Magnolia Gardens Family Portraits

Anniversary Portraits in Charleston SC

Nicole and Marshall came to Charleston to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary and decided to plan family portraits on their trip, too. 10 years ago, Nicole and Marshall were married at the beautiful Magnolia Gardens, so it made sense to return there for new portraits… this time with their four year old in tow! It was so fun to explore Magnolia Gardens with this sweet family and reminisce about their wedding day. 

Magnolia Gardens Family Portraits

So much has changed at Magnolia Gardens since Nicole and Marshall’s wedding day 10 years ago. They were mesmerized by how the reception space has been painted into a gorgeous bright white space. Plus there were lots of fun new landscaping details – like a flower filled walkway to the bridal suite. Our first stop together was the tree that they were married under. Nicole and Marshall shared with their daughter, Raelyn, how they stood there and had their ceremony – before getting to have s’mores by the nearby firepit. It was so special to watch them light up and talk with their daughter about their memories there. 

During their session, we wanted to re-create some of the portraits from Nicole and Marshall’s wedding day. It was super fun and one of my favorites was the photo of their Toms. Nicole and Marshall wore Toms for their wedding (and wore them again for our family photos). They bought Raelyn a pink pair for the session and we re-created the photo of their feet together, now with Raelyn’s included. It was adorable! 

Raelyn warmed up to me so quickly. We had the best time “treasure hunting” and she even became my mini assistant! She helped me pose her mommy and daddy and made sure they were smiling big and pretty! I got a text from Nicole later in the day saying that Raelyn said the best part of her day was hanging out with Miss Kara. It may have been the best part of my day too! We had so much fun!

We ended at the iconic white bridge in Magnolia Gardens to finish our session. While we were there, we had a surprise when we spotted an alligator! Afterward we recreated one more photo from their wedding day then added miss Raelyn. I couldn’t have asked for a better session with these three at the always beautiful Magnolia Gardens!

At the end of our session, Nicole asked to take a sweet photo of me and Raelyn – I loved it so much, I just had to share!