Awesome Nontraditional Wedding | Arizona Wedding Photographer

Emily & Matt

This wedding was frickin AWESOME. So awesome I put it in the blog title for emphasis. Emily and Matt planned an insanely awesome (sayin’ it again!), unique day. I honestly didn’t expect these two to go the traditional wedding route. They took all those antiquated wedding traditions and did them in a way that was completely their own and honored their amazingly weird personalities. This is exactly what I advocate for. Doing YOU on your wedding day! Make it YOURS! Make it something that you look back on and relive the happiness, not the anxiety or stress.

Let’s take a look at what I’m talking about… To begin, Emily got ready at her mom’s house with her bridesmaids (and her mom’s corgis who, let’s be honest, stole the damn show).

If you couldn’t tell, Emily is a F*CKING BOMBSHELL in her BHLDN dress and hair/makeup by Salon Diva. Like damn. Also check out below the AMAZING flowers by Debbie’s Design. 👏👏👏

Anywho, then we went and met the guys at a nearby park for the WORLD’S SWEETEST FIRST LOOK (see below) and bridal party photos. Now, this was an insanely cool, fun, WEIRD bunch. Made up of all their best friends from childhood, high school, and college. They set aside a lot of time for bridal party portraits because they really just wanted to party with their friends before all the madness began. And party they did (peep the whiskey and filled flask groomsmen gifts).

There was already graffiti all over whatever the heck this structure is, so why not add some more cute initials? ;)

HOTTIE ALERT:

Once we were done there, we headed to the historic Lake County Courthouse for the ceremony and reception! The original plan was to have the ceremony at the above park and the reception at the courthouse, but due to possible weather situations, they moved the ceremony to the courthouse as well. Not complaining, as it was all super beautiful! (It did end up raining that morning, but cleared up just in time for the bridal party portraits!).

Emily walked herself down the aisle and met her mom and brother at the front, who brought her the rest of the way to Matt. They researched a bunch of different cultural wedding traditions and decided on an Oathstone (they found the rock on a beach in San Diego on their first vacation together) and a hand binding ceremony, and I quote, “because it’s dope.”

An excerpt from Emily’s vows: “I want to grow old with you, I want to have a family with you, I want to smash the patriarchy with you.” Brb, crying and fist-pumping at the same time. 😭

That hug just kills me. Pretty sure you have no soul if it doesn’t get you too. 😭 Just sayin.

Now, most big weddings have a “grand entrance” of sorts. And this one was certainly grand. The family and bridal party entered the reception normally, with the DJ announcing them. Then… Emily and Matt entered and cut their cake to theme song of the WWE wrestler The Undertaker. Give it a listen and just imagine the epicness.

Then the bridal party snuck away for a shot before speeches and dances.

Fun fact: Emily and Matt are renovating a school bus to live in so they can travel the country together! How cool is that?! So this lil bus was a super cute detail.

Now… the first dance… possibly the best part of the whole night. Why, you ask? Well, after starting with a pretty normal, slow first dance, the music transitioned to Tempo by Lizzo (slow songs are for skinny hos) and Em and Matt started freak dancing. And then invited their bridal party and eventually everyone up to the dance floor for a nice pre-dinner freak dance. Becaaaaauuuuse WHY THE HELL NOT?!

After that calmed down a little bit… everyone ate some dinner, and then Emily and Matt had their parent dances. Emily had a dance with her stepdad and then with her mom, and Matt had a dance with his mom.

COMMENCE THE DANCE PARTAYYYY. Considering the lovely group of weirdos attending this wedding, this was one of the best dance parties I’ve ever seen. I would have stayed and danced all night after my coverage time ended, if my body weren’t crying for help (I love my job, but ouch).

One of my favorite things about the night was Matt’s nephew collecting the fake money off the floor. :D

And last but certainly not least… these two wanted a giant group picture in the style of the photograph from the end of The Shining. I’m happy to say we accomplished it.

Congratulations, Emily and Matt! You’re awesome, your wedding was awesome, and your life together is gonna be AWESOME AS HELL. ❤👊