Mr & Mrs Monk!

Now THIS is the type of love letter I’m here for! 😆😍

Yesss, ladies!

From a distance I saw this maroon foliage and was like, y’all have to walk with me there, it’ll look so perfect!😍

Caitlin and Josh went and scoped out where they wanted images pre wedding day and found this beautiful willow. Love it!!

The best part of having Adam with me on wedding days is being able to see the same moment from different angles. 🥰

Ya gorgeous, dahling.

I haven’t had chills bring me to tears in a minute and this sure did. One of Josh’s best friends, Phil Hofmeyer, passed away unexpectedly last year and left a significant hole in the day for him. They brought his jacket to put on a reserved seat during the events, but because the boys rode in the limo, they had to bring it along that way to get to the event. I had been staring at it in the limo wondering if there was something we could do to honor him. I decided to ask the groomsmen if they thought it would be uncomfortable or weird to have them hold it in a picture, so that it felt more like he’s still there with them…and literally as I finished the question, the entire hanger and jacket popped off and onto the seat. YALL. You can see its securely hooked on the champagne glass light rack. We were in motion, but no bump hit. No crazy turn. Just hanging directly across from me and a couple seats away from the guys. It just fell, still ON the hanger! AT THE EXACT MOMENT I WAS REFERENCING IIIIIIIT!? WHAT!?!? ::CHILLS:: How? Why? 😳 Aaron and I were both like, ok then! There’s his answer! 😭 Had there not been multiple witnesses, no one would have believed it. We see you and you are not forgotten, Phil. You are loved. 💞

I never share formal images, but this proud mama and her boys is just too adorable!

And even sweeter, a proud Dad! It’s so easy to catch Mom/Son or Dad/Daughter moments at weddings, but Dad/Son are few and far between! Happy I got to see this little exchange during formal photos!😍

It was 100% forecasted rain all day that magically dropped to 30/40 during portrait time. 🙌🏼 (Thanks, Phil!) When we came back to The Factory, it had started to drizzle with the radar looking ROUGH during the outdoor ceremony time. They had to make the call and since they chose this place for the outdoor space, they said, why not? Let’s have fun and create a solid memory with all our guests in the rain.

I know the guests didn’t love it as not all were prepared with an umbrella as it went from drizzle to DOWNPOUR, but how FUN! Brings you right back to the innocence of childhood when playing in the rain was exciting!

All the standard wedding feels, on top of looking out at all their friends and family being drenched FOR THEM, the absolute best. Someone said as they were making the call to move it inside or not, “if these people can watch an entire Bengals game in rain, they can stand for a 15min ceremony for their family!” That was exactly right!

What good friends! Her dress was fully water suctioned to her. 🤣

I just kept smiling and nodding at them while I wiped the water from my eyes to see. 🤣 I was so proud of their ability to give so little shits about it all at such a young age! Life isn’t perfect and it’s often messy (and wet!) and laughing through it is the only way to go!!

Twenty minute ceremony turned into about 5.  🤣

Adam and I were dying at the amount of women staying covered while the men were getting soaked. “It’s ok honey, you stay dry and pretty, don’t worry about me.” 🤣🤣🤣 What a man that Brian Monk is!☺️

The mad dash inside. 😆

Some really embraced the fun of it! You’ll all be talking about this wedding forever!

Fresh stone fired pizza for dinner! YUM!

Donut bar, another love language of mine! 😍

🔥Mama!

Heyooo, she “put a ring on it!” 🥰

Her dress back gave me such Sloane Peterson vibes! Google it if you youngins don’t know her. 🙃

Her and her Coors light had the best time that night. ☺️

Surprise appearance from their Alma Mater mascot!

I have so many shots of the back of Caitlin because the way her dress moved was so intriguing!

The bearcat was a big hit! Great job, Reenie and Brian!!

The energy and aggression on that dance floor was lit.

What a perfect day! Most couples would have been stressed and emotional over the rain and felt the whole day was ruined. Not you guys! You found joy and excitement in it! 😍It was wonderfully written as just another paragraph of your forever long love story to be written! I truly can’t say it enough that if you continue with that nonchalant attitude together, nothing can stop you. WELL.DONE. I know you had a wonderful time in Iceland and thanks for your patience to see these til after we came home from Alaska! You guys rock. Heart, Melanie & Adam

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Oh, did I forget to mention that I’ve known Josh since he was born? My older sisters and I used to walk down the street to babysit them! That’s me on the left holding BABY JOSH in our living room on Easter. 😆 Not sure I’ll ever have another image of me holding a groom as a toddler.😳 Though it’s been a couple decades since seeing you last, it was GREAT to see all the handsome, intelligent and kind men you 3 have become! PS. I have no idea where Aaron was in this image!🥺