Cynthia Viola Photography

Backyard Elopement

Anne and Rachel's Elopement in Asheville

Wedding PhotographyCynthia Viola

It’s hard to explain how you can have such a connection with a couple through text messaging, and I wouldn’t normally choose it or recommend it, but dang, if I didn’t know these two were perfect for me within our first couple messages back and forth.

I chatted with Rachel for several weeks via text making sure we were on the same page with all their elopement plans and then both she and Anne as their engagement session approached. There was zero anxiety as I pulled up to the lake, I knew we were already besties. Of course the shoot went amazing…

And I could not wait for their big day. They spent the weekend at Rachel’s family’s farm, and it suited them perfectly. Complete with super friendly animals of all shapes and sizes and of course their closest friends and family, the whole day was filled with happy tears as they shared their vows and created new memories.

I was overcome with emotion myself as they shared their vows to never give up on each other and to be the best versions of themselves for each other. Their love is deep and to see them celebrated wholeheartedly by their loved ones as we all joined in the happy tears was incredibly moving.

Ladies, thank you so much for inviting me to celebrate with you on this happy day! Love you both!

The Vendors who made the day possible:

Photographer: Cynthia Viola

Venue: Out in Jupiter Farm

Hair: Donovan at Atlas Beauty

Anne’s Ring: Jared

Rachel’s Ring: Modern Wedding Ring

Officiant: Luanne Carmichael

Cake: Nothing Bundt Cakes

Three Micro Weddings in one Weekend

Wedding PhotographyCynthia Viola
Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
— Mae West
Micro Weddings

Well this weekend was quite the blur! Friday morning started with Amy and Jeff’s Micro Wedding at McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte. They were one of my Covid Wedding Reschedules and decided last minute (literally one month ago) to go ahead with a small elopement. Lucky for them and me, I already had a small backyard Micro Wedding scheduled in Charlotte that afternoon with Audrey and Anderson! We were able to work out the timing and capture both!

Fast forward to the next day, Tara and Erika had their Raleigh Wedding planned at the Tucker House! I had so much fun doing all three of these back to back and thought it would be awesome to combine them into one blog post.

Amy and Jeff were finally able to tie the knot at The McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte. Rain threatened all week, but pulled it together at the last minute and gave us a perfect afternoon. Their sweet family helped them pull everything together at the last minute to make sure everything came out perfect and they were so happy to see everything work out for the best.

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mcgill rose garden wedding charlotte

Audrey and Anderson chose her parent’s backyard for their elopement. And in just the sweetest southern form ever, they were married by her grandfather who also officiated her parents wedding, which was held in his backyard. These two were high school sweet hearts and they said about a year into dating they became pregnant and honestly didn’t think they would make it through being young parents but they did and they couldn’t be happier! The entire family rallied around them and offered full support this weekend.

backyard wedding
backyard wedding

Tara and Erika chose the Tucker House in downtown Raleigh for their intimate ceremony. We had so much fun getting to know each other as we pulled together all the final details. We hadn’t had a chance to meet before the wedding because they live in North Dakota but we had the best time. They love to travel around Europe and want to live there permanently. After the wedding they plan to expand their family of three and work towards moving to France in the near future. They incorporated that with the most adorable map set up so their guests could pin where they wanted them to go. It came complete with luggage tags and airplane mini bottles as favors!

Tucker House LGBTQ Wedding
Tucker House LGBTQ Wedding

Coordinator: Marina with The Royal Ribbon

Make Up: Bria

Florist: Teacup Floral

Officiant: Kayelily Middleton

Cake: Love Cake

Each of you, thank you so much for including me in your special weekend! I wish you all the very best now and in all the years yet to come.