From the first moment of meeting Samantha and Dane, when we closed down a local coffee joint and continued our animated conversations in their home for long into the night, I had good feelings about them.
Their love story that organically started between waitress and customer in a Bad Daddy's restaurant paved the way for a wedding day that was just as simple and quietly unique, a day that we refer to as "The $30 Wedding". I like to think I was a large part in helping select their micro-wedding site, which seriously only cost them thirty bucks. Along with a small group of family and friends, and an empty Camp North End (which we were not planning on, so thankful for God's favor), this beautiful couple became husband and wife amidst shipping containers, iconic Charlotte murals, airstreams, and abandoned buildings.
They stripped down everything, including a super cheap came-straight-from-China dress, getting ready in their home in two separate rooms with all of their people bustling around the house, standing room only for the ceremony officiated by Dane's uncle, zero decor except two tiki torches for a candle lighting ceremony, and a dinner reception at their favorite restaurant. The groom's Rolex cost more than five of their wedding days combined!
Though the day was simple, the emotion was anything but. Tears, handwritten vows, and laughter were in abundance, and the overcast sky even showed us a bit of the heavens during the exact perfect portrait time. It was a day that I will forever be in awe of, and was honored to capture.