Laura and Mark were married in a beautiful ceremony and reception at the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort in St. Petersburg, FL! This sweet couple was a joy to work with and I loved capturing their beautiful beach wedding! The bride grew up in Florida and the groom moved here from Illinois so planning a beach wedding where their friends and family could join in as a destination made perfect sense! The couple met while working together in 2014 and discovered they had a huge love of their mutual favorite band Def Leppard!

I loved the story Laura shared about their engagement and why they love each other: “Mark Proposed at the Def Leppard concert, of course. Months prior to the proposal he had bought me a British flag to take to our next concert hoping we could get the band to sign it. In August we attended our 3rd Def Leppard concert together. After the concert was done we went to stand in line for a Meet and Greet, hoping we could get lucky and meet the members. We were the last ones in line so unfortunately we could not meet them. However the security guard, who happened to be Mark's friend, took the flag backstage for the members to sign. When we received our flag I opened it up and read, "Would you Marry Me?" Next thing I know Mark is kneeling on one knee proposing. It was the most perfect way he could have done it and a day we will never forget! We love that we can always be ourselves around each other no matter what. We can laugh at anything together and have many of the same values. We bring out the best in each other. Relationships always take hard work, but we truly have an effortless love. We love going to concerts and having fun. We also love going on adventures such as camping, biking, and fishing. We like binge watching TV series and going to the movies. We really like doing anything and everything together!”

The couple’s wedding day brought beautiful weather and clear skies! It was a gorgeous day for a beach ceremony and everything went perfectly smooth! I loved the couple’s idea of doing a private first touch where they held hands and said a prayer together prior to their ceremony without seeing each other. I also loved seeing the bride’s brother on Face Time watching the ceremony from Afghanistan where he is stationed in the military. Watching the bride speak to her brother from so far away on her wedding day was very special! We were treated to a very beautiful sunset and a fun reception where the guests danced the night away! In a nod to their love of 80’s rock the couple’s guest book was a guitar of the groom’s that he has had most of his life which also made for an amazing shot of the couple’s rings!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson!

Lead Photographer | Sarah McDonald
Associate Photographer | Alexa Rodriguez