“A** in the sand, not a worry in the world a cold beer in my hand, life is good today.”

-Zac Brown Band

I’m not sure that this song could sum up this beachin’ wedding any better. Except for of course I wasn’t the one drinking beer… But nevertheless- if you’re looking for inspiration for a beautiful beach wedding, then look no further. Brian and Renata got married on Fort Walton Beach in Florida and Luke (The other half of Vaughn Photography) was Brian’s Best Man- just look for the one guy who’s at least a head taller than everyone else in these photos.

Anyways, this wedding checked off a lot of firsts for me; First beach wedding, first wedding shot (mostly) alone (Luke did help me out still along the way), first wedding carrying my bags by myself for the majority of the wedding (hello sore shoulders… I mean traps. Sorry, Luke.), first wedding I’ve cried at (not because I was emotional, but because of wind constantly blowing in my eyes and making them water up), first wedding I’ve photographed where the bride and groom are actually friends of ours, and first destination wedding, among other things.

I won’t lie to you, I was semi-dreading doing most of this wedding solo, because that meant that I wouldn’t have Luke to carry around my bags and rub my shoulders during wedding transitions and to organize the wedding party when I was doing portraits, but once I saw the back of my camera during those first pictures on the beach, I knew it’d be worth it. I mean, HOLY COW, if you want beautiful pictures with an insane backdrop, get married on a beach, PLEASE. You will have to deal with 10,000 people in the backs of some photos, but it’ll be so worth it. These are by far some of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken, so without further to do- I give you the Potter wedding. (P.S. Thanks to my friend Alaina, we suggested #MarryPotter for the wedding hashtag, which went unused and I was severely disappointed.)