St. Mary’s and Nashville Zoo Wedding | Katie & Robby

I’m not sure there could be better backdrops for a Nashville wedding day surrounded by Fall colors than the historic St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows Catholic Church and the Nashville Zoo all decorated for their Zoolumination event. This St. Mary’s and Nashville Zoo wedding was a whimsical, colorful, and intentionally celebrated sacrament day.

Katie and Robby had spent most of their relationship long distance and then, along with Little Flower Event Co., had the goal of creating a wedding that was “comfy, cozy, intimate: a homecoming of sorts.”

Getting Ready and First Look

They included stunning and personal details into each pocket of the day. Heirloom details were sewn onto her wedding dress to tie in the story of her family. Her mother sewed the sleeves and the appliques were from her own dress. One of the coolest details? Snow White and Cinderella helped sew them on at Disney World!

There were stories for all her jewelry, too. Katie, her mother, and her sister all wore bracelets made out of her Grandmother’s pearls and her earrings were her mother’s made from pearls collected by her grandfather while pearl diving.

Katie and Robby shared a beautiful moment together for their first touch before their wedding Mass and you could see in their faces how absolutely ready to be married they were!

Mass was beautiful. It was a cloudy and windy morning which always gives churches a warm and cozy atmosphere.

Wedding Mass

Portraits at St. Mary’s are always! such! a joy! Luke (my second photographer) had the great idea to incorporate this silhouette and I LOVE how it echoes a fairytale.

Reception

At the Zoo, Kimberly was busy setting up an intentional tent reception using all their favorite books and delicious candy: everything you’d want for a cozy Fall reception.

Everyone partied and ate delicious food and cake! Bubbles were everywhere and it was perfection.

Nashville Zoo Portraits

We then ventured out into the Nashville Zoo where it was fully decorated for it’s holiday Zoolumination event. Cue the colorful and whimsical backdrops that echoed Katie’s love for Disney and all things fantasy. A Dippin’ Dots break was a must.

Of course we had to take a carousel ride as well.

It’s the first time I’ve done a full set of couple’s portraits after the reception, but what a perfect solution! They got to maximize the time spent with their guests, then we got the whole zoo to ourselves running around exploring as many different areas as we could.

As always, I loved getting to work with my husband and second photographer for this St. Mary’s and Nashville Zoo wedding as we get to do our dream job of serving joyful, beautiful, Nashville Catholic couples as they get married.

Vendors

Photography: Madeline Oakley Photography

Planning and Coordination: Little Flower Event Co.

Location: St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows // Nashville Zoo

Cake: Publix

Alterations: SeamsSewBB