Right away I knew Dorianne & Sakarin were going to be an interesting couple to work with for their wedding. So many non-traditional elements were planned and ethnic traditions from Sakarin’s Thai heritage that I was so excited to be chosen to photograph their wedding weekend! As we began planning from our very first meeting, it was one surprise after another!
The day began with getting ready at the Georgian Terrace where they had chosen a two-story apartment for their hotel room and their reception. This was a unique space I wasn’t even aware of and found out when she first met with me. Here she is getting gorgeous hair & make up by The Moore Agency. Dorianne had also gone against the grain with a baby blue wedding dress! My first NON-white wedding dress ever.
The one thing that no one counted on was that their wedding day would set a record in Atlanta for freezing rain and waaaay below normal temperatures. Freezing just doesn’t happen in Atlanta in October so usually you are safe planning an outdoor wedding as it’s also a pretty dry month for us, too. However, Mother Nature has a pretty bad sense of humor and we ended up walking the grounds of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with an umbrella! 
We had moments where the rain held off enough for some quick portraits. It was still too cold to have the ceremony outside though, and we just didn’t want to chance the rain again (which did come) on all of their family and friends. So, we ushered everyone into the common area of the green house for the ceremony with my good friend, Reverend Rick Prigmore.
Dorianne’s daughter, Fiona, participated in a sand ceremony joining the three of them as a new, tightly woven family. After pronouncing them husband and wife and a few family photos, we headed back to the Georgian for a family-style Thai meal! The rain eventually stopped and left us some amazing clouds over the city. But notice that flag – the wind was incredible that day!
A lot of my friends know that I love ethnic wedding traditions and I’m fascinated with the different ceremonies and rituals for getting married in other cultures. I have photographed wedding ceremonies for over 12 different nationalities! Now, I get to experience a new one with Sakarin’s Thai family. Here I watched and captured the family as they tied strings around the wrists of both Dorianne & Sakarin and each person was to give them some advice while tying the strings.
They still had some of the usual traditions we see – toasts and cake cutting!
After cutting the cake, we headed to the roof top of the Georgian to take some shots against the city lights – and NEARLY FROZE TO DEATH – all of us! BRRRRRR!!!!!! I mean that was some mean wind I tell ya! Both Dorianne & Sakarin had to hold her veil to keep it from blowing off!
Back inside (thank you!) for some shots around the Georgian. 
And you can see more of their whole wedding day in this cool slideshow!
Dorianne & Sakarin’s Day After Session – Barnsley Gardens
The day after their wedding, we headed up to north Georgia to the beautiful grounds of Barnsley Gardens. When Dorianne first saw my wedding of Anna & John at Barnsley, she knew that was where she wanted their Day After Session. It was SUCH a good thing they scheduled this with me as the next day was absolutely the opposite and more typical of Georgia in October. While still a little chilly in the shade, the sun was shining and the sky was a gorgeous blue bringing to life all the beautiful colors of the mountains! 
For me, the grounds of Barnsley Gardens is a photographer’s dream – a playground of different scenery. From rustic and natural to gothic and ethereal – it’s just one amazing location after another!
These two know how to have fun! And they were just at this for so long, two days in a row and loved every minute of it.
Thanks guys for a fabulous, fun weekend! Now YOU have fun watching their second slide show from Barnsley here: