Savannah & Marcus · A Northern Lights Wedding at The Mohicans Treehouse Resort

Some weddings you photograph. Some weddings you get to witness.

Savannah and Marcus's wedding on April 10th was the second kind.

High school sweethearts · twelve siblings · one castle in the woods

Here's the thing you need to know about Savannah and Marcus before we get into the day itself: they've been choosing each other since high school.

That's not a sentence I get to write often. Most of the couples I photograph found each other in their twenties · through friends, through apps, through some serendipitous coffee shop encounter. Savannah and Marcus have been writing their story since they were teenagers, and you can feel it. There's an ease between them that you don't get from couples who are still figuring each other out. They already know.

And then there's the family of it all. Savannah is the youngest of seven. Marcus is the youngest of seven. Which means their wedding wasn't bringing two families together · it was bringing fourteen people together as siblings alone, before you even count parents, partners, nieces, and nephews.

When Savannah told me what she was most looking forward to (besides actually getting married), she said it was simple: getting all twelve of their siblings in one place. "That's no small feat," she wrote.

She wasn't wrong. And watching it happen was one of the most quietly beautiful things I've ever photographed.

The venue they almost didn't pick

Savannah and Marcus toured a lot of venues. None of them clicked.

And then they pulled up to The Mohicans.

It was the castle that did it first · because Savannah grew up a Disney Princess girl through and through, and the idea of getting married in a real castle in the woods was, in her words, too tempting. The two-story timber-frame Grand Barn perched in the Ohio hills is exactly the kind of place that makes you believe in fairy tales without the cheese.

But here's the part of the story that made me a little emotional when I read it:

While they were touring, the team at The Mohicans sat them down for a small tasting in the restaurant. They were waiting. The radio was playing in the background. And then a song came on · their song. The one that holds a specific, specific meaning between just the two of them.

They both looked at each other and knew. That was the moment. The universe sending up a flare.

You don't argue with a sign like that.

A Northern Lights palette · DIY'd by hand

When Savannah described the inspiration for the day, she didn't say "blue and green and purple." She said Northern Lights.

Which is such a Savannah thing to say · and such a Savannah and Marcus thing to design.

Every piece of décor at this wedding was made by them or made for them. The deep navy, forest green, and aurora-purple color story wove through everything · florals, table linens, ceremony details, the bridal party styling. It looked custom because it was custom. Not a Pinterest board executed by a planner · their actual hands, their actual late nights, their actual love poured into every centerpiece.

And here's the thing about a DIY wedding done well: you can feel it in the room. Guests pick up on the difference between "rented" and "made for us." There's a warmth that you don't get when everything is outsourced. Savannah and Marcus's day had that warmth in every corner.

The ceremony · and the moment I'll be telling people about for years

Their officiant was a close friend. Not a vendor · a friend.

And right before Savannah and Marcus had their first kiss as a married couple · right at that pinnacle, deepest, most-photographed moment of the day · the officiant turned around, raised their phone, and took a selfie with all of the guests.

The whole reception erupted.

I caught it. The look on Savannah's and Marcus's faces · half "what is happening" and half "this is exactly what we wanted" · is one of my favorite frames I've ever made.

That moment told me everything about who they are as a couple. They didn't want a perfect wedding. They wanted a real one. One where their officiant was a friend who would do something hilarious and unexpected, where the laughter was louder than the music, where the people who love them were treated like they were part of it · not just witnesses to it.

To Savannah and Marcus

Thank you for trusting me with this day. Thank you for letting me follow you through the woods and through the laughter and through the moment your friend took a selfie before the first kiss.

You two have been choosing each other since high school. Watching you make that choice official, surrounded by every single person who has loved you both along the way, is something I'll carry with me for a long time.

Cheers to the next chapter. May the Northern Lights keep showing up for you.

Vendor love

Venue: The Mohicans Treehouse Resort and Wedding Venue · Glenmont, OH DJ: Emma Dunn / Party Pleasers Events · partypleasersevents.com · @DJ.Emmy.D Photography Melchy Hill Photography Everything else: Savannah and Marcus, with love and a lot of late nights

Dreaming of a wedding like this?

I photograph fifteen weddings a year · which means every couple I work with gets the time their day deserves. Whether you're picturing a forest wedding at The Mohicans, a downtown Columbus celebration, or something entirely your own, I'd love to hear your story.

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Tags: Savannah and Marcus wedding · Mohicans Treehouse Resort wedding · Ohio treehouse wedding · Northern Lights wedding inspiration · Columbus Ohio wedding photographer · high school sweethearts wedding · DIY wedding Ohio