Furman University Wedding at Hartness Pavilion

Greenville, South Carolina

I say this a lot, but the worst enemy of good wedding photography is a lack of time.  During the craziness of a wedding day, sometimes 5 extra minutes is a rare luxury.  Most of the time we run around like the building is on fire, shooting away with a variety of ideas and hoping something sticks by the end of the night.  This is one reason I favor all-day wedding coverage – because it gives me the time to sit and think, plan out a few photos, and most importantly…experiment a little more than normal.  Kerry and Fred are two people that needed all-day coverage for their Furman University Wedding.  Between their early-ish wedding ceremony at Prince of Peace Catholic Church and their late-ish reception at Furman University’s Hartness Pavilion, we were looking at spending a total of 13 hours together.  Now, there are a lot of wedding photographers that would groan out loud when they are facing a 13 hour wedding day, but I love it.  I loved the extra time to sit down and clear my mind every once in a while, and I loved the big block of photo time we had between the ceremony and reception.  And this is exactly what you need to transform standard wedding photography coverage to a to true, story-telling adventure.

13 hours is a big commitment for a bride and groom too, especially since they had never met me in person!  Living in Washington state, this was very much a destination wedding for them.  In fact, they put a lot of trust in all their wedding vendors.  But they obviously trusted the right ones, because their wedding turned out beautifully.  Plus there is always something amazing about a wedding where guests are traveling from all over the globe to attend.  These weddings have a closer knit feel to them, probably because they are filled with friends and family that are truly close to the couple.  There was a lot of love in the room with Kerry and Fred, and everything from the toasts to the dancing was full of emotion.  I even found myself tearing up a little bit, even though I had never met a single person in the room.  Love is a powerful thing, and Kerry and Fred’s wedding was overflowing with it from start to finish.

I hope you can see and get a feel of this amazing wedding through the resulting photos.  Please check out some of my favorites From Kerry and Fred’s Furman University wedding at Hartness Pavilion below!

The groomsmen began their day at the always-beautiful Hyatt Regency here in downtown Greenville.  Do you see their shirts?  These are traditional Filipino Barong shirts.  This was a beautiful detail and gave a new dimension to the groomsmen’s getting ready photos.

After everyone was ready, it was time for the ceremony at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Taylors SC.  This is always a gorgeous place to photograph a wedding, but the emotions surrounding Kerry and Fred’s wedding here made it extra special.

Now begins the real celebration – The reception!  This was my first time photographing a Furman University Wedding, though I use this place a lot for engagements and bridal sessions.  Furman’s Hartness Pavilion is an interesting venue because it has a modern event space feel and overlooks the famous rose garden.  This one detail is why I was so excited to photograph a wedding here – there are endless opportunities for couple’s photos here.  The fact that Kerry and Fred wanted to spend extra time with these photos at sunset made it even better!  They mentioned couple’s photos were one of the most important aspects of their wedding to them.   This is that time thing I was talking about before – if you make time to take the photos you truly love, you will have no regrets at the end of the day.