Gaitlinburg, Tennessee | Smokey Mountains | Dani T Photography

“Today’s the day I become your wife, I’ve been waiting for this day for all my life

Falling in love with you,Has been nothing short of a dream come true

Cause I’ve loved you forever I’ll love you til the day I die 

A lifetime is not enough for you and I So I’ll find you

And I’ll love you On the other side” – The other side, song written as vows by Brittany Maurizio

I LOVE small intimate destination weddings..I love big weddings too, but there is something about intimate weddings that just pulls at all my heart strings. Josh & Brittany invited me to come along on their wedding journey in the Smokey Mountains, and of course I said shouted YES! We had planned and planned , and finally the weekend arrived for me to drive down and let the party begin!

Tucked away in the Smokies, is a beautiful mansion, called Splash Mountain, it overlooks the mountains, faces west and its just perfect! The mansion held most of their guests, so we all got to spend the entire weekend together all under one roof! The ceremony took place on the front porch, Brittany sang her vows to Joshua, a song she wrote herself. There was not a dry eye in the house!! The first dances were just as emotional when Brittany also wrote the song she danced to her father with, and Josh’s mom Ronna, invited Brittany to join them in their dance.

From the rehearsal dinner to their day after sunset session, it was 72 hours of incredible moments, laughs, lots of wine and watching those mountain sunsets. What more could you ask for? There were so many small thought out details of this wedding ; all the beer & wine was brewed by a friend with custom labels, maple syrup from the couple’s home town was given away as favors, their wedding bands were designed to look like tree bark, all the way down to the custom designed vow books. ( Joshua used his as a journal to write in during their engagement and saved the last entry for their wedding day!) We even had some visitors during the wedding weekend…a family of adorable raccoons were living under the house and heard all the chaos..AND we had real life wedding crashers who were from Niagara Falls!

I could not have asked for a better family to be a part of for the weekend, a better couple to photograph in the Smokey Mountains who I now call good friends! Thank you Josh & Brittany so much for all your support and allowing me to be apart of such an incredible weekend!

<3 Dani

PS. Keep an eye out for our next blog..which will feature this awesome couples day after sunset session!

A little from our Bride & Groom…

What was your most memorable part of the day :
Brittany : “The entire day was memorable, but the most memorable part was probably our vows during the ceremony and successfully making Josh cry.”

Josh : “I’d say the first look was the most memorable part of the day. It was nice to have a moment just Britt and I and seeing her in her dress really blew me away.”

If you had to do all over again, would you change anything?
Brittany : “I would do everything the same, but maybe add a videographer.”

Josh : “Not at all.”

Any Advice for future couples?!
Brittany : ”Take your time to plan the wedding so you can enjoy it together. We were engaged for almost 2.5 years before we got married, but it gave us time to plan it the best we could.”

Josh : “ It is your wedding day, and is about you and your spouse. Make the decisions that make you happy, because you can’t accommodate for everyone.”

Where did you honeymoon?!
”We honeymooned in Denver, originally planning it around the Rolling Stones concert. Unfortunately the concert was rescheduled, but we still had plenty of other things we wanted to do.”

What surprised you the most about your wedding day?!
Brittany : “I think what surprised me the most was how much fun everyone had. Unfortunately in today’s world so many people look at going to a wedding as an obligation. However, everyone had an awesome time and people are still bringing up to us what a great weekend it was!”

Josh: “ There’s so much planning involved in a wedding and I was surprised how smoothly everything went. Also, wedding crashers. Didn’t see that happening, but glad it did!”

AWESOME VENDORS :
Venue : Hearthside Cabin Rentals – Splash Mountain
Catering : Great Smokey Mountain Catering Company
DJ: Smokey Mountain Sounds
Strong Trio Band : Laurel Strings of Smokey Mountain Sounds
Flowers : Lisa Sadowsky
Photography : Dani T Photography
Second Shooter : Sara Miller