The first day we attempted Kelly & Rick’s engagement session, thunderstorms helped us make our decision to postpone. So we rescheduled, and as the new date approached it looked like snow was in the forecast. Not sure how Kelly would feel about this, I e-mailed to see if she was okay shooting in the snow. Her reply was “Absolutely!! I hope it snows!!!!” & I knew then she was without a doubt a Dove bride! Even though it was in teens while we were shooting, Kelly & Rick were such troopers! We could not have planned a more beautiful day, & I am so thankful our first attempt was rained out.




Kelly & Rick are getting married at Cedarwood, and Cedarwood was happy to let us shoot out there. Cedarwood is a dream in the snow!




Kelly & Rick, thanks for braving the cold with me. I can’t wait until May!

This Saturday Peter and I will have the pleasure of photographing Katie & Jim’s December wedding! We just photographed Katie’s bridal session, and I can not wait for Jim to see her! She was beautiful! What is so fun with this couple is seeing how much they love each other- they are high school sweethearts. After a first failed attempt at an engagement session in downtown Nashville (tornado warnings, and severe lighting helped us decide to reschedule), Katie & Jim decided to shoot in Franklin instead. They said it fit more of who they are, and I totally agree! I’m so glad we got to change our plans, and this fun, relaxed couple look completely at home in Franklin!

This was the summer of traveling. From the middle of June until August, I was only home 1-2 days a week. Some of our travels involved photo shoots. One of our favorite engagement sessions this summer involved a trip to Washington DC.

Kathryn and John live in Washington DC but will be getting married in Athens, GA. Whitney and Kathryn danced ballet together when they were younger. It was a great honor for Whitney when Kathryn asked if she would be her wedding photographer.

Being Nashville wedding photographers, it is a lot of fun when we get to photograph the famous parts of other cities. Typically a person tends to overlook land marks of their own town. However, Kathryn and John met in Washington DC and live there as well. So, the city is a memorable part of their relationship.

This fun couple met at the school where Kathryn teaches. Knowing this, we could not pass up shooting a few photographs at this really cool renovated building.

Of course, we didn’t limit ourselves to just the monumental parts of Washington DC. The town is so gorgeous it was hard to choose what setting to photograph next. Kathryn and John chose a great little botanical garden for us to finish our day of engagement photography.

We had a blast with these two and can not wait for their wedding next summer!

Leanna and Daniel are getting married! We always love when we get to work with other creative-types. Leanna is a graphic designer. What I love about getting to photograph other artists, is that they appreciate the photographs on a different level. It’s not that artists like the images any more, it just that the things they like are different than the things other people like. So, it’s fun to see how they react to seeing their photographs. All of you artists out there who are reading this post, what is it that you like about these images:

Liz and Jamie like music, so we took them down to one of their favorite Nashville concert halls.

Liz and Jamie like to read, but sometimes they have different tastes.

Liz and Jamie like Pizza. The top right image in this series is my personal favorite. It makes me laugh pretty hard whenever I look at it.If it was named like a fine art piece I would call it “The Romantic Deep Dish” or “Sexy Pie”.

More music influence to this above photo.

Congrats Liz and Jamie!

I pulled 24 ticks off of my body after this engagement session, Whitney had 17, but it was totally worth it. Danielle & Cade made this session a very personal expression of their relationship. This couple met when they had box seats next to each other at the Kentucky Derby. So, horses and big hats were a must for their photographs.

Danielle is a city girl from New York and Cade is a country boy from Texas. We can’t wait to see the mixture of guests they have at their wedding.

Thanks guys for putting up with the tick infestation. We had a lot of fun and can’t wait for your wedding day!

I met Alyssa last fall when she interviewed with me to work with TVC Youth. After meeting with her, I immediately knew she would be an amazing youth leader. Her first day of leading a small group at Bible study, she called to ask if it would be OK if she missed her first day because Tim surprised her the night before with a proposal. As a part of it, he brought her family into town from Texas. Obviously, I let her have the day off.

I never expect my friends to book with Dove Wedding Photography, because I always want them to find the wedding photographer that is the best match for them. We were honored when Alyssa and Time decided that Dove would be their choice.

Those in Nashville know that we have been having a cold January & February. However, we found a couple days in January that happened to warm up a bit. So, off we went on our shoot in hopes that we would complete it before the rain kicked in. It actually started to rain, but it made the end of the session a little more fun.

Alyssa and Tim met at Belmont University and love hanging around Hillsboro Village. So we hit Cafe Fido for some hot drinks to warm ourselves back up before we went out into the rain to shoot a little more around the streets of the Village.

What a fun couple and a fun afternoon!

I am so very excited to post my first blog for Dove Wedding Photography and share these images from Amanda and Dave’s engagement session with you.

We really try to encourage couples to pick places that have meaning to them to do their engagement sessions at. Since Amanda and Dave met while working together in an office in the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, the hotel and surrounding area was the perfect place for their engagement photos.

The Dove Wedding Photography team has often talked about how our clients are people that we would find ourselves hanging out with. Amanda and Dave further proved our observation. They are such a sweet couple and Dave has quite the gift of making people laugh. I love it when I leave a shoot with my facial muscles hurting because I’ve smiled so much! Below are a few images from the session.

I chose this image because I love the expression on Amanda’s face. You can see in Amanda’s eyes how happy she is when Dave is holding her. I really feel that Dave’s simple white shirt helps your focus stay on Amanda’s eyes.

I chose the location on the left for several reasons. The first being Amanda’s dress went with the green tint of the windows. I knew that I was going to like this girl as soon as I saw her bright green dress. I love color and I felt the black background and the green windows really made her dress pop. I also love how Amanda and Dave are just laughing and enjoying each other. They are at ease. I believe this image was taken after Dave did an impression of their dog that had both Amanda and I laughing so hard that we almost cried.

The photograph on the right was taken in the Renaissance. I love how the escalator goes diagonally across the image and the two of them are towards the center of the image. Of course this photo was not as easy to take as it appears. Once I figured out the speed of the escalator, we had to work around people that needed to use the escalator. Luckily Amanda and Dave were great sports about going up and down a million times.

Congratulations Amanda and Dave! Here’s to many years of laughter, happiness, and green dresses!

We had such a great time getting to know Cali & Wil at their engagement session earlier this summer. They both have sweet, fun spirits and we are excited about their upcoming wedding at Belle Meade Plantation. We photographed their images right by our studio, which is one of my favorite spots! Even a dumpster can make a good photograph! They both love to have fun together!Spiderman maybe?!

Cali and Wil, we can’t wait to photograph your wedding!

Jill and Chris love downtown Nashville. Chris works downtown, so they love to end their workday with friends at their favorite bar, Tootsie’s. The fun thing about downtown Nashville is there are so many places to photograph. We parked the car and then spent two hours photographing Jill & Chris with more sets than you could imagine you would find within a square block. I couldn’t believe how it was time to stop after only a walk around the block! Here are just a few of the sets we photographed:

This photograph is my favorite that Whitney captured. I love the mannequin in the window with the “I Heart Nashvegas” shirt. This shot totally says, “Nashville.” Jill and Chris felt the need to get their boots on for this one.

This is my personal favorite photograph. I loved all the different lines in the wall and really wanted to show that off. This is a wall of a building that once shared walls with another building that has since been torn down and turned into a parking lot. I also see this photograph as a mixture of something old and something new.

Sorry, if I started to get too artsy on ya. I’ll be quiet now and let you enjoy the rest of the photographs.

Congratulations Jill & Chris on your engagement! We are excited about your upcoming wedding!

- Peter