There are some wedding days when the weather does exactly what you hoped it would do. And then there are wedding days when Mother Nature decides she has her own plans—and somehow creates something even more beautiful than you imagined.

Jessie and Chris were married on September 20 at one of my favorite New England wedding venues, The Barn at Blackstone National. There are so many reasons I love photographing weddings here: the warm, gorgeous barn, the incredible team working behind the scenes, and the stunning grounds that feel like they were made for a quintessential New England wedding.

And yes, this time those beautiful grounds came with rain.

My very long “no-rain wedding streak” officially came to an end, but if there was ever a wedding to remind me that rain doesn’t have to take anything away from a day, this was it. Because somehow, it added to it.

From the moment I arrived, one thing was incredibly clear: Jessie and Chris are deeply, deeply loved.

There were tears all day long—the very best kind. Tears during Jessie’s room reveal. Tears during her first looks with her dad and her bridesmaids. Tears during speeches. And so many moments when I found myself looking around the room and seeing the people who love these two completely wrapped up in the emotion of the day.

But there was one moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Jessie’s dad, Tom, is a talented musician, and during his father-of-the-bride speech, he gave his only daughter something no one else possibly could: a song he had written just for her, for her wedding day.

Even writing about it now gives me goosebumps.

There are wedding speeches that make you laugh, speeches that make you cry, and speeches that stay with you long after the night is over. This was all three. Watching Tom sing to his daughter while Jessie listened next to her new husband—and watching the emotion throughout the room—was one of the sweetest father-daughter moments I have ever had the privilege of photographing.

And honestly, the love from Jessie’s parents was something I noticed throughout the entire day.

There is a certain look parents have when they’re watching their child on their wedding day—a mix of pride, joy, nostalgia and maybe just a tiny bit of how did we get here so fast? I saw it in Jessie’s parents over and over again.

At one point Jessie’s mom, Darrell, said, “This is the best day of my life, and I don’t want it to end.” That told me everything I needed to know.

As a girl mom myself, that one hit me. There has to be something indescribable about looking at the little girl you raised and suddenly seeing a bride standing in front of you, stepping into this enormous new chapter of her life surrounded by the family and friends who love her most.

And Jessie was absolutely glowing.

Then there was the rain.

I’ve photographed plenty of weddings where we’ve watched the forecast obsessively and hoped the clouds would cooperate. But Jessie and Chris did something much better: they embraced it.

And I learned something—I had no idea rain could make newlywed portraits this romantic.

With clear dome umbrellas in hand, Jessie and Chris stepped outside for their first portraits as husband and wife, and the result was pure magic. The rain falling around them, the soft light, the greenery surrounding the property, and the two of them tucked underneath those umbrellas together created some of my favorite images from the entire day.

There was no fighting the weather. No letting it dictate the mood. Just the two of them, newly married, completely wrapped up in each other.

And when we moved back inside, the warm wood and beautiful architecture of the barn gave us an entirely different backdrop that complemented their gorgeous wedding-day looks perfectly. Between the romantic rain outside and the coziness of the barn inside, the entire day felt unmistakably New England.

Then I discovered something else about these two that made me love them even more.

THEY’RE SWIFTIES. 😂

Jessie and Chris chose Taylor Swift’s “Lover” for their first dance, and suddenly everything made sense. But the Taylor references weren’t finished there. Jessie’s best friend Christine took us through their friendship during her speech by describing the different chapters of their lives together as their own “Eras,” which might have been one of my favorite speech ideas ever.

And after all the emotion, happy tears, heartfelt speeches and romantic rainy portraits, there was only one thing left to do: PARTY.

Maybe being cozied up inside the barn while the rain fell outside made everyone even more determined to celebrate, because that dance floor stayed packed. The laughter, the energy and the joy never seemed to let up. Everywhere I turned, someone was dancing, hugging, laughing or pulling another person onto the floor.

Rain or shine, Jessie and Chris were going to have the wedding day they had dreamed about.

And they did.

Maybe it wasn’t the perfectly dry September day everyone imagined when the plans were made. But standing there watching Jessie and Chris surrounded by so much love, watching her parents soak in every second, listening to a father sing a song written for his only daughter, photographing newlyweds kissing beneath clear umbrellas in the rain, and ending the night with a packed dance floor inside a warm New England barn…

I’m not sure I would have changed a thing.

Jessie and Chris, congratulations. Thank you for trusting me to capture a day filled with so much love, so many tears, a little Taylor Swift, a whole lot of dancing—and one perfectly timed September storm. ❤️

Wedding Day Vendors:

Videography: @gone.fishin.productions

Entertainment: @djgregb1

Venue: @barnatblackstonenational

Florist: @ali_papa13