A Fun and Joy-Filled Hammack Hills Wedding in West Virginia
There are some wedding venues that are beautiful to photograph, and then there are venues that feel a little more personal.
Hammack Hills in West Virginia is one of those places for me.
As a wedding photographer serving Charleston, Clendenin, and surrounding areas, I've had the opportunity to photograph weddings at a variety of venues throughout the state, but Hammack Hills holds a special place for me because I was actually married there myself!
So when I arrived to photograph this wedding, I wasn't just familiar with the venue as a photographer, I knew what it felt like to experience Hammack Hills as a bride, too.
Why Hammack Hills Is Such a Great Wedding Venue
One of my favorite things about Hammack Hills weddings is the amount of time couples have to make the property their own.
Rather than feeling like you're racing against the clock to decorate everything the morning of your wedding, couples have the opportunity to spend several days at the property beforehand. That gives them time to set up, decorate, and really create a wedding day that feels like THEM
As a photographer, I love this!
A relaxed couple is a happy couple, and when you're not worried about whether everything is finished or whether the decorations are perfect, you have more time to enjoy your wedding day.
A Wedding Day Full of Familiar Faces
This particular wedding was especially meaningful for me because I already knew some of the people involved.
The bride works at my local veterinarian's office, and the groom went to school with my husband. I also knew several people in the wedding party!
That familiarity made the day fly by.
Instead of spending the day surrounded by people I'd never met, I recognized familiar faces throughout the wedding party and got to watch people I knew celebrate alongside the couple.
And this wedding was full of exactly the kind of energy I love photographing:
Friends. Laughter. Love. And a whole lot of fun!
A Grand Entrance I Won't Forget
One of my favorite moments of the day happened during the grand entrance (and it's definitely one that I don't think anyone will forget anytime soon. LOL)
The bride's 16-year-old son switched outfits with one of the bridesmaids and came into the reception WEARING A DRESS!
It was hilarious, completely unexpected, and such a fun reflection of the personalities surrounding this couple.
These are the moments that remind me why I love wedding photography.
Yes, I want to capture the beautiful portraits, the details, and all of the traditional wedding photographs. But I also want to capture the moments that make everyone laugh years later.
Those are the photographs that tell the real story of a wedding day.
A Groom, a Bride's Dad, and a Little Negotiation
Another favorite moment was the couple's dance involving the groom and the bride's dad.
The groom had to essentially "pay" the bride's dad money before getting his turn to dance with his bride.
The whole interaction was playful and full of laughter, and it made for some of my favorite candid photographs from the reception.
As a photographer, I'm always watching for those interactions.
The inside jokes.
The unexpected reactions.
The people laughing in the background.
The moments between the moments.
Those are often the photographs my couples end up loving the most.
Photographing a Wedding at Hammack Hills
From a photographer's perspective, Hammack Hills offers a lot of variety.
You have the rustic barn and countryside atmosphere, but there are also modern indoor spaces for getting ready. The property provides different environments throughout the wedding day, which means couples don't have to rely on one backdrop for their entire gallery.
That variety is especially helpful when I'm photographing a full wedding day.
I can photograph the quiet getting-ready moments indoors, move outside for portraits, use the property for bridal party photographs, and then capture the energy of the reception as the evening progresses.
Hammack Hills itself describes the property as having numerous scenic areas and natural features that create opportunities for wedding photographs, and I completely understand why.
Not every wedding needs to be perfectly serious or perfectly posed. Some of the best photographs happen when everyone lets their guard down and simply enjoys the people around them.
That's what I loved about this day.
There was so much personality, so much laughter, and so many people who were genuinely happy to be there celebrating this couple.
And as a Charleston, WV wedding photographer, that's what I want my couples to remember when they look through their wedding galleries years from now, not just what their wedding looked like, but what it FELT like.
Planning a Hammack Hills Wedding?
If you're planning a wedding at Hammack Hills in Amma, West Virginia, I'd love to photograph it for you!
As someone who has both been a bride at Hammack Hills and photographed weddings there, I know the property from both sides of the camera. I love helping couples create a wedding gallery that captures not only the beautiful portraits, but also the laughter, personalities, relationships, and unexpected moments that make their wedding uniquely theirs.
