I’ve wanted to blog about this session for a while and I’m finally catching up! You may remember Esala and Lena’s southern wedding in Natchez, Mississppi earlier this year. They were married at the historic(and haunted!) Dunleith Plantation on May 22, 2010. Lena planned her destination wedding to be in Natchez, which is near and dear to my heart….it’s where I was born and it’s also where Eric and I met! She found me online by searching for all things “Natchez” and hired me as her wedding photographer. Needless to say I was thrilled to come back to Natchez for another amazing wedding. We love photographing weddings in Natchez, there’s something so sweet and southern about it and reminiscent of older times.
Esala and Lena are amazing. They’ve practically kept their beautiful relationship alive via their cell phones. Lena’s in North Carolina finishing up her residency while Esala in working in Chicago. Due to all of us being spread out around the country, we weren’t able to meet for an engagement session. Knowing this, Lena scheduled a Day After session to make certain she would have more than enough images of her and her husband. For those that aren’t familiar with a Day After session (although the name is pretty self-explanatory), it’s a session just for a couple either the day after or weeks after their wedding to get additional photos in their wedding finery. And oh how fine Lena and Esala were right?! (check out photos below)
Although Lena and Esala saw each other prior to the ceremony, I highly recommend a Day After session for couples that chose not to see each other. There’s so much pressure and a potential to feel rushed when you push your couple alone portraits to the end of the ceremony and this is the perfect remedy to an otherwise stressful situation. A Day After session is more relaxed and couples seem to be more relaxed too without all the business of a wedding going on at the same time. If you’re planning to not see each other before the ceremony, definitely consider this option….what have you got to lose?!
Everyone was up rather late the night before dancing the night away at their reception. We met at about 7:45am the morning after…..how did they end up looking this fab?





I love the wedding clothes that Lena and Esala chose. It fit so perfectly with their beautiful, southern wedding theme.


Hello awesome, random courtyard.


