RALEIGH WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER | THE MEADOWS RALEIGH | KARLI & DREW

karli and drew

This gorgeous fall wedding back in 2019 was an incredible mix of baseball and bohemian. It was one of the most creative and uniquely personal events I’ve been fortunate to photograph. There are so many special details, so… let’s just get into it!

Karli and Drew were married at the Meadows on November 1, 2019, surrounded by nature, family, and friends. Their wedding ceremony was so boho chic and rustic. It included a preliminary hot chocolate bar for guests to warm up to before the ceremony, as the weather was a bit chilly that day. Drew’s cousin married them in front of a beautiful floral embellished moon gate. The ceremony had many laughs and happy tears, but one particularly notable point was the unity candle. The bride and groom’s moms each lit one candle on either side, and then Karli and Drew used those flames to light their candle together in the middle. I can’t finish describing the wedding ceremony without mentioning the couple’s rings. Karli’s rings won’t be on the same hand, but her engagement ring has a stone on the underside that matches the one in Drew’s wedding band! One of them also involves the making of a snowflake… just magical!

After the ceremony, we went down to the lagoon to make their portraits and gradually made our way back up to the reception. It was a truly romantic location with an amazing sun setting behind the trees. The timing could not have been better (we planned it!).

Since baseball is a huge part of Drew’s life (and now Karli’s too!), it makes absolute perfectly fantastic sense to do a Field of Dreams photoshoot as part of the slotted portrait time, right?! The bride and groom took turns pitching and batting with the wedding party (eight friends each to make baseball teams!!!) in the outfield. Then everyone ran and jumped into the pitcher’s mound like Karli and Drew hit home runs by finding each other! It was such a fun and heartfelt memory for the entire party. And totally warmed my baseball loving heart ❤️

That was just one of the ways they incorporated baseball into the design of the day. For their entrance at the wedding reception, the wedding party stood like a baseball lineup and the bride and groom ran through the tunnel. It was such an inspired idea! Also at the wedding reception, a memory table was set up as a “Hall of Fame.” There was a video playing of loved ones passed, surrounded with bats for guests to sign.

Back in September, baseball was also the theme for Karli and Drew’s engagement session. We made some of their photos on an actual baseball field, but some of my favorite photos were of Karli wearing my rentable Reclamation dress as we drove around Rolesville using the beautiful foliage as a backdrop. And they’re so dreamy:

Now that you have a bit of background on Karli and Drew’s wedding up to this point, it won’t surprise you when I say this reception was super fun with lots of dancing. The bride and groom opted to have the parent dances before their first dance since it was more upbeat and flowed into the tone of the rest of the night.

Before I FINALLY get to the photos, we have to talk about cake. Because YUM. But originally the couple opted not to have a cake at all. As they were organizing the Hall of Fame table, they noticed that many of the family photos were of couples cutting their cakes together. So, to continue weaving that thread, Karli and Drew decided to have one small cake only for immediate family. And the pictures are so cute!

SOOOOOO excited to finally share this awesomeness!!!