Abby and Todd Wedding | The Woodlands at Howe Farms Chattanooga

Weddings

August 10, 2022

The Woodlands at Howe Farms provided the perfect Italian villa-style backdrop for Abby and Todd’s wedding. Photographing Abby and Todd’s moment was truly one of those full-circle moments for me. Last year in the fall, Todd very sweetly reached out to me through email and told me he was getting ready to propose to his amazing girlfriend, Abby, at Arrington Vineyards in Nashville, and that he was looking for a photographer to capture the moment for him. He proposed to her last October on a gorgeous fall day and the proposal went perfectly according to plan. I was able to capture the big moment for them and then had a wonderful time walking around the vineyards after the proposal capturing their engagement photos. When they asked if I would be willing to travel to Chattanooga to shoot their big day, my answer was of course an emphatic “yes!” Todd and Abby live in Alabama and wanted to have a destination wedding. Abby told me that the minute they saw Howe Farms, they knew they had found their dream wedding spot.

Abby and Todd both have those sweet families that when you work with them you end up feeling like you are part of their family by the end of the day. Abby looked beautiful as she got ready for the wedding with her best girlfriends and I was able to surprise her with a gorgeous custom champagne bottle from a local Nashville artist (and my good friend), Lauren OBrien Art. Once the girls were ready we immediately went into first looks! Abby chose to have a first look with her bridesmaids for the big dress reveal and it is honestly my favorite bride/bridesmaid first look I’ve shot thus far. She then had the sweetest first look with her dad and brother and watching them choke up as they saw her, had all of us in tears. Touching first looks seemed to be the theme of the day and her first look with Todd was no exception, it was so sweet watching Abby wipe away Todd’s tears.

Todd and Abby’s original plan was to have an outdoor wedding ceremony, but in typical Tennessee weather fashion, it decided to start raining an hour before their ceremony. The ceremony was moved indoors and it honestly looked so beautiful in front of the grand fireplace at The Woodlands. After their ceremony and a quick shoe change for the bride and groom, Abby and Todd shared their first dance, and Abby’s dad gave his toast in the touching form of a poem he had written for Abby. Although there wasn’t much of a sunset on their wedding day, we captured some fun photos of them in front of their classic getaway car at the venue and of course dancing on the balcony. Abby and Todd wasted no time getting down at their reception and the sparkler and fountain firework exit was the perfect way to send them off in style on their big day.