by admin | Apr 26, 2022 | Intimate Weddings, Outdoor Ceremony, Summer Weddings
On a perfect summer day for an Ann Arbor elopement, Heather and John were married on a bridge in Gallup Park. The sun shined across the water as they said their personal vows amongst their closest friends and family.
Gallup Park is a lovely spot for an Ann Arbor elopement, but also for sessions. It’s one of my favorite spots in Ann Arbor. Many go to Nichol’s Arboretum, but I like Gallup for the simplicity and scenery, it’s perfect for an intimate wedding. There are a few bodies of water, lots of bridges and a really cool kayak sculpture.
After the short ceremony and family photos, we visited a few of my favorite spots in the park for photos. It was the perfect golden hour light for their portraits. I loved Heather’s simple champagne dress and her bouquet – so beautiful! The flowers are from the Michigan Flower Farm.
After portraits, Heather and John joined their guests at Mani Osteria for an intimate dinner.
I love intimate weddings and enjoy photographing them so much! See other intimate weddings here.
by admin | Feb 3, 2020 | Ballroom Weddings, Church Ceremonies, Fall Weddings, Weddings
Sometimes it’s just the perfect day for a wedding. Perfect weather, perfect location, perfect group of people, perfect couple. Everything just seemed to come together so perfectly for Kelsey and Kyle’s Ann Arbor Polo Fields Golf Club wedding last September.
When we first met back in September 2018, a year before their wedding, Kelsey and Kyle shared their story with me over beers, including their amazing proposal in Iceland. This pair of engineers are truly as sweet as they come and working with them over a year was an absolute treat!
How does a Nebraska boy with interests in aeronautical engineering and a Michigan girl with a mechanical engineering background meet? The University of Michigan. Kelsey and Kyle’s love for the maize and blue was evident throughout their Ann Arbor Polo Fields Golf Club wedding and their Ann Arbor engagement session held a few homages to their alma mater, including planning the wedding on a bi-week for Michigan football, as well as a rendition of Hail to the Victors and the appearance of the Michigan flag during the reception dance party.
If you know me, you know that engineers seem to be a reoccurring theme in my life. My husband is an engineer, my college roommate is an engineer, and many of my clients are engineers, including Kelsey and Kyle! I find that engineers follow and take direction really well. So if you’re an engineer, you’ll find yourself at home with me! Haha!
I truly had an amazing time at this wedding, but I think my favorite moment was the whole first look. Kelsey and Kyle were really intentional about this moment being private and just for them. They decided to read their personal vows to each other during the first look. I thought this made the moment more special and less about the photos and more about THEM. Sometimes it can be daunting to share such personal words and memories in front of 150+ people. Sometimes your church service doesn’t allow for this (most all Catholic ceremonies do not). But if sharing personal vows are still important to you, I highly suggest doing it at the first look or taking a moment after the ceremony, maybe after signing the license to do so. You don’t regret it.
After a ceremony at the historic First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, we headed to the Law Quad with the wedding party for photos. After we finished up there, we had one more stop at the Big House for a few photos under the big M scoreboard. Iconic.
The reception at the Ann Arbor Polo Fields Golf and Country Club was absolutely perfect! Bob and the staff there are incredible and I highly recommend them! We ended the night with a beautiful sparkler exit as the couple got into the getaway car…a Lincoln of course!
I was so sad when this wedding ended because I truly loved working with Kelsey and Kyle. The end of the wedding was emotional for their friends and family, especially Kelsey’s who are local to the area, because Kelsey would join Kyle in Tucson, Arizona where Kyle had just started a new job, to make their first home together.
Enjoy these images, some of my favorites of 2019!
Vendors:
Florals: Great Lakes Floral Design Co | Cake: Cakes by Stephanie | DJ: LuFru Entertainment | HMU: Beauty by Maria | Catering/Reception: Polo Fields Golf & Country Club | Gown: The White Dress | Bridesmaids: Azazie | Shoes: Betsey Johnson | Men’s Attire: Generation Tux | Transport: Bozzo’s | Paper: Minted.com | Ceremony: First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor
by admin | Jun 6, 2019 | Ballroom Weddings, Church Ceremonies, Weddings, Winter Weddings
Who doesn’t love a New Year’s Eve wedding? I definitely do! Brittany and Taylor celebrated with their friends and family, ringing in 2019 as part of their reception, at a Kensington Hotel wedding in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In Pure Michigan fashion, it rained the entire day and we had to scrap our plans of outdoor portraits, but that never upset these two. You may remember their wintery engagement session at Maybury State Park…they are absolutely adorable.
