Chealyn & Ashley knew exactly what they wanted on their wedding day, and with our help from Asheville Adventure Weddings, they got it!  We planned for a few months leading up to the wedding day, and there was a moment on the mountaintop, when Kyle was officiating the ceremony, talking about what Chealyn & Ashley love about each other, when I had the biggest burst of excitement, happiness, joy, & pride, when I realized that we had all made it happen. We had helped someone’s adventure wedding come true. And I, in that process, was making my own dreams come true.

It brings me so much happiness to help a couple have their very own special adventure wedding.  To combine two of my passions, photography and the outdoors, along with creating a beautiful experience and memories for a couple is more than I can ever ask for in my career.  I feel so lucky that this gets to be my life! Jumping for joy!

Chealyn & Ashely also got me thinking about the freedom of choice that the adventure wedding brings. They drove down from Ohio to wed in North Carolina, where their marriage would be legal.  They were free to marry each other, and in the way that they wished it to happen, on a mountain, in nature, with their dog and a few family members too.  To them, it was perfection and total freedom!

I wanted to share an except from their wedding ceremony, a personalized custom ceremony written by Kyle Ellison.  I want you to feel how special and authentic this ceremony was to them, and even to me, someone who had just met them a couple hours before:

“In the weeks leading up to this moment today, I asked Ashley, as well as Chealyn, to describe a little of how they met and some thoughts they feel for each other. In addition to hearing a story of how Chealyn showed up for a fishing trip in heels—and then proceeded to get her pole stuck in a tree and a fishing hook stuck in her pants—I heard heartfelt testimony of their compatibility, and ways that each, in their own unique way, helps to make the other feel whole—like a missing piece of themselves.

As Ashley told me when asked about Chealyn, “To say that Chealyn is my better half is to say, in a way, she’s my underdeveloped or nonexistent half. What I bring to the table is systematic and driven by logic and reason. I ruthlessly research every possible decision, applying the scientific method, comparing and contrasting any and all variable and outcomes…before deciding to simply purchase the low-sodium rather than low-fat grocery item.

What Chealyn brings to the table is the exact opposite of my abilities and skills-set. She brings the ability to jump into any situation, and allow her lack of over-analyzing to overcome life’s biggest obstacles. I joke, but also revel in the truth, that if it weren’t for Chea’s ability to pull the trigger, I would still be standing in the path of our past aiming at exactly what she accomplished for us both. I aim, and she shoots. I think, and she acts. I plan, and she does.”

Chealyn, it turns out, seems to agree—and while she echoes Ashley’s methodic pursuit, she also speaks of Ashley’s love as a pillar that gives her strength.

“There is no halfway with that girl,” she says, “regardless of what it is. She always has a plan, and when it comes to work she works hard to be the best at her position. Even when it comes to making coffee, she has it down to a science so it’s perfect every time….”

Love is love, love is for all!