danielle + john

March 20, 2020 •  ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Danielle and John were supposed to get married on March 29, 2020. However the impact of COVID-19 led them to postpone their larger celebration less than two weeks away from their wedding day! As devastating as this news was to them, their family, and all of their guests and friends, Danielle and John rejoiced in the fact that they were still able to get married.

They still had the 29th in mind for a small intimate ceremony at Danielle’s parent’s house, where it would proceed as a normal wedding day, just on a significantly smaller scale. However, amid rising COVID-19 concerns, they decided—on a wise whim— to get married Friday, March 20th! They honestly didn’t know they’d be getting married that day until later that morning, when they decided, along with the Urrego family , that it would be wise for them to get married before things progress with closing down the city.

Moments after they decided, I got a Marco Polo from Danielle notifying me that she thinks she will be getting married in a handful of hours. Though I already had a shoot scheduled for later that day, I called to get things moved around so that I would be there to capture their intimate ceremony. Because everything was last minute, Danielle and John decided to save their wedding attire for their future celebration, and wore semi-formal attire instead. They didn't have much else to prepare, other than showing up and getting married! However, the Urrego family did as much as they could to make the moment special for Danielle and John. 1) They had a location in their neighborhood in mind for this small ceremony. It was a simple pathway that lead to a bench surrounded by beautiful purple flowers. It was absolutely perfect! The only thing that was slightly in the way was a dead tree, but I worked around it! 2) They also went the extra mile and dressed up their daughters as beautiful flower girls (who threw down real petals) and their boys wore adorable matching outfits. 3) They topped it off with a sign for the newlyweds to hold at the end!

The ceremony was one of the most beautiful and intimate moments I’ve ever had the honor of witnessing, let alone capturing! With very little sunlight to work with (the sun had already begun setting at this point), they didn’t have time to rehearse! Though their ceremony was short and sweet, there was so many heartfelt emotions! Tears, laughters, anticipation, all the works! John’s mother, who wasn’t able to be there in person, was even present on FaceTime! It was truly so sweet! I was so vocal with excitement the entire time that I was behind the camera! I couldn’t contain my joy for them, as I got to witness two of my friends become one, in a such a beautiful Christ-centered marriage.

Following the ceremony, we captured a few family photos, with John’s mother too—haha! And a handful of bride and groom photos! I loved how genuine and raw their emotions were in every single one of their photos! For the rest of the night I took a step back and just captured what unfolded—hugs, laughter, excitement, joy, and pure love. Though circumstances were not ideal for the newlyweds, their wedding day turned out to be one they would cherish for the rest of their lives.