’s and so he had to leave after the ceremony. However, Lana’s sister gave a toast, and spontaneously, her brother joined at the end. He turned to Lana and said, with tears in his eyes, “If dad was here, this is what he would say to you” and proceeded. Y’all. Lana started sobbing — elbows on the table, hands over her face and all. Having a parent who is going through Alzheimer’s is so hard on a regular basis, but even more so on a wedding day, when you just want your parents to be fully present with you and cheering you on. Lana just felt the weight of it all in that moment and it was so powerful to see her enjoy her wedding day, yet feel all the emotions of everything that has brought her to that day.

Guys. This wedding was truly everything. Emotional. Intimate. A PARTAY. Sweet. I’m so incredibly happy that I got to be a part of celebrating this day with these people, and am just obsessed with The Estate at Cherokee Dock as well. Check these photos out!