I don’t know about you but I think 2021 was even more bananas than 2020. So much has happened this year, and we have so much to be grateful for. But this is my first post in awhile (okay, okay, a REALLY long while) and I wanted to update you all!
Sorry the blog has been AWOL. This year we photographed twice as many weddings as we normally shoot, due to the Covid pandemic. We were nearly booked up for 2021 when the pandemic struck, and most of our 2020 couples had to postpone to 2021, so we packed the calendar to accommodate everyone, thinking “hey, it’s fine, we’ll sleep in 2022 :-)”.
Then we did something REALLY crazy. In the midst of all of this chaos and the busiest wedding season imaginable we bought a house, renovated the new studio, and I hired the new team for, and officially launched, Boudoir by Amy.
We have so many amazing weddings from this past year to share with you all, and a lot of catching up to do, so thanks for being patient. Let’s kick this thing off again with Kylie + Nathaniel’s wedding from Briscoe Manor!
Kylie and Nathaniel met each other in the same way that a lot of couples today meet…..but with a little help from fate. Kylie had just moved to Dallas, Texas after living in Baton Rouge for 10 years.
“I had recently gone through a break up so I got on Hinge to distract myself. Nathaniel was in a very similar situation. We were each on Hinge for only about a week before we landed upon each other. The first message was him saying ‘Well, I guess we can’t go a local Starbucks…I live in Houston.’
Just FYI, the largest distance Hinge allows is 100 miles. Houston is 240 miles from Dallas.
“Still to this day, we have no idea how we showed up for each other on the app. I guess we’ll just chalk it up to fate.”
Their proposal is a cute story as well. I’m always so impressed when guys think of elaborate ways to pop the question. Nathaniel is a detective and back in July 2020 he had mentioned to Kylie that his job was doing a surveillance operation utilizing civilians and asked if she wanted to participate.
“I, of course, said yes, because it sounded badass. He had to put a video disclaimer together for all of the civilian participants to be prepared. He worked on this video for MONTHS, right in front of my face.”
Flash forward to November 2020, they had planned a small getaway to Fredericksburg. The first morning they arrived they were getting ready to go hiking at Enchanted Rock (a gorgeous location with epic views) and Nathaniel said “Crap, my boss said we need to do this operation when we get back so you need to watch this video and sign off.” Turns out the video was not what it seemed.
The video was not a disclaimer, but rather a montage Kylie’s friends and family, all smiling and waiving at her, set to sweet music.
“The very first one is a friend of mine that lives all the way in Japan and then starts fading through a myriad of our friends and families (and our dog, Kona). The last two were extra special because it was my parents right after he asked for my hand and then my grandmother holding a picture of my grandpa who had just passed a few months prior. It was a really hard loss for me so that got me all sorts of ugly crying.”
As the video comes to a close, the screen prompts her to turn around, and there was Nathaniel down on one knee.
I thought it was so sweet that Nathaniel took the time to make her friends and family a part of their proposal.
We asked Kylie if she had suspected anything up until that point. Apparently Nathaniel told her a few weeks prior to the trip “So I was thinking about it and I know how girls can be … I don’t want you to get your hopes up about this since we’re going on a ‘romantic’ vacation. I am NOT proposing in Fredericksburg.
His trick worked, because after that she was convinced it wouldn’t be happening. But that just made the surprise even better!
Their wedding was classic, simple, and elegant. Kylie wanted to stay away from trends and fads, so the grooms people wore classic black suits and the bridal party donned champagne dresses. They chose mostly white and cream flowers with just a hint of greenery to give it some texture.
Briscoe Manor is a GORGEOUS venue, and they have a lovely courtyard right off of the bride’s suite. It was the perfect spot for bridesmaids pictures (how adorable are their matching plaid jammies!?!), a bridesmaids reveal, bridal portraits, and one of the sweetest first looks with the bride’s father. After a few gift exchanges it was time for the first look with Nathaniel.
His expression when he sees her for the first time sums it up perfectly.
Side note: to all of my brides who are worried about doing a First Look because you’re afraid it will mean that your fiance doesn’t cry or have a reaction when you walk down the aisle, Nathaniel is yet another example of why that’s just not a thing. They don’t “use up” all of their emotions during the First Look, it doesn’t work like that. It’s a very different thing seeing you walking down the aisle on your father’s arm. Trust us on this.
Can we just talk about how gorgeous Kylie is for a sec? She looks like the one of the models on the cover of bridal magazines. She’s just bonkers beautiful, and that clearly runs in the family (I actually thought her mom was her sister). Her dress fit her slender form like a glove, and I loved her little belt with a simple bow. Her fitted mermaid dress was modern, yet classic. Sophisticated, but still sexy, and it had a train that gave it a little extra drama, but also still looked really pretty when bustled. With skin that glowy, she didn’t need a lot of bells or whistles, just a veil and a small hairpiece. I was so happy we were able to squeeze in a few sunset pictures with her veil after the ceremony, those are my favorites!
One of my favorite moments from their wedding day was during the reception, when Nathaniel made a toast to his new bride. He made a point to thank all of her family and friends for essentially creating and shaping the woman he married. It was obvious that family is important to both of them, and I get the feeling they’re both pretty lucky in that department.
Kylie and Nathaniel, we are so happy for you both, and so grateful that we got to be a part of your wedding!
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