The Root Photography Blog

Kelley + Tom : Biltmore Estate Wedding in Asheville, North Carolina

July 29, 2013 by Jensey 3 Comments

I think every wedding photographer has an unspoken wish list of venues we’d love to photograph, and for me, a wedding the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina was on my top five for sure! Nate and I have wanted to make a visit to the Biltmore for years- Back in the day when we were planning our wedding, our Christmas honeymoon was going to be going there and seeing the house for the first time all decorated. When we decided to elope, the honeymoon was canceled and we just never got around to making that trip.

Enter Kelley and Tom. :) Kelley found us the way many of our brides find us, through the fabulous Carrie and Patrick. Kelley and Tom are big Disney fans, but her family takes trips to the Biltmore Estate all the time, so they ended up with the best of both worlds: A wedding at the Biltmore, and honeymoon at Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii! :)

The day before their wedding, Kelley, Tom, and all of their wedding guests (us too!) were treated to a private tour of the Biltmore. We all broke off into small groups and felt incredibly VIP being shown the house after it closed to the public. No photos are allowed in the house at all, so you’ll just have to use your imagination if you haven’t been, but basically it’s a ginormous house with 250 rooms and 43 bathrooms. I was embarrassed how many times I told Nate that various parts of the house were “just like on Downton Abbey!” and I enjoyed walking around the estate picturing a white-haired toddler Anderson Cooper frolicking in the grass and sitting on the pool tables, though I’m 99% sure that’s not even close to being historically accurate.

After the fancy private tours, we headed over to Antler Hill Village and Winery for their candlelight rehearsal dinner. I love their reaction to their cake being brought in after dinner!! :)

Love this shot Nate grabbed of the Inn on Biltmore Estate at night. :)

One of my favorite getting ready photos. :)

First look time is my favorite. Ps- If we ever do another wedding at the Biltmore Estate, first looks are required. We loved having soooooooooo much wonderful photo time around an amazing property!

Kelley, you’re gorgeous. :)

Is it just me or does she look a little like Kimberly Williams Paisley, a la Father of the Bride?

That photo on the right? Another favorite. :)

Gotta check back tomorrow for part two! :)

Shannon + J.W. : Trinity Lutheran Church Wedding and Winter Park Farmers’ Market Reception

July 22, 2013 by Jensey 4 Comments

Shannon has been a blog reader for ages, and she is my favorite kind- I heard from multiple bridesmaids that she often forwards our posts to them! :) Shannon is sweet and hilarious and the sort of person you meet and you automatically feel like you could reach out and braid her hair and it wouldn’t be weird. My favorite Shannon and J.W. story comes from their proposal, which I’m just gonna copy and paste from their wedding website, because it’s just perfect as it is :

On their one year anniversary they went to Bern’s Steakhouse to celebrate. He was acting odd all day and she thought something was up (I mean he was out running errands until 30 min before we had to leave!) while driving to Bern’s she noticed the GPS had already taken this route, which was odd because neither of them had been to Bern’s before. So logically that meant that he had driven to Bern’s beforehand to drop off the ring for the surprise engagement. Fast forward to the Dessert room, she’s sitting there waiting for this proposal, when the piano man starts playing her wedding song, Cannon in D, and at the same time their server is bringing out a special anniversary dessert. While trying to hold back tears due to overwhelming joy that the day has finally come, she’s also thinking ‘he didn’t seriously put the ring in the dessert did he? Seriously? How am I supposed to wash this off at the table?!’. The dessert is set on the table and nothing happens. So she takes her spoon and destroys the dessert looking for the ring. After about 60 seconds of watching her, he asks her what she’s doing. And at the same time that she realizes he’s not proposing, he realizes she thinks he’s proposing. Embarrassing for her then, funny for them now.

Don’t shed any tears for Shannon- A perfect proposal eventually made its way to her on 11.11.11, in the form of a trip to the Magic Kingdom with her parents. J.W. popped the question in front of Cinderella Castle as her mom took a photo. My favorite though was what happened right after she said yes… Again, yanked from their wedding website :) “Then forgot which hand the ring goes on, apologized profusely for being a snotty birthday brat, cried some more, hugged, kissed, figured out which hand the ring goes on and then stated, in true Shannon fashion, ‘we have to get married next year because I won’t get married on an odd year’. Her dad did a happy dance all the way out of Disney, partially because he was rid of his daughter, who upon arrival into the world peed all over him and couldn’t believe someone actually decided to marry her.”

So- Blog people, meet Shannon! :)

Shannon and J.W. got ready at the gorgeous Grand Bohemian Hotel in downtown Orlando.

I loved Shannon’s “something old,” – A Peter Pan handkerchief made by her mom out of her mom’s childhood bed sheets.

Shannon may be a teensy tiny bit of a Cowboys fan. Just a smidgen. ;)

Looooooove this series! Favorite. :)

Just a few minutes ’til go time!

Shannon’s dad brewed the favors for Shannon and J.W.’s wedding guests- So cool!

Remember Kaitlyn’s Isleworth wedding last year on the blog? She’s the reason Shannon found us in the first place! :)

Shannon and J.W., we love you guys and hope to see you sooooooon! :)

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Mary + Jordan : Windermere Country Club Wedding Reception

July 16, 2013 by Jensey 2 Comments

Continued from Mary and Jordan’s Wedding Part I. :)

We didn’t even know until their wedding day that Mary and Jordan actually found us through one of our favorite past couples, Katie and Jordan! Katie and Mary’s moms are best friends and Katie’s mom was sweet enough to pass our name along when Mary got engaged. Love mommas who help keep us in business! It was such a happy surprise to bump into our past-bride-now-new-momma Katie at Mary’s ceremony. :)

Just married faces! :)

As I mentioned in their first blog post, there was pretty limited time between Mary and Jordan’s ceremony and reception, so Nate and I zipped back to the Windermere Country Club for some quick detail photos, then it was on to the first dance. My favorite detail Mary had at her reception was this chalkboard timeline- Notice anything funny about those dates?!

In their first post, I mentioned how Mary and Jordan not only opted for a first look, but they also let us steal them away for some sunset photos during dinner. Nate grabbed this shot, which I love ’cause Mary’s pose reminds me of the Beauty and the Beast ballroom scene. :)