A Spring Hill College Family Session

I photographed Madeline and Alek’s wedding way back in 2016! It’s hard to believe how fast the years have flown by and that they now have two children! I loved meeting up with them while they were in town visiting family earlier this spring. Their youngest was born during the thick of the pandemic, so this was his first official portrait session. At three and a half months, a baby’s personality is really starting to shine and I love getting to capture that. With the help of his big sister, parents, and grandmother, I was able to capture this sweet baby boy’s big smile!

Spring Hill College is one of my favorite locations for photographing families. It’s definitely a picturesque and family-friendly environment. This is why there are frequently multiple photographers waiting to use this sweet spot on the porch of Stewartfield. Thankfully, on this spring day, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

I had been photographing weddings as a second photographer for about six months when Madeline’s mom, who I knew through tennis, mentioned her daughter was getting married. She was saying that she needed to find some photographers and I was like, “I’m a photographer!” It’s funny to think about it now, but, at that time, no one on the tennis team really even knew I was a photographer. I was just quietly running my business as a side job and never really talked about it to my teammates. It still felt odd to say that I had my own business, even though I’d been doing photography professionally for three years at that point. Crazy, right?!

Wedding Day Memories

When Madeline emailed me to get information about wedding photography, I was so excited to learn that she was getting married at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception! This is one of my favorite churches in Mobile and the place my sister chose for her own wedding last year. I remember when we were talking about the wedding plans ahead of the big day, that Madeline was super excited for the moment when the grand doors would open for the bride’s processional and Alek would see her in her gorgeous wedding gown for the first time. It truly was a memorable moment!

One of my other favorite memories from Madeline and Alek’s wedding day was running out to Cathedral Square with an umbrella to take portraits with the Cathedral in the background. This was the one photo that Madeline specifically requested beforehand and we were determined to get it!!! Thanks to one of her bridesmaids (who held up the train so it wouldn’t get soaked), and to her dad (who brought extra umbrellas), we were able to knock the portraits out quickly without getting too drenched. They remain some of my favorite rainy wedding day portraits. Madeline and Alek were the perfect example of embracing the day rain or shine!