Oglebay Haller Shelter Wedding

Happy Friday, everyone!  Mattie and Noah are now the Clarks and, as always, I’m SO excited to show you their wedding which was actually at a new venue for us – Oglebay’s Haller Shelter in Wheeling, West Virginia!  They’re the cutest couple and they photograph beautifully plus their love speaks to me on a deep, deep level!  Just wait until you see and hear about this one!  Enjoy!  Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Clark!

I’ve done a lot of weddings at Oglebay!  A LOT!  I’ve never photographed a reception at their Haller Shelter, however, so that was super exciting!  Because of my excitement for new photo opportunities, I left my house early to get there about a half hour early so I could photograph the shelter and all it’s decorative goodness!  I’m telling you what – it takes a brave bride to have an outdoor ceremony AND reception in the spring and in the month of May!  I’m so happy to report the weather held out and it was such an amazing day!  These two had a lot of blunders in wedding planning leading up to all of this so these two deserved a smooth sailing and perfect day!  That’s just what they got!  AND more on those wedding planning blunders later!

It was very obvious Mattie put A LOT of thought into the decor for this wedding!  So, in true Hannah fashion, I made sure to photograph it ALL!  LOTS of photos!  Every single centerpiece was different.  Check it out!  If you love purple or vintage OR you just happen to love both…you’re really going to enjoy this!! Zoom in to see them all!

Even the head table was done well!  I loved all the candles and was sure to get a photo of them lit later that night too!  You’ll see them here in a bit!

Then, we headed back to Oglebay’s lodge to find the ladies getting ready.  AND we got those “must have” detail shots.  It was this wedding that Kari declared she wished she would have done a purple wedding herself!! THAT was shocking to me.  Kari doesn’t come off as a purple kind of bride but Mattie changed her mind!

Beautiful, unique invitations call for some creative shots!

Time to get ready!  I had been chatting and discussing wedding planning and details here and there with Mattie for over a year now.  Their engagement session was a dream too!! You can see it HERE!  Gorgeous, right?!  As I mentioned earlier, they had some blunders in the last year…big ones.  From venue changes and DJ changes to the tuxes coming in the wrong colors (Oy!), this girl held it together through it all.  And she did it with calmness and class…just like you’ll see in these photos below.  Most brides are getting nervous at this point in the day.  If Mattie was nervous, she sure didn’t show it!

I do love myself some bling and jewelry like this but Kari was especially loving this necklace!

Mattie was quick and on the ball, so we moved on for the next activity of the day – the first look!  I was surprised this couple went for a first look.  But if I’m remembering correctly, I think the schedule forced us to do one since they were having a later ceremony and reception.  I’m so glad they did it though!! This one was straight out of those videos you see going viral.  Noah could not contain himself when he saw Mattie dressed as his bride for the first time.  But first…here was what was happening before we got set up!  Noah was waiting on his bride with Kari on the sidelines,

…and Mattie was finishing getting ready…in the parking lot…with the help of one of her close friends and bridesmaids!

OooOo but first…another bridal party stole our original spot!  I was seriously so irritated.  I always am very respectful of other groups and sharing space.  WE WERE HERE FIRST.  They were no where to be found when we originally arrived at this location.  Then, they came (loudly) stomping up the stairs and literally just stood there.  They’d be in our shots now.  GAH! Kari, being the peach that she is, caught this oOoo so unflattering but somewhat hilarious shot of Noah and I doing out best to keep it cool!

Did you get a good laugh out of that?!  I had my phone in my hand because we were JUST about to get started and I had to text Mattie and tell her to hold her horses.  We needed to find another spot.  We did find another spot though and all was well!  YAY!  At last, we walked over and let these two see each other all dressed up for the first time and spend their last moments as single individuals together!

Seriously, how sweet are they?! Kari and I were snap snap snapping away at our different angles!

I’m telling you.  Noah’s reaction to seeing Mattie was one for the books!

