This wedding was one for the ages!! One of my most favorite things about the evolving wedding industry is the unconventional, no rules day. Ellie & Luke embraced this mindset and turned their engagement party into a surprise wedding. They didn’t want a long engagement, and they had the perfect venue for their engagement party so they thought, “Why not just go ahead and get married while all of our favorite people are together?” 

They hosted this party at a friend’s farm in Franklin Tennessee with rolling green hills and a beautiful wooden barn. The main thing was, they wanted Jesus to be glorified through every single detail. I even felt it in the planning process when Ellie wasn’t worried about much. She was just excited to marry Luke. 

Ellie had the cutest dress for the engagement party mingling, and then she snuck away to change into a wedding dress while her father welcomed everyone and announced that there was about to be a wedding ceremony. Everyone freaked out! The groomsmen stuck a  cross in the ground for the altar, and most of the guests stood surrounding the altar and parted ways to create an aisle. I honestly feel like this set up created a super relaxed and personal atmosphere for the ceremony. 

Another thing I loved about this wedding was all the children running around playing. No one was trying to stop them or keep them in line, and it made for the cutest photos. Children have a way of making magic. And obviously they kept their cool during the ceremony haha.

After this, we headed up the hill to a pavilion for the best party ever! Everyone was on the dance floor for hours and hours it felt like. The energy was just high and exciting from start to finish of this day. It truly was the best surprise ever!!!