The newlyweds walk hand in hand back down the aisle after their Candies Creek Farm ceremony, looking directly at one another as they pass white hydrangeas, wooden pews and smiling guests beneath the pavilion’s warm timber beams.
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Kaitlyn & Ethan’s Emotional Candies Creek Farm Wedding

Filed in Tennessee, Wedding Days — October 26, 2026

The bride and groom walk hand in hand beside the white barn at Candies Creek Farm, their black-and-white wedding attire echoing the venue’s clean exterior as long late-day shadows and golden sunlight stretch across the grass behind them.

Kaitlyn and Ethan’s Candies Creek Farm wedding was clean, simple and elegant, but what I remember most about their day is how emotional it was. From quiet moments with family while getting ready to their first touch, private vows and finally seeing each other at the ceremony, this was a wedding between two people who truly cared for one another.

They intentionally kept their wedding small, surrounding themselves with the family and friends they most wanted beside them. At a venue Kaitlyn had loved from the very beginning, they created a day centered on being together and celebrating the relationships closest to them.

A white wedding dress hangs from the black-framed glass doors at the center of Candies Creek Farm, surrounded by the venue’s crisp white siding, oversized black barn doors, flowering shrubs and tall green trees beneath a clear blue sky.

Wedding details at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue arranged across a white marble surface, including black and white dress shoes, an overflowing bouquet of ivory roses and greenery, vow books, wedding rings, pearl jewelry, perfume bottles, a gold-accented invitation and a newspaper-style save-the-date. The layered flat lay combines their black, white and soft green palette with personal details from throughout the day.
Two tall cut-crystal champagne flutes engraved “Mr.” and “Mrs.” with the wedding date catch warm window light on a white reception table at Candies Creek Farm, with a personalized lace handkerchief, stacked plates and gold flatware arranged around them.

Getting Ready at Candies Creek Farm

Kaitlyn knew almost immediately that Candies Creek Farm was where she wanted to get married. It was the first venue she and Ethan toured, and she said she wanted it from the moment they walked inside.

The clean, bright feel of the Candies Creek Farm venue worked beautifully with the simple, elegant style they envisioned for their wedding. Rather than filling the day with unnecessary extras, they were intentional about where they invested, splurging on photography, videography and their wedding cake.

Kaitlyn spent the beginning of the day getting ready surrounded by people closest to her, including her mom, who had also played a huge role in planning the wedding alongside her. One of Kaitlyn’s favorite memories from the entire day was sharing a special moment with her parents, which made those hours before the ceremony about much more than simply getting dressed and ready.

And as the ceremony got closer, so did the nerves.

The bride sits closely surrounded by her wedding party and family while getting ready at Candies Creek Farm, with everyone gathered together on a gray sofa in coordinating champagne, blue and green satin pajamas and a young flower girl nestled into the group holding her doll.

Bride in an off-the-shoulder fitted wedding gown smiles while holding out her long pearl-detailed veil inside the bridal suite at Candies Creek Farm.
nside the bright getting-ready suite at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue, the bride laughs as she reaches up to fasten jewelry around her mother’s neck. Her fitted off-the-shoulder white gown contrasts with her mother’s soft sage satin dress, while a young flower girl watches from the background of the black-and-white room.

A First Touch and Private Vows Before Their Candies Creek Wedding

Before the ceremony, Kaitlyn and Ethan chose to have a first touch and read their private vows to one another. Standing on opposite sides of a doorway allowed them to hear each other’s voices, hold hands and share an emotional moment together without seeing each other before Kaitlyn walked down the aisle.

Whenever a couple tells me they want to combine a first touch with private vows, I always point out one important consideration: you won’t be able to look each other in the eye while making those promises to forever.

For some couples, preserving that first moment of seeing each other at the ceremony matters more. For others, being face-to-face while exchanging private vows is something they don’t want to give up. There isn’t a right answer, but it is worth thinking about which experience matters more to you before deciding how you want that part of your wedding day to unfold.

For Kaitlyn and Ethan, the first touch allowed them to have a private space to share their vows and connect before the ceremony while still saving the moment they first saw one another for the aisle. And considering how anxious Kaitlyn had been about walking down to Ethan, preserving that moment made seeing him at the end of the aisle especially significant.