AHHHH!!! They’re so adorable!  The beauty of first looks is that you can go IMMEDIATELY into bride and groom formals and take lots and lots..and lots.  AND WE TOOK A LOT, I tell ya!  YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE!  Brace yourselves for some bride and groom formal photo madness!  Gosh.  This was another wedding where I wasn’t the only one bursting with excitement.  Kari kept saying, “They photograph so well.  They’re such a pretty couple!”  I mean…it did not matter what angle.  It didn’t matter if they were looking at me…looking at Kari…or looking at each other.  We just couldn’t go wrong at this wedding!  Please enjoy some black and white goodness for your Friday evening!

I shared those black and whites because I feel like my black and white photographs don’t get enough blog time.  BUT…the colors at this wedding, like many of my weddings, won my heart!

Ok.  So maybe the black and whites are equally exciting too!  I offered to do the veil throwing this time but Kari declined.  She did a fantastic job too and I only had to photoshop her out once!  I love love love long cathedral veils!  I promised Mattie that despite how much of a pain that dress and veil proved to be, she’d love these photos and be glad she toughed it out!  I hope I’m right!  If you remember last Saturday, it was hot AND humid. Just imagine being in that dress too!!!

More goodies!  Check out how beautiful she is!  I know…I know…I always say my brides look like royalty…BUT REALLY!  Look at her?!  Doesn’t she just ooze class and beauty?!  Just like Kate Middleton!

…and a handsome groom to go perfectly by her side!

Then, it was on to the bridal party!! Check them out!  The different dresses and colors are REALLY growing on me!

Then, we did the individual shots.  I always tell them to do a formal shot and a personality shot.  It’s not uncommon for the personality shots to fall flat.  I mean…I do throw them on everyone without giving them much time to think.  This group though…they nailed it!  NAILED IT!  They didn’t even hesitate to give me their very best!

…and the gentleman weren’t about to be shown up!

I must have missed this in conversation but there’s something going on with Spider Man.  Noah even had cuff links to show it off!  I bet Kari knows the story!! She always gets the scoop on this kind of thing!

When you’ve got a couple like this and some extra time, more bride and groom formal photos are a must!  As I mentioned at the beginning of this wedding blog post, these two and their youth and their love for one another speaks to me.  My husband and I started dating when I was just 15 years old and I was married at the young age of 22.  I remember those feelings and the giddiness and I had so many happy flashbacks to when I was a young bride marrying a young groom!

I mean…come on!  Aren’t they amazing?!  This might be one of my favorite photos (below)!

Walking and snuggling and Kari and I snap, snap, snapping away!  That’s what was happening here (below)!

Color…black and white…doesn’t matter!  It’s all so good!! SO GOOD!

Then, we headed to the stairs because everyone loves these stairs…especially Kari!  I honestly can’t remember where Kari was…what she was doing…but she was obviously running all over the place.  Not sure how I missed all that! HA!  Exhibit A below!  Kari’s not one to get excited and I’m so bummed I missed this!! I guarantee she looked like what I usually look like…a crazy person…running around!  All of these are hers! HA!  How she managed to get all these different angles?  I will never know!  I’m not sure that’s something I’ve even ever been able to do!

ROYALTY!  Seriously!  Doesn’t it just ooze classiness and timelessness (<– is that a word?!) and happiness and love!  SO MUCH LOVE!…and the wind blew that veil just perfectly!! Almost like it was planned!

…more stairs.  So many stair photos!  I could photograph these two over and over again!  Kari’s photos are on the left (below) and OooO My Goodness…I’m dying over that composition!!! AHHH!  Love these so much!

Fun Fact:  Mattie’s shoes were the exact same shoes Kari wore at her wedding!  I can also tell you they both wore them for a little less than an hour each.  Apparently, they are not the most comfortable shoes!  Noah was quick to assist!  These two are so devoted to one another. Hanging out with them and watching their genuine love and care for one another shine…well, that made my heart want to burst!

Then, it was time to get ready for the ceremony.  I’d like you all to meet Jennifer, Mattie’s mom.  She is one spunky and fun woman and I kept complimenting her and she just kept telling me I was full of it.  I’m serious though.  I hope I can present myself like this at my daughter’s wedding AND be this much fun AND this loving AND have my kids think I’m still cool!  #lifegoals.  So, meet Jennifer!  She had a big surprise coming and she didn’t even know it!  She was just hanging out and had no idea a big surprise was coming. Check out all the other girls though…they knew what was coming!

So, Mattie’s brother, Trevor, was originally going to walk his sister down the aisle but Mattie had another surprise to add to that.  She wanted her mom to also be by her side so she waited until the very last moment to drop this news.  Jennifer had no idea is was coming.  I wasn’t there for this.  I was with Noah so Kari gets photo credits for all of these.  Also, I was talking to her in our new ear pieces during this and she did a great job ignoring me.  I kind of knew this might be happening because she wasn’t answering…and I’m so glad she didn’t! She got lots of photos of this moment!  Just look at the emotion pouring out of these photos when Jennifer found out her new role would be to help escort her eldest daughter down the aisle!

Kari had told me it was an epic reaction!  She was so right!

Then, just like that… it was time for the ceremony!

OooO and before we go into the ceremony more, I need to mention the headsets again and how we “talked” to each other at this wedding!  At the beginning of this year, we decided that communicating via hand signals and yelling (me, of course) just wasn’t cutting it.  So, I bought us head gear…and kept forgetting it until this wedding.  Kari INSISTED this would be a good thing (I wasn’t so sure)…and she was very serious about the gear! HA!

I gotta admit…she was right!  They were super nice and gave us opportunities for shots that we didn’t usually have when we couldn’t communicate and point things out (like during the ceremony).  Yea…yea…you were right, Kari!  Ok!  Back to the ceremony!! It was beautiful.  It was just slightly warm but honestly couldn’t have been more perfect.  Do you all recognize this location?! Yep!! That’s Oglebay’s Formal Gardens!

A sweet ceremony with vows and ring exchanges ended with Noah and Mattie being pronounced Mr. & Mrs. Clark!  GAH!  That dress still makes me so happy!  The Clarks, everyone, and sealed with a kiss!

You know what I love about each wedding?  Every single one may be similar but they are also all so unique.  Noah was actually looking at me in this photo below and I missed it…but Kari got it!  He was pretty excited his bride finally put a ring on it…even though he “friend zoned” her for so long before they even got to dating!  Funny how those things work out, right?!  You can read all about that in their engagement blog if you missed it!

…and there is nothing better than the “just married” bliss!  Seriously, look at their expressions!  Can’t you just FEEL their excitement?!  I can!  I mean…I was there…but you know what I mean!

Before the ceremony, Kari and I thought we were done with bride and groom formals and then…WE SAW A LITTLE PATCH OF PURPLE FLOWERS!  Purple wedding…purple flowers…UmmmmMm YESSSSS!  Mattie and Noah were more than happy to let us play a little.  OooO MY GOODNESS.  The light..the sky…the flowers…the couple…it’s perfect!

I mean…we needed to give guests the time to get to their cars and get off to the reception, right?!  What better thing to do than take photos of this couple…and that dress…and the veil!?  I can’t think of anything!

Kari even threw on her lighting gear and caught one of my very favorite ones of the whole gallery!

..and because they’re just too stinkin’ cute…I even caught them walking off to their cars just having the best of times!

Then, it was off to the reception!  This was probably one of the prettiest cakes we’ve photographed in a long time!

Again, Jennifer is the cool mom and I couldn’t stop taking photos of her and her kids!  She might kill me for that!! She kept telling me she was hiding from my camera…Nope…Nope…No way!

Again with the details…except now the candles are lit!  AHHH! Love it!

