I hope you enjoyed yesterday's post Part 1 of my 2013 Year in Review. We left off at the end of the summer and now I will take you through my busy Fall wedding season on into winter weddings.
I've been saying for awhile now that September is the new June as brides and grooms try to escape the heat at the peak of summer. The Fall season kicked off with Chris and Tabitha's beach wedding at Portage River Walk.
Every year (sometimes twice) the "sports rivalry" wedding takes place and Ashley and Steve take the honors in 2013. Bears football was a theme of the day and the father of the bride added some Green Bay Packer cheese to the mix to make things interesting.
While we had had our share of fun, silly pictures - the bride and groom gave me plenty of time to capture some great moments between the two of them as well as some unique wedding photos to hang as art on their wall.
The outdoor ceremony on the terrace at Centennial Park made for a fantastic vantage point and great opportunities to capture some wonderful moments as they happened.
Catherine and Matt's military wedding gave me an opportunity for some real iconic pictures. Certainly the presence of the marine honor guards and the groom himself in uniform was a pleasure to photograph, but the images with American flag in the background of the bride's dress really brought out the Americana feel of the day.
The ceremony took place at Saint Mary's Church, a building that could also be considered iconic in stature.
Mike and Jennifer's Fall wedding at Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles, Michigan was centered upon their first look. What a moment it was as the groom saw his bride for the first time.
After the excitement of their reveal came down a bit we went off into the woods at this botanical garden for intimate bride and groom wedding photos.
The Autumn season can make for wonderful rustic decor at a wedding. One of the coolest decorating ideas I saw was at Jamie and Ryan's wedding where the bride's Dad carved the table placards from tree bark. It went nicely with the many tables of decorations and the soft orange / amber light inside The Patrician Banquet Hall.
The weather had turned at this point in time, but we managed to sneak out for a few romantic bride and groom photos.
The Fall colors continued on for Maggie and Joe's wedding also at the Patrician. The bride and groom showed off their love of the great outdoors throughout their wedding day.
Eric and Maria's winter wedding took place at the spectacular Saint Andrew Parish in Calumet City. The Polish and Italian families came out to see their loved ones and made for a joyful party at The Dream Palace in Lynwood, Illinois.
I've photographed at Our Lady of Grace church in Highland, Indiana many times, but I had never experienced bag piper players before. It was an epic way to escort the Greg and Kristen from the church after being pronounced man and wife. We brought a whole lot of hometown flavor to their wedding photos as we photographed as the sun went down in the downtown area.
There could not have been a more grand entrance than Greg and Kristen's as a very large crowd of friends and family looked on. I'm unclear if any fire codes were violated!!
The grand finale of the 2013 wedding season was Todd and Cassie's rustic wedding at County Line Orchard. From their very brave first look (it was 25 degrees outside) to the family oriented ceremony to the dance party at the end of the night, it was definitely ending on a high note. Can't wait to see what 2014 brings!!
If you are a past client and made it to the end of this post, i want to thank you for a wonderful 2013 wedding season. If you are new here and planning your wedding for 2014 and 2015, thank you as well for visiting. I want to urge you to fill out the contact form today because bookings tend to go quickly, especially at the beginning of the year.
For a pretty cool video montage of the entire 2013 wedding season, please take a look at my video on You Tube. Happy New Year!!