Everybody is impacted by COVID in one way or another. It has touched everybody’s life, some way or the other, and it is just a matter of magnitude. Whether it is your business that is impacted or your wedding, it is an impact nonetheless. One day you are planning a wedding with 300 guests, trying to figure out the logistics of it all, and the next day, you find yourself making significant adjustments to the plans. It is surely not a fun ride but is definitely a character-building life experience that just solidifies the statement that things don't always go as planned, but sometimes, it just works out to be better than you could have imagined. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and figure things out, and everything will fall into place just as it is intended to.

Dakota and Samantha’s charming Wilmington wedding reassures one truth, the faith in love and weddings which seems to have momentarily shaken given the present time. The simple truth that you can have your own fairytale wedding, as long as you have the person you love within reach. All you need is your prince charming and the bunch of people who are closest to your heart, and a pretty dress to make you feel like a princess, and there- your fairytale wedding is ready! Dakota and Samantha tied the knot on the 20th of June 2020. While they held onto their original date, they sized down on the scale of the wedding significantly, keeping the guest count to around 40 people. They had their beautiful summer wedding ceremony and reception at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Wilmington Riverfront, Wilmington, North Carolina, and the wedding was as perfect as a dream!

That June morning dawned bright and pretty and had music to it, unlike others. Our blushing bride Samantha started getting ready with her bridesmaids, and the precious moment was captured by our Wilmington wedding photographers perfectly. Samantha and her girls posed in the cutest pajamas which were all assorted yet were in coordinating colors. We loved the ‘Mr and Mrs banner over the bed and the bride-to-be banner too, as they added a sweet touch. While the make-up artist worked on Samantha, she had her mask on, which is a not-so-gentle reminder of the times we are living in, but it is also heartening to see that love is resilient even in the harshest of circumstances. Samantha soon changed into her wedding dress which was a floaty and lacy piece of art with a delicately embroidered bodice and a flowy skirt which swirled around her. We loved the dipped back and the long train which romantically trailed behind her! Her hair was arranged in a delicate half-updo and the bridal bouquet was a beautiful assortment of peaches-and-cream-hued flowers. The bridesmaids were dressed in light peach-toned dresses which completed the beautiful symphony of colors. Dakota was looking sharp in a black and gray suit and a black tie and the lovely orange blooms in his boutonnière punctuated his look, tying in all the loose ends. The groomsmen looked dashing in matching gray suits and black ties. We loved how the wedding party looked like a well-coordinated bunch as it surely made a pretty picture. 

The wedding ceremony was enchanting with the beautifully decorated backdrop with a wooden arbor adorned with flowers and a macrame backdrop draped on it, creating quite a visually charming setting. The candles added a touch of elegance to the look and everything worked together beautifully. The arbor highlighted the beautiful scenery through the glass window, creating quite a mesmerizing silhouette of the couple. The ceremony happened amidst cheers and toasts and Dakota and Samantha kissed as husband and wife to seal the deal. After a sporadic photo session, the wedding day ended with cutting the cake and celebrating among the web of close connections. We loved the photographic brilliance that our Wilmington wedding photographers displayed. While they managed to seize each one of those treasured moments of the day in delicate captures, the group photographs with the wedding party as well as the couple portraits came out stunning too. We adored the clean lines and the wide-open places that the wedding venue, Embassy Suites by Hilton Wilmington Riverfront provided, as it resulted in dramatic captures that were mesmerizing and will be gems in the treasure chest of memories from the day. Be it the peck on the cheek which displayed the father-daughter bond, or the bridal portrait by the staircase, the detail shots of the wedding or the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments, it is easy to see that each picture comes from a place of artistic excellence. We love the couple photography with the waterfront view in the background as they looked calm and serene. Our team of wedding photographers is not only professional about the quality of work they put out but is also responsible in these uncertain times and work within the social distancing norms wearing masks on the job and taking all the necessary precautions.

In the afterglow of the COVID-19’s gripping effects, Dakota and Samantha’s beautiful North Carolina wedding snaps us out of the funk and lets us believe in magic again. While it is easy to get caught up in the intricacies of the wedding planning, the long guest list, and the infinite dos and don'ts, at the end of the day, your wedding day is nothing but an affirmation of your love for your special one, and the only two things in the list that matter are you and your partner and everything else will fall into place. Even in the middle of a pandemic, on your wedding day, the flowers will be fragrant and charming, you will look like a dream in your dress, and most importantly, the man in front of you will be just perfect! Like pieces in a puzzle, everything will fall into place and your wedding day will be just as magical as you imagined.