First dance love was happening!

Then, the mother son and sister brother dances occurred!  Lots of emotion flowing!

AND a cake smash in the face!  It’s been a long while since we had a true cake smash in the face.  Thanks, Mattie!

She DID help clean him up though!

Then, I noticed this purple drink.  I put two and two together pretty quickly.  Purple Wedding.  Purple Drink.  It could NOT have been a coincidence!

So, we went scouting and sure enough…the drink was created JUST for this wedding!  The bride and groom aren’t big drinkers so I hear it took a long time for them to create a drink they both liked!  Special drinks call for special photos!  We posed all the ingredients together and styled this photo so the couple could always remember what was in their special, wedding drink!

I think it’s safe to say it was a hit!  At least we know Noah enjoyed it!

Kari always said we need to take pictures of our food before we eat it.  She reminded me again this time and I finally remembered to do it!! I think it’s a neat idea to show and remind the couple of what they had to eat…it’s the little things!  This food from Generations was DELICIOUS!

And while we were eating that delicious food, we also got to sit at the reserved table with the VIPS!  So, we sat with some of the parents and the grandparents.  This was one of those weddings where we felt so at home and so welcome and so a part of all of the celebration!  We had good, down to earth conversations about anything and everything over dinner…including the show Naked and Afraid! HA!  Yep.  It felt like we’d just sat down to a normal dinner with family chatting about the ins and outs of the world!  That just tells you how relaxed the atmosphere was and we just love those kinds of weddings!  Grandpa and I actually had an inside joke going on all night too because I had called him “Sir” at one point in the day and he didn’t like that. HA!  So, he called me “Ma’am” for the rest of the day!  It went back and forth well into the night!  Grandpa and his wife, Mattie’s grandma, of course, also won the anniversary dance!  His advice to a long and happy marriage was to sleep in separate rooms…I have to agree!  HA!  Then, I come to find out they don’t really have separate rooms…so now I’m wondering about my thoughts on the whole thing! HA!

Then, the party got started!  The weather was PERFECT!  And we were all just so happy for the newly married couple!  I did mix and match the dancing photos for those of you who noticed her amazing dress change!

More dancing fun with mother, daughter (Mattie’s sister), and grandma!  I’m telling you… serious #lifegoals.

And before we headed out, we had to get Nick and David (the DJs who saved the day) in on the Hannah Barlow Photography selfie tradition!  As you can see on the left photo (below), Nick wasn’t so sure about it…but he came around when we did round 2! HA!

Before we took off, Kari pointed out the chandelier, which she knows I LOVE, and we decided to get creative!  We did multiple test shots with Kari as the subject prior and I’m pretty sure people thought we were crazy!  But look how fun!

Then, I really couldn’t decide if I liked color or black and white better…so you tell me!

Well, that’s it!  That’s a wrap on the fifth Hannah Barlow Photography wedding of the year!  I’m so so so excited for Mattie and Noah and can’t wait to hear (and hopefully see photos) of their amazing honeymoon!  I do believe they are in Mexico as we speak and then they’re coming home to move in together and start a new life together!  Huge “thank yous” to all of Mattie and Noah’s family and friends!  This was an unbelievable stress free day surrounded by the calmest and kindest individuals!

Mattie and Noah, I hope your wedding day was everything you wanted it to be and more…and I hope all this wedding planning was worth it!  You two deserve nothing but the best!  Congrats to you both!

Congrats to the Clarks!  Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

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Vendor Shout Outs

Bride’s Gown – Allure from Sorelle Bridal Salon

Bridesmaids’ Gowns – Azazie

Men’s Attire – Men’s Wearhouse 

Hair/Makeup – Studio Blue

Cake/Other Desserts – Whisk

DJ/Band – Modern Event Productions 

Catering – Generations

Invitations – Shutterfly

Ceremony Venue – Oglebay

Reception Venue – Haller Shelter – Oglebay