Summer Wedding Ceremony at Pretty Place Chapel | Reception at Larkin’s Cabaret Room
Rachel and Connor
Cleveland, South Carolina
Pretty Place Chapel is one of the busiest wedding locations around, and for good reason. It is also one of the most unique places to get married in the Upstate. So when Rachel and Connor mentioned they were going to hold their ceremony at Pretty Place, I was ecstatic! As time went by, and I worked with her more and more, I became even more excited. Between meetings, planning, emails, and working together on her bridal photos, I feel like I got to knew her and her family fairly well. And what an amazing family she has – I don’t usually get the opportunity to meet family ahead of time, but I had the pleasure of working with them from the very start all the way to the day-of and beyond. But it doesn’t stop there – she had also surrounded herself with an amazing bridal party filled with some of the happiest, funniest bridesmaids I’ve worked with yet. Everyone I met and worked with was so positive, optimistic, and genuinely excited about the wedding that I knew it was going to be a great experience. And while I didn’t get the opportunity to meet Connor before the wedding, I knew 100% that he would be a stand-up guy. I knew this because I knew Rachel, and I knew it would take someone truly extraordinary to grab her attention. I was not wrong in my assumption. And while the groom generally has the easier job when it comes to wedding photos, he and his groomsmen proved to be every bit as optimistic and supportive as I could have ever hoped throughout the entire process.
So why am I talking so much about how incredible everyone in this wedding was, when this is blog is supposed to be about wedding photography? Because I wanted to touch on the power of positivity and optimism. There were no negative people here…I never met a single person who wasn’t genuinely happy. Not a lot of people realize this, but that kind of mood affects me as the wedding photographer just as much as it affects others. And today, that was extremely important for me. It was going to be a tough day from the start, with lots of traveling, lots of difficult equipment logistics, lots of shuffling around, a looming threat of severe weather, and a million opportunities for something to deviate from the plan. I consider myself a very positive and optimistic person already, but it is infinitely easier when the entire group shares that same outlook. Happy people take happy photos, and happy photos mean happy memories for the couple. Memories are all we have at the end of the day, so I couldn’t have asked for a better group to spend it with.
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After everyone was dressed and ready for the day, Rachel and Connor decided to have a first look before making the trip to Pretty Place. She chose the Larkins Courtyard area for this, which turned out to be a perfect choice. We briefly had a break in the clouds, and they were able to have their first look together with the privacy and seclusion they needed.
Pretty Place chapel is stunning even when storms are on the horizon. And although the logistics of getting married here are sometimes tough to work out, it is always worth it. Rachel and Connor had chosen Larkin’s Cabaret room as the reception location, which meant a long windy limo ride up to Pretty Place Chapel. A Pretty Place wedding means having a long trip to the reception no matter where you choose, since the closest locations are a 45 minute drive away. Their choice for larkin’s wasn’t much further than that, and gave a very unique look to their wedding day – a gorgeous natural landscape backdrop for their ceremony and a beautiful modern city look to their reception. You can’t get this kind of wedding any other way.
Once back at Larkins, Rachel and Connor had a lively reception in the Cabaret Room. It was the perfect way to cap off the evening.
Thank you for joining me for this glimpse into Rachel and Connor’s gorgeous Pretty Place Chapel and Larkin’s Cabaret room wedding! And if you want to see more wedding photography from this location, just check out these links: