Amanda + Andreas // An Autumn Germany-meets-Alabama Wedding

The first time I met Amanda and she began telling me about her wedding plans, all I could think in my head was MUST. BOOK. THIS. WEDDING. Ha. But really… this wedding had some of my very favorite wedding elements: an at-home backyard reception, a marrying of not only two people but two cultures (she’s from Alabama and her now-husband Andreas is German), really good Southern cooking (thank you Savoie!), some offbeat details, and the most glorious, crisp fall weather you could imagine.

But their story is just as beautiful. They met when Amanda was studying abroad in Germany. In her words, she was the “desperate foreigner looking for English-speaking friends, and he was the local scoping out the cute foreigners.” Before Amanda left the country, she got up the nerve to tell Andreas she had a crush on him, and next thing you know they were rendez-vous-ing in NYC and then moving to California. But their relationship wasn’t all jet-setting and storybook romance. Shortly after they moved to California, Amanda’s grandfather suddenly passed away and they faced some other difficult times. After years of going up against all sorts of challenges, they discovered that only one thing mattered to them: being together. Last Saturday, all their friends and family were able to witness them promising each other to do just that for the rest of their lives.

Hope you guys enjoy the continuation of their story in the images we captured on their wedding day. HUGE thanks to my lovely second shooter Rylee Hitchner for being the calm to my storm of craziness and shooting several of the gorgeous photos you see below. (I kid you not- the girl’s only in her freshman year of college and is already kicking butt in this industry.)

Enjoy!

Yay first looks!

These two? Practically models.

How much do you love this fall bouquet?

Looooved the mismatched green bridesmaids dresses.

I loved the shots of the ceremony that Rylee grabbed from inside the house.

I am in LOVE with fall, and all these gorgeous fall colors and flowers.

You should just know that if you plan on getting married on a Saturday in fall in the South, you better have some TVs around so no one misses the big games. (Or else they might not show up at all…. And I’m only exaggerating a little. Ha.) This day was a double whammy, as there were both Auburn AND Alabama fans among the wedding guests. Talk about a football extravaganza! :)

There is a German wedding tradition in which the bride and groom, as soon as they exit the ceremony, saw a log in half. From what I discovered on my brief Google search just now, it’s supposed to symbolize the first tough tasks they will encounter and overcome together as a married couple. Rather than literally saw a log, Amanda and Andreas had a cake made in the shape of a log and cut that instead. A lot easier and a lot more tasty. :)

After leaving the wedding, I went with Amanda and Andreas to the Redmont Hotel, where they were staying that night. We did some last fun end-of-the-night shots. Love it!