The bride and groom stand back-to-back beneath a dark wooden overhang at Candies Creek Farm, holding hands behind them while reading private vows without seeing each other, with her long satin and lace train sweeping across the walkway beside ornamental grasses and leafy landscaping.
Soft, feathery grasses blur across the foreground as the bride and groom stand back-to-back during their private vows at Candies Creek Farm, creating an intimate, almost hidden view of the moment as she throws her head back laughing and he smiles down at the words he wrote for her.

The bride and groom stand back-to-back on opposite sides of a dark wooden post during their first touch at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue, reading private vows without seeing one another. The bride wipes away a tear while the groom smiles down at his vow book, with tall ornamental grasses drifting softly across the foreground and creating an intimate, layered view of the emotional moment.
A tightly framed view focuses on the bride and groom’s hands clasped behind their backs during their Candies Creek Farm first touch, while each holds a vow book in the other hand and the surrounding greenery and ornamental grasses soften the private moment.

An Emotional Candies Creek Wedding Ceremony

Of everything Kaitlyn had been anxious about leading up to their Candies Creek wedding, walking down the aisle to Ethan was at the top of the list.

They had already held hands. They had heard each other’s voices and shared the promises they had written for one another. But they still hadn’t actually seen each other.

Then Kaitlyn walked down the aisle. Seeing Ethan waiting for her became one of her favorite memories of their entire wedding day. After the emotion of their first touch and private vows, this was a completely different kind of moment. The anticipation was finally over, and they could actually see each other.

Their ceremony was emotional because the relationships at the center of the day genuinely mattered to them. Kaitlyn described Ethan and her parents as meaning more to her than anything, and those relationships were woven throughout their Candies Creek Farm wedding, from the quiet moments before the ceremony to celebrating together afterward.

The groom waits beneath the open-air pavilion at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue, surrounded by his wedding party in coordinated black suits and white boutonnieres. His restrained smile and focused expression stand out against the laughter beside him, with warm green foliage glowing beyond the dark wooden structure.
Holding a bouquet of white flowers and eucalyptus, the bride fights back tears between her parents moments before walking down the aisle at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue. Her mother stands beside her in sage green while her father gently holds her arm, capturing the mixture of anticipation and emotion just before the ceremony begins.

A wide, symmetrical view looks down the aisle of the open-air Candies Creek Farm ceremony pavilion, where guests sit in dark wooden pews surrounded by white hydrangeas as the couple stands beneath a wooden cross framed by trees and exposed timber rafters overhead.

A bride and groom stand with their officiant during an outdoor wedding ceremony beneath an open-air wooden pavilion. Wedding guests watch from wooden benches while a large cross draped in flowing white fabric stands beside the couple against a backdrop of green trees.
A bride and groom stand facing one another during their outdoor wedding ceremony with their officiant smiling behind them. A large wooden cross draped in white fabric frames the couple against softly blurred green trees.

The newly married couple share their first kiss beneath a large wooden cross draped in white fabric during their ceremony at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue. Bright afternoon sunlight illuminates the bride’s long white train across the pavilion floor while lush green trees fill the open landscape behind them.

Giving Your Candies Creek Farm Wedding Enough Time

If there was one thing Kaitlyn would change about their wedding day, it would be giving themselves more time.

She said she would have added another hour to their vendors so the day didn’t feel quite as rushed. That’s particularly interesting because the thing that surprised her most was just how quickly the wedding went. Looking back, she wished she had been able to be more present in it.

More time doesn’t necessarily mean adding more things to your wedding day. Often, it means exactly the opposite.

It can mean having ten extra minutes with your parents while getting ready. It can mean not immediately moving from one emotional moment into the next item on the timeline. It can mean actually finishing a conversation with someone you love, enjoying the food you paid for or simply standing beside your new spouse without needing to know what happens next.

The goal isn’t to pack another hour with activities. It’s to give the day room to breathe.

That is especially worth considering when building a timeline for a Candies Creek Farm wedding. Think not only about how long each event technically takes, but also how you want the day itself to feel while you’re living it.