Right after the first look, Taylor just couldn’t stop looking at Brittany (who was a gorgeous bride) and couldn’t stop telling her how beautiful she looked. He couldn’t stop sneaking smooches either.
Luckily, the Kensington Hotel was perfect for an indoor first look and bridal party photos. But Josh and I really wanted to do something special and make sure we got photos somewhere else. So before the ceremony, Brittany and Taylor hopped in the car with us and we went over to Nickel’s Arcade, the perfect covered spot in Ann Arbor for rain (remember it was NYE so there wasn’t a lot of options indoors!), and I took some romantic portraits of them. It ended up working out really well because the Christmas lights were still up!
Their ceremony was at Trinity Lutheran Church, artfully decorated for Christmas, and at the end of the ceremony, Taylor just couldn’t stop kissing his bride! It was so sweet!
After the ceremony, we all headed back over to the Kensington Hotel for the reception. The room was beautifully decorated with uplighting from Bee Entertainment, who by the way kept the crowd on the dance floor pretty much all night long! The Christmas trees were still up which made for some beautiful bokeh in the dance photos.
Favorite parts of this reception? The chocolate fountain (a favorite of Brittany’s) and the countdown to midnight. It was so fun to watch everyone celebrate the new year while celebrating Taylor and Brittany! Before I became a wedding photographer, I thought NYE weddings were kind of weird, but I really enjoyed being a part of this one. It didn’t hurt that Josh came along as my second shooter for this one! It felt less like work to spend the night with him while still doing what I love.
Taylor and Brittany are two of the most genuinely nice clients I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Also they’re the cutest together. I’m glad they didn’t let some change of plans with the rain ruin their day and instead embraced that the day was about celebrating them!
Vendors
by admin | Dec 4, 2018 | Ballroom Weddings, Outdoor Ceremony, Summer Weddings, Weddings
It’s pretty rare for me to know of a couple from the first date to the wedding day, but this was true for Scott and Leanne, who were married on an mid-August day at Wellers in Saline with a reception in the River Raisin Room. Scott and I were once coworkers, and being close in age and doing literally the same job, we became friends. About one week before I met Josh, Scott met Leanne, so I was able to follow their romance from the very beginning. I hadn’t even met her and I knew Leanne must be awesome because before he knew it, Leanne had moved from East Lansing to West Lafayette, Indiana for a job and Scott had bought a newer car to drive down to see her frequently on weekends.
Time moved on, Leanne moved back to Michigan, they moved in together, and soon enough, Scott was talking about proposing and buying a ring. And in the summer of 2017, he popped the question with a pizza!
Needless to say, this wedding was special for me because I had heard so much about Leanne and hadn’t ever met her until we started planning photography for their day. Getting to know her through the process was delightful and I could see why these two go so well together. Their vows to each other were such a testament to their strong relationship, with a few jokes about baseball and sports thrown in (Scott plays vintage baseball as a hobby and is into sports).
Wellers in Saline was a perfect setting for photos (please someone take me back there), especially in August where everything was green. The day of the wedding, we were expecting rain to push us inside for the ceremony, but the rain held off in the afternoon and the sun shined! It didn’t start to rain until we had finished couples portraits and were ready to walk into the reception. What luck!
At the reception, we had not only colorful and fun speeches from the bridal party and parents of the couple, but also probably one of the best dance parties I’ve ever seen. Everyone was up and moving…I don’t think the floor was empty the whole time I was there.
I’m so glad I was able to be a part of this day and wish Scott & Leanne the best in their marriage!
vendors from this lovely wedding:
floral: Studio Terrain | cake: Cakes by Stephanie | dj: TNT Sound Productions | hmu: Primp Beauty | gown: The White Dress | coordination: Nicola Wilson, Simply Brilliant Events | venue: Wellers Weddings
