Carolina Country Club Wedding

Caroline lima photography Charlottesville wedding photographer

As I’m getting to know my couples, I usually ask them to put pen to paper and answer a few questions about themselves and their relationship. Their answers are always interesting, and quite often inspiring and intensely personal. When I asked Claire what made her fall in love with Alex, her first response was ‘his loyalty’. When I asked Alex the same question, his first response was…can you guess? ‘Her loyalty’. This couple has truly stood by each other’s sides. They’ve faced several of Life’s curve balls together, with their families close at hand. Claire’s dad (with whom she was very close) passed away last August, and when Alex proposed, he chose to do so in the place where he felt most connected to the man who had raised the love of his life…on the golf course just outside Claire’s parents’ home.
Claire and Alex have been writing their story together for 8 years now, since meeting at a party in college. With so much shared history, it seemed perfect that they were married at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, which has its own amazing and storied past. The deep emotion and meaning of the day was present in every detail. Claire was radiant beneath her mother’s veil! As her brother walked her down the aisle, I found myself moved to the core.
The celebration continued at the Carolina Country Club. The shared joy of everyone in attendance was evidenced in the smiles, the tears, the laughter throughout the day. Like many weddings, there was sunlight, music, dancing… But as I watched Claire and Alex through my lens, I kept seeing the loyalty that they spoke of when I first met them. To know someone…to truly know them over many years, to love them for who they are…and to choose loyalty again and again… That is what marriage is really about.

Claire’s strength was clear all day…she wore a proud smile on her face despite the fact that I know it was very difficult for her to get married without her father there. On her bouquet, she had pinned a broach with a picture of her younger self and her father, smiling, hugging. When she exited the reception, the emotion came. With a mixture of tears and smiles, Claire honored the memory of her father with Alex by her side.