the journal

You’ve started planning your beautiful Catholic wedding, you’ve booked your reception, we’re designing your portraits, and then, you get an email. It’s from your church coordinator outlining the rules of wedding photography in their church. You don’t panic! First, because you read this, and second, because your Catholic wedding photography team is well-versed in Wedding Mass Photography Etiquette.

Sara and Matthew’s St. Andrew’s Clemson Spring wedding was the most perfect wedding to return from maternity leave and way to open my Spring 2026 season. Sara and Matthew’s St. Andrew’s Clemson Spring wedding was the most perfect wedding to return from maternity leave and way to open my Spring 2026 season.

After five years in the wedding industry, I’ve seen trends come and go. I’ve worked with brides, grooms, and vendors of so many different backgrounds and cultures. I’ve also noticed patterns in the questions I’m asked during consultations and discovery calls. This is in no way exhaustive, I could probably make this list and then three more, but here are some of Madeline Oakley Photography’s Frequently Asked Questions as your Nashville Catholic Wedding Photographer.

Kayla and Martin’s Sewanee University of the South engagement session was such a dream. I absolutely loved getting to visit the University of the South and it’s beautiful architecture. Even more though, I loved getting to meet this lovely couple and learn about their relationship as we visited different spots around campus that mean so much to each of them.

Ambra and Tim had one of the penultimate Nashville Catholic weddings and nobody can change my mind. They included all the best things: getting ready on historic Music Row, a Nuptial Mass at St. Ann’s, and delicious food and drink at 5th & Taylor. This St. Ann’s and 5th and Taylor wedding was the perfect finale to my Fall ’25 wedding schedule.

I LOVE weddings with a strong sense of family and community and Faustina and Cole had just that. Their sweet November wedding day was full of loving family and close friends. And you know those people that you meet and instantly realize are just the nicest ever? That’s Faustina and Cole. Their November Cookeville, TN wedding at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Leslie Town Center was such a joyful and refreshing Fall day.

Louisville is one of my favorite cities and it was even better getting to photograph another bride in the most amazing friend group I am privileged enough to keep getting to work with. St. Boniface Catholic Church and The Bourbon Barrel Loft hosted the most fun, emotional, and intentional November Kentucky wedding. Georgia and Enrique […]

’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.

One of the things I offer couples interested in booking Catholic wedding photography in Nashville is my wishlist! I’ve made it my goal to photograph a wedding in every Catholic parish and mission within the Diocese of Nashville. Couples who are the first to book a wedding with me at a parish get an incentive. […]

Hannah and Johnny’s September wedding was a Tennessee DREAM. Since I typically photograph Catholic weddings here in Nashville and the Southeast (so, church weddings), outdoor weddings are always a fun creative challenge. And this one? This is what styled shoots try to look like, but real life. Hannah and her family put so much intention into the design of this wedding.