The bride stands among ornamental grasses, flowering hydrangeas and layered garden greenery for a portrait at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue. Her fitted white gown opens into a dramatic sweeping train across the dark garden bed, while late-afternoon sunlight catches her hair and the surrounding plants, giving the portrait a warm, elegant garden atmosphere.
The bride smiles toward the camera as a bridesmaid leans in to kiss her cheek during portraits at Candies Creek Farm, both holding lush white bouquets filled with roses, hydrangeas and eucalyptus against a softly sunlit garden backdrop.

The groom stands confidently at the center of four groomsmen in matching black suits outside Candies Creek Farm, their dark formalwear creating a bold, symmetrical contrast against the venue’s tall black-framed glass doors and white exterior.

The bride and groom kiss beneath a wooden ceremony structure while members of their wedding party raise white bouquets and their arms in celebration around them. The bride wears an off-the-shoulder white wedding gown while attendants wear champagne dresses and black suits.

A Small, Elegant Candies Creek Farm Reception

Looking back, Kaitlyn considers keeping their wedding small one of the best decisions they made.

Their smaller guest count kept the focus on their families, their relationship and spending time with the people who came to celebrate with them. After such an emotional morning and ceremony, the reception became an opportunity to settle in, eat, celebrate and enjoy having their people together in one place.

Their reception also carried through the clean and elegant feeling they had envisioned from the beginning, including the wedding cake Kaitlyn had chosen as one of the things worth splurging on.

But one of her biggest pieces of advice for other couples has very little to do with decor, flowers or any of the other details:

When you’re in the moment, don’t take it too seriously.

Weddings have timelines. They have vendor arrivals, RSVPs, meals, photographs and dozens of moving pieces. Eventually, though, the planning ends and you have to actually live the day you spent all that time creating.

A bride carrying a white and greenery bouquet walks arm in arm with the groom as they make their entrance into the wedding reception. The bride wears a fitted white gown while the groom wears a black suit, with their wedding cake and dessert table visible behind them.
A bride wraps one arm around the groom as they smile closely at one another while dancing during their wedding reception. Seated guests and members of their wedding party appear softly out of focus behind them.

A father leans down to hug the groom while speaking into a microphone during the wedding reception as the bride watches from beside him. White and pale green hydrangeas, candles and floral arrangements fill the foreground of the sweetheart table.
A three-tier white wedding cake decorated with textured waves of white icing and delicate clusters of baby’s breath sits on a white wooden cake stand against a geometric white wall.
The bride and groom smile together while cutting their three-tier white wedding cake at their Chattanooga Farm wedding venue reception. Delicate white floral accents sweep diagonally across the textured cake, while the couple lean toward one another against a clean white geometric wall.

Golden Hour Wedding Portraits at Candies Creek Farm

Rather than pulling Kaitlyn and Ethan away from their guests multiple times throughout the day for couples portraits, we saved their portrait time for golden hour. It gave them time to take a moment to themselves, eat some food and let the day soak in, before stepping away together as the light softened across Candies Creek Farm.

Golden hour gave us beautiful light, but it also created a natural pause in the day. After all the anticipation and emotion leading into their ceremony, Kaitlyn and Ethan finally had a little time to simply be together as newlyweds.

My approach to portraits is a balance between direction and giving couples room to interact naturally. I’ll place you where the light works, help with positioning when you need it and use prompts to create movement and connection rather than expecting you to somehow know exactly what to do in front of a camera.

I also showed Kaitlyn a few photographs on the back of my camera as we worked, something she specifically mentioned appreciating afterward. Sometimes seeing a beautiful photograph right there gives you the little bit of reassurance you need to stop wondering how everything looks and get back to enjoying the experience together.

Golden sunlight pours through the bride’s pearl-dotted veil as she and the groom stand face-to-face beneath it during portraits at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue. Their faces are softly silhouetted against the glowing fabric, with the bride’s hand resting against his chest and warm sun flare creating an intimate, ethereal feeling around them.
The newlyweds walk hand in hand through the grassy grounds of Candies Creek Farm at golden hour, turning toward each other with relaxed smiles as low sunlight warms their faces and gives the surrounding trees a soft amber glow.

