ASHLEY AND MAX’S WEDDING DAY | BOWING OAKS | JACKSONVILLE, FL | Jacksonville Florida Wedding Photography

ASHLEY + MAX WEDDING DAY

Venue: Bowing Oaks Plantation
Catering: Angies Subs Official Page
Hair: Hair by Nicole Boutros
Makeup: Blair Stone
Florist: Divine FloralDesigns
Wedding Coordinator: Kati Stanton – Cait James Events
Photographer: Tonya Beaver Photography
Videographer: none
Cake: Alley Cakes, Cinotti’s
Officiate: Ryan Sweat – brother of the bride, Jerry Sweat – father of the bride
Entertainment: Who Rescued Who Band

Favorites of the Year

Ashley and Max’s wedding has to be one of my favorites of the year (is that even a possible thing to pick favorites?) They originally scheduled their wedding for the day that Hurricane Matthew came through, and they had to make the decision to postpone their wedding 48 hours before they were evacuated.

It was a tough weekend for them, I imagine, as they saw all their wedding day plans get completely disrupted and nothing they could do about it. But with such grace, they picked up the pieces and put on a BEAUTIFUL wedding day a few weeks later. If you take a few moments to watch the slideshow, you’ll see that it honestly couldn’t have been more perfect. There were tears, laughs, and a huge amount of love.

I don’t really prefer to write, and I like to tell stories of a wedding day in photos. BUT, I do want to highlight a few favs.

My favorite moment of the day:

There were several, but my absolute favorite was during the ceremony when Ashley’s sister sang a song (just got chill bumps thinking about it) and Ashley and Max’s parents all gathered around with the couple on their knees to pray. It was a moment that I got to step back and watch Max softly rub Ashley’s shoulder, guests try to hold back their tears, a beautiful song being sung, and the sun finally peaked through the trees in the background to cast such a glorious light over the occasion.

I stay in a zone with what I do for my photography. I am constantly moving, changing settings, scouting out new scenes. But for that moment even I was stopped to take in the moment. I always say there’s a part of the wedding day where it feels like Heaven meets earth. And this was it. Oh, and Ashley fed me cake during cake cutting. I mean that’s got to be an all time favorite right???

My favorite photo of the day:

Would have to be one of the ones I took during the private last dance. I stood in a back corner opposite of them so you could see that the room was empty, and it was just Ashley and Max dancing under a chandelier together.

My favorite photo from my second shooter:

When I was looking through Brent’s photos, during the ceremony sequence I saw a shot of the groomsmen holding hands during a prayer. I wasn’t on that side to see it happening so when I saw it through his eyes and for the first time, I thought it was really special.

Enjoy a few photos here. Bowing Oaks Plantation weddings are just so lovely. The property is so amazing to photograph. And with the wedding details they had such as the wooden door, beautiful flowers, honey as their favor – everything was so lovely.

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From the Bride and Groom:

Before the Wedding …

How did you two meet?

Max and I met in middle school at Beach Student Ministries in Jacksonville Beach, FL. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight. In fact, he wasn’t very nice to me and made me cry once (He denies this ever happened but he’s not the one writing this so I get to tell my side of the story).

Max is two years younger than me so we had different groups of friends throughout high school. We went on mission trips and other student ministries trip together during that time but weren’t close. After my first year of college, I decided to leave FSU and take some time off from school. Max had recently gotten into some trouble (let’s leave it at that) and my brother actually told him he needed to hang out with a good influence…like me.

So we started hanging out as friends. He spent about a year trying to convince me that I wanted to date him (although I already knew I wanted to). We started dating and proceeded to date for about six years. There was a small break up in there but we don’t need to hash that out. It all worked out in the end 

How did he propose?

On Christmas Day, we were opening our gifts together at my apartment. I was hoping that today would be “the day” but didn’t want to get my hopes up. We opened all of the gifts and I said, “Well I guess that’s it”. I was a little disappointed and went to hang up a new ornament on the tree. Then Max said, “Ok there is one more gift.” When I turned around, he was on his knee with the ring in hand.

How did you decide on your color scheme, flowers, and cake?

Pinterest I guess! I wasn’t too particular on all the details. I found pictures I liked and then asked my vendors to do something like that.

How did you decide on your invitations, and who did you use?

We used Alex Pecci with Quality Images. One of my friends and my bridesmaid collaborated to create a logo for our wedding. I gave that to Alex along with the colors and just asked the artist to create whatever they wanted. They provided me with a few examples and I chose one!

What was the most fun part of wedding planning?

Probably the beginning where you are just looking through magazines and Pinterest to get ideas. Everything is new and exciting.

Which part did you not like as much?

I didn’t like it towards the end when you are having to make sure everyone knows times and details. By that time, I was so ready to just be married that all the phone calls, emails and invoices were just too much! Thank goodness for my Mom who took care of most of it!

Wedding Weekend Info:

Hotel accommodations for guests: varied

Rehearsal Dinner Location: I Do Bar-B-Q at the home of Wayne and Barbara Ellis (friends of the groom’s parents and friends of bride’s paternal grandparents, who are both deceased. They wanted to host the rehearsal dinner in memory of Harold and Alma Sweat. Only God can place best friend’s of the bride’s grandparents to become friends of the groom’s parents years later).

Ceremony Location: Bowing Oaks

Reception Location: Bowing Oaks

Caterer: Ed Malin and Angie’s Subs/Grom

Wedding Coordinator: Kati Stanton – Cait James Events

Photographer: Tonya Beaver Photography

Videographer: none

Cake: Alley Cakes, Cinotti’s

Florist: Divine Florist – Karen Richmond

Officiate: Ryan Sweat – brother of the bride, Jerry Sweat – father of the bride

Hair: Nicole Wiley

Make-up: Blair Stone

Entertainment: Who Rescued Who Band
Transportation: Eastman Curtis (Uber driver and friend of bride’s parents)
Wedding Dress: Debra’s Bridal

Wedding Shoes: Nordstrom’s
Bridesmaids Dresses: Debra’s Bridal

Groom and Groomsmen Wear: purchased suits at Men’s Wearhouse, St. John’s Town Center

After the Wedding …

What was the high point of your wedding day that you hope to remember forever?

I remember walking down the aisle and seeing all of my friends and family together in one place. It was amazing to experience the love and support from everyone who showed up for us! The ceremony was also meaningful. It felt like it went in slow motion.

If you could give yourself any advice prior to the wedding, what would it be?

Don’t worry so much about losing weight! Geez. It doesn’t even matter.

Where did you go for your honeymoon?

Napa Valley, CA and San Francisco, CA

Tonya Beaver Photography Studio Location: Jacksonville Beach, FL

318 First Ave N

Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250

To view more Wedding Sessions, please visit:

https://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com/weddings

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https://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com/wedding

Hi, I’m Tonya, a Jacksonville Florida Photographer. I specialize in photographing weddings, families, and babies. I would love to hear all about your photography needs to see if we’re a right fit for each other. As a photographer, I get to capture the most exciting and life changing experiences in people’s lives.

Not only in Jacksonville, but all over North Florida: Ponte Vedra, Amelia Island, St. Augustine, etc.

I know there are quite a few photographers in Jacksonville so it can be overwhelming. But I invite you to check out my wedding, family, and newborn portfolio. Also, feel free to check out some of my reviews that my previous clients have given me. Jacksonville is one of the most beautiful areas for photographing engagements, weddings and family photos. From the beach, golf clubs, parks, downtown, gorgeous churches and so much more. I look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you more!