top-16-of-2016Every year, I do a top moments and memories of the year. I line up the moments with the number at the end of the 20year. One day I’ll have to do something different- like in 2045 if I’m still shooting pictures, I’ll have to figure out something else. Wait… I’ll be 61 then. Let’s not talk about that kind of stuff.

With 21 weddings this year, it’s going to be hard to pick just 16 moments, but here it goes! These moments are funny stories or memories from the year or just fun things that made my year great. I always love reflecting and looking back at the year in this post. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do!

Well here are my top 16 in 2016! In no particular order, here they are!

1) A Falling Bride and Groom 

Terri and Mike had the most epic dip kiss that turned into a disaster… or what could have been a disaster. Mike went to dip kiss Terri and as he did so, he turned her too deep and she lost her balance and they both fell to the ground! I saw that they weren’t hurt and quickly snapped some shots of them as they were on the ground. One of my funniest moments of the year.2017-01-03_0002

2) Shoot and Share Contest Top 100

Last year one of my ring shots made it into the Finalist category for the Shoot and Share Contest, placing in the top 5%. This year I had yet another ring shot place, but this time, it was in the top 100! It placed 58th out of 6,514 pictures submitted in this category. Let’s see if I can keep my streak going and have another ring shot in the top this year!screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-9-14-35-pm

3) An Epic Wedding Party Shot 

Kristian and Lance had these awesome couches for their parents to sit on during the wedding. I thought it would be awesome to use them for the wedding party pictures and couple portraits after the ceremony. And boy was I right- these were EPIC. This was seriously one of my favorite wedding party pictures of all time!kristian-and-lance-wedding

4) Confetti Gone Wrong 

Carly brought a confetti popper for her wedding day. We found a vacuum in the closet of the venue and knew we could clean up the big mess we would make; but the confetti popper was a pooper. She pulled the bottom to make it pop, and it was the most anticlimactic thing ever… whomp, whomp… We ended up scooping it up and handing it to the girls to toss in the air, which did create an awesome shot.2017-01-03_0003 carly-and-george-wedding-76

5) A Treehouse Wedding 

Victoria and Chase’s wedding venue had a tree house. Let me say that again… a tree house! I have never been to a wedding venue with a tree house! They climbed up and we got some awesome shots of them in the treehouse. I’m so glad that they were willing to go up there and take pictures!victoria-and-chase-wedding-85 victoria-and-chase-wedding-155

6) Largest Wedding Party 

Kim and Josh had one of the most fun wedding parties EVER. Not only were they fun, but they were the largest wedding party of the year and the largest I’ve ever taken pictures of: 23 in total. I had so much fun with all of the wedding party and got some great pictures of the group!kim-and-josh-wedding-108 kim-and-josh-wedding-123

7) Berry Connections

While I shot only one wedding at Berry, this year I had three different weddings I did with people from Berry. David and Marilyn started the year out with a intimate elopement wedding. This summer, I got to take pictures for Ashley and James at their Georgia reception- they eloped last year and wanted a reception with friends and family. I got connected to them through my college professor who was also Ashley’s mom. I got to shoot (a different) Ashley and Dan’s wedding at Berry in September. It is always fun to take pictures for people from my alma mater!

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8) Where’s Mandi? 

Ben and I did a split this year and while I went up to Berry for Ashley’s wedding, he stayed in Roswell and shot Molly and Austin’s wedding. This was the first time we did this and Ben did an amazing job! I hired second shooters to join each of us. I’m so proud of the work he and Evie did and how much they represented my brand at their wedding.molly-and-austin-wedding-82 molly-and-austin-wedding-7

9) Rain, Rain Go Away 

DeAndra and Stephen’s wedding day was crazy. It rained, it stopped, it rained, it stopped… if you look at the pictures, however, you would never be able to tell how much it rained that day, because when it wasn’t raining, it was sunny as ever. The ceremony got moved under the outside porch, but other than that, there is no indication that there was rain the day of! It was pouring just minutes before we did their First Look and couple portraits.deandra-and-stephen-wedding-5

10) Almost Back to Berry 

Jessica and Sean got married at Agnes Scott College; and so much of the campus made me feel like I was back at Berry. Many of the buildings here were built at the same time as Berry, so it makes since. It was so fun getting to take pictures on campus there! Such a beautiful campus!jessica-and-sean-wedding-87 jessica-and-sean-wedding-100

11) If I Could Drive 500 Miles… 

While I met Angel and Chris at the Georgia Bridal Show in Athens, they were getting married in Alma, GA. Don’t know where Alma is? Go south on I-75 and keep driving until you hit I-16, and then get off on an exit and keep driving on back roads for another two hours. This was my one travel wedding for the year. I travel, but this year, all of our weddings were in the Atlanta area or around it except this one. It was a fun road trip to South Georgia for their wedding!angel-and-chris-wedding-30 2017-01-03_0004

12) Some Awesome Dance Moves 

If you didn’t know this about me already, I love dancing. Like, I LOVE dancing. I never took dance classes or anything, but I have some rhythm. I dance at most of the weddings I shoot and often get told by guests what good moves I have… haha. I often teach mothers of the bride The Wobble and other fun dances. Ben got a lot of fun and silly pictures of me at Natalie’s wedding earlier last year. I share these embarrassing pictures because I love y’all… and you can see how close Natalie and I got during the planning process. natalie-and-brian-wedding-378 2017-01-03_0005

13) Family Ties 

I got to shoot two weddings for almost-family members. Ben and I shot his cousin’s wedding earlier in the year. Dalton and Elizabeth’s wedding was fun for Ben, because he had his family there to get to see him at work! Later in the year, I shot Emily and Josh’s wedding. I’m not related to Emily, but she is my sister’s cousin-in-law; and I grew up with most of Emily’s family since we all went to high school together. Plus, at this wedding, I got to work with my sister, who is a wedding coordinator! It’s always fun to have family connections! elizabeth-and-dalton-wedding-30 emily-and-josh-wedding-65

14) An Epic First Dance

Shannon and Matt took dance lessons before their wedding. They did their smooth first dance moves they practiced at dance class; but then pulled out a boa and got down! It was so funny! Everyone was laughing and clapping at how awesome they were!2017-01-03_0006

15) Back to Georgia Tech… again 

I got to go to Georgia Tech twice for pictures last year: once for a wedding and another time for engagement pictures. I cannot count how many times I have shot at Georgia Tech. In the heart of Atlanta, you wouldn’t think there is much to the campus, but it is really pretty and has a lot of really great spots to take pictures. jen-and-adam-wedding-8 katie-and-matt-engagements-68

16) A Range of Emotions 

Caroline and Nick’s wedding had it all: laughter, tears, hugs, more tears, more hugs. All weddings have these, but this wedding in particular, we captured some great moments. I loved the tears from Nick as Caroline walked down the aisle and the sweet hug from her Caroline’s dad when they did their First Look. Ben even captured a great shot of me showing the guys some back of camera pictures!caroline-and-nick-wedding-65 caroline-and-nick-wedding-39 caroline-and-nick-wedding-61

Thanks for checking out my top 16 of 2016! I hope you enjoyed it!

Take a look at my 2016 weddings and engagements for more of this year!

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  1. Lisa Formaro says:

    Mandi these are awesome! What a Beautiful year and hoping 2017 is just as wonderful for you! Cannot wait to work together again, I am in full planning mode ❤

  2. Caroline says:

    These are amazing stories Mandy 🙂 and I feel so special you mentioned me and nick’s wedding.❤ Can’t wait to see more of your work in 2017!!

  3. Melissa Avey says:

    ah fabulous ready today! loving the post. Happy New Year!

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