Golden sunlight pours through the bride’s pearl-dotted veil as it lifts around the newlyweds during portraits at Candies Creek Farm, framing her joyful open-mouthed laugh while the groom leans into her neck and the distant fields fade softly behind them.

Walking hand-in-hand across a broad grassy lawn at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue, the newlyweds look back toward the camera in the warm evening light. The bride’s fitted gown extends into a long sculptural train behind her, while mature trees, gardens, string lights and an expansive blue sky give the portrait a spacious countryside feeling.
The groom dips the bride into a kiss in the open field at Candies Creek Farm during golden hour, her fitted satin gown opening into a dramatic train across the grass while warm evening light edges the trees behind them.

Kind Words From Kaitlyn

After the wedding, I asked Kaitlyn about her experience working with me. Her answer was simple: “The experience was great.”

When I asked what stood out to her, she shared that she really liked that I would take a few photographs and then come show them to her. But the thing she mentioned more than once was my calmness.

“Your calmness really helped me.”

And when I asked whether she would recommend me to someone else, her answer brought it right back to what she needed on such an emotional day:

“Yes, you are very calm and I needed that that day.”

That means a lot to me. Creating beautiful photographs is only one part of what I do on a wedding day. I also want you to feel like you have someone beside you who can offer direction when you need it, stay steady when things feel overwhelming and then step back when it’s time for you to simply experience what’s happening.

A newly married couple holds hands and smiles at one another while dancing together during their wedding reception. Guests surround them on the dance floor as purple uplighting adds color to the indoor celebration.

The bride’s parents dance toward the camera during the reception at a Chattanooga Farm wedding venue, smiling broadly as they hold each other close and extend their joined hands toward the lens. Purple and blue DJ lights glow behind them while other guests fill the dance floor, giving the photograph a playful, lively sense of celebration.
A wedding guest in a champagne satin dress laughs while singing along and holding a drink during the reception. Other guests dance around her beneath the venue’s dark wood ceiling beams and warm wall lights.

The groom raises the bride’s hand overhead as she turns beneath his arm on the dance floor at their Chattanooga Farm wedding venue reception. Her satin gown and long train sweep across the dark floor while colorful DJ lighting, tall windows and dancing guests transform the bright farm venue into an energetic evening celebration.
The newlyweds stop in the middle of the Candies Creek Farm dance floor for a kiss, still holding hands as purple DJ lighting washes across the white reception space and family members dance and mingle around them.

Mother of the bride, in a sage green satin dress holds hands and dances with a young child on the reception dance floor just after her daughter presented her with her bouquet of white flowers nearby. DJ lighting and colorful uplights illuminate the indoor wedding reception behind them.

Well Wishes for Kaitlyn & Ethan

I hope there are countless days ahead that feel slower than this one did. Days with plenty of time to be present with each other, laugh together and soak in the life they’re building.

And when they look back at these photographs years from now, I hope they remember exactly how it felt to reach for each other’s hands without looking, hear those private promises, finally see each other at the end of the aisle and walk away from Candies Creek Farm married.

Kaitlyn and Ethan, I wish you a lifetime of that same love, connection and togetherness.

Warm golden-hour sunlight falls across the newlyweds as they laugh together during portraits outside their Chattanooga Farm wedding venue. The bride turns toward the groom with a wide smile while he looks down laughing, their bodies tucked naturally together against a softly blurred backdrop of sunlit grass and deep green trees.

Planning a Candies Creek Farm Wedding?

If you’re planning your own Candies Creek Farm wedding and want photography that gives you direction when you need it while leaving room to actually experience your day, I’d love to hear what you’re planning.

Inquire about your Candies Creek Farm wedding photography

Kaitlyn & Ethan’s Candies Creek Farm Wedding Vendors

Venue: Candies Creek Farm
Coordinator: Kristy Mason
Photography: L.Morgan Photography
Videographer: Jonathan Desai
Dress: Ever After Bridal
Hair: Chanler Moats
Florist: Dream Roses Weddings
Catering: Tres Hermanos
Cake: Piece of Cake Bakery
DJ: McLov1n

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