Hippie Wedding in Helen, GA

This past weekend, I spent Thursday thru Sunday in an interesting place called Helen, GA. Until this time, I had never been to such a place. We drove through Chattanooga and then headed towards and through all sorts of scenic highways. On the drive in, we even drove right along side the Ocoee river for a time. It was awesome. Up and down and through the mountains and finally Helen, GA opened up into view.

And this is what we saw...

Told ya Helen is an interesting place. Bavarian style all around. I hear this place is packed during the busy seasons, but we shared the Helen experience on the off season. It was somewhat of a ghost town... a funny, Wizard of Oz like oddness. Interesting is the best word.

I made this trip with my dear friend Mary to be a part of her little sister's wedding. Laura was getting married and I wasn't going to miss it! Mary and her family are like an extension of my own. I love them and wouldn't miss this wedding for the world.

But as my headline exposes, I was not going to just any type of wedding... I knew I was going to Laura's wedding - a hippie wedding. And I was not disappointed one bit. This wedding had Laura's name and personality written all over it. It was beautiful because of that! Absolutely beautiful and fun because it was Laura's!

I became the makeshift photographer for the wedding, and walked away from the event with 642 photos to share with the bride, groom, and their families. The photos actually turned out really good. I was nervous about it because I didn't bring our awesome Canon that automatically makes me look good and has great zooming potential. Instead, I only had my fit in the pocket size Olympus, but that Olympus camera rocked it out!

Below is a shot of the actual ceremony taking place.


Here is one of the shots I took of the bridesmaids and the bride. I love this one because I caught Laura's laugh and smile. The premise of the shot here is that the ladies show off their wedding shoes - uggs!


The bride had her own uggs... see them to the left, they were not plain jane and just a simple color like the bridesmaids'. Instead, Laura's proudly stated: PEACE, LOVE, and HAPPINESS!








Below is an adorable shot I got of the bride and groom (Justin) before they cut their cake. See the peace sign cake topper! Too cute!


And last but not least, here is a good shot of the BEAUTIFUL bride and me.


It was a great trip. A wonderful 4 day adventure with Mary and her family.
Congrats Justin and Laura! You guys are a beautiful couple. I hope you had as much fun at your wedding and reception, as the people you asked to share the day with you had! Good times! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it all! Congrats and I wish you guys MANY MANY years of bliss.