Get Married in Florida's Oldest Church

Updated: Feb 16, 2022

The Ocoee Christian Church is a historic Carpenter Gothic church in Ocoee, Florida. It is located at 15 South Bluford Avenue. On March 28, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and is believed to be the oldest church of that denomination in continuous use in Florida.

Late afternoon ceremonies are perfect for this location because the sun sets behind the church, and light filters in right through the back of the church stained glass windows making any bride looking like a golden light showered angel!

Jane and Neil are celebrating their love for each other in this sweet and cozy church with their nearest family and friends surrounding them, including their two daughters. Neil is also a fellow tattoo artist in Orlando and created the backpiece for Jane that healed beautifully before their wedding day. I love a tattooed bride, and especially a tattooed bride in a white church!

Photographer: The Tattooed Bride Photography

Location: Florida

For any fellow photographers who may shoot in this church, as a photographer the interior of any church provides a lot of challenges with lighting, I came to the church early to sneak inside and practice bouncing some light off the walls and found with this church the stained glass behind the altar was a nightmare with any flash because direct sunset light was shining straight in at a 90 degree angle on the couple at the altar. I also like to keep historical venues looking as authentic as possible so I opted to not shoot with a flash and turned up the ISO on my Sony A7iii camera and as always shot in RAW file formats only. The stained glass was reflecting on every surface and the bright red carpeting was reflecting up into skin tones as well. Skin tones where fixed in editing to take the red light out of figures, and left the church looking exactly as it did the day they wed there! The walls inside could also use a little bit of new white paint, so be sure to bring a white balance card because you won't find anything in there that's white with the red carpet and stained glass bouncing colors on every surface.