Aileen & Ryan are MARRIED!! These two just got married a few days ago this Saturday June 30th and are heading out tomorrow for their honeymoon in New Zealand and Australia-!! We wanted to write about their wedding a day early since they leave tomorrow and we want them to be able to see these Teasers AND because tomorrow is the 4th of July and everyone will likely be tied up. Without further adieu, the story of Aileen & Ryan's wedding day:
Aileen & Ryan started their day in a VERY special way: Getting ready for their wedding ceremony where they had originally met. These two were both teachers at the elementary + middle school here in South Bend, Indiana called St. Anthony's. They taught literally across the hall from one another and used to walk across the hall to chat with one another before they even started dating, so on their wedding day they got ready in their old classrooms!! AIleen and her bridesmaids (and the moms & flower girls) all got ready in Aileen's classroom, while Ryan & his groomsmen (and the other men) got ready in Ryan's old classroom. It was adorable and extremely meaningful to them. Jenny even photographed Aileen's wedding dress at the entrance door just feet from their classrooms (which adorably said St. Anthony's above it)! Their ceremony was also at St. Anthony's Catholic Church a quick walk through the parking lot.
Before putting the finishing touches on their outfits prior to the ceremony, we put up a divider in their hallway and Aileen hid behind it so that she and Ryan could hold hands back-to-back and pray together prior to their wedding ceremony. As a surprise Ryan gave AIleen a card/ note and Aileen surprised Ryan with a journal that she'd been writing for 5 years for her future husband. She started writing this journal before she even knew that Ryan was the one, but he fit the bill perfectly and is exactly the man she had been journaling about and hoping for. We nearly cried just hearing about the journal, so we can only imagine what 5 years' worth of journal entries said! Needless to say, it was the perfect way to get them ready for their ceremony!
Aileen & Ryan wrapped up with their finishing touches separately across the hall from one another. Before heading to the ceremony, both groups prayed in the classrooms and headed out the building a few steps to the St. Anthony's church ceremony location!
We all headed over to the church - men separately from the women. Jason had already been there photographing St. Anthony's students handing out the ceremony program and by the time we got there suddenly it was time for everyone to head down the aisle. St. Anthony's is great in that it has carpeted floors for us to run around and silently capture the wedding, so we were able to capture everyone coming down the aisle, then run and get positioned for Aileen to come in. The church itself has amazing walls made entirely of stained glass making a beautiful and vibrant backdrop to the images we captured throughout their ceremony.
The two chose to make things official with a full Catholic Nuptial Mass having a homily, vows, a Eucharist ceremony, and a Marian adoration included in the overall ceremony. Thanks to the carpeted floors we were able to navigate throughout the church for the full Mass and get many great angles without disturbing anyone in attendance.
After the ceremony we captured a half hour of formal Family Portraits by the altar of all of AIleen & Ryan's family and bridal party (and a few shots of them within the church).
We captured just a few portraits of the two of them inside of the St. Anthony's church before heading across the parking lot again- this time to the building that houses the gymnasium!
We then quickly rushed over to the St. Anthony's gym and into a room where a ton of Aileen & Ryan's old students were gathered in a room for a "Panther Party" for the kids to celebrate their wedding! Aileen & Ryan did a tiny cake cutting for the kids to see, everyone snacked on all of the food and juices provided, and AIleen got to go around and party with their former students, fellow teachers, etc. Everyone in the bridal party hydrated and then we headed into the limo.
Everyone in the bridal party then hydrated and then we headed into the limo to head to the Portrait locations. If you saw our photos of Ryan and Aileen during their Engagement Session you'll know that Ryan attended the University of Notre Dame and AIleen went to St. Mary's College - both here in South Bend- so we headed over to their universities to capture the bridal party individual portraits and their married couple portraits for a couple hours outside-! It was a good 110 degree heat index with pure temperature and full humidity soaking the air, so we made sure people also drank water and ate in the limo on the way over to the colleges.
We started at Notre Dame and did bridal party portraits in front of the Grotto and then the Golden Dome before we captured some portraits of Aileen and Ryan together in those few locations before hopping back into the limo. We then headed across the street to St. Mary's to capture the final bridal party, bridesmaids, and couple portraits. We started at the bridge on the pond, captured some bridesmaid portraits, then another bridal party portrait before capturing the last portraits of Ryan & Aileen.
At St. Mary's we started at the bridge on the pond, captured some bridesmaid portraits, then another bridal party portrait before capturing the last portraits of Ryan & Aileen.
We captured the final Newly Married portraits of Aileen & Ryan at St. Mary's, then our less than 2 hours outside for Portraits were up! Everyone piled back into the limo and soaked in the air conditioning thankful that they'd no longer need to go outside during the day.
We hopped back in the limo and tried to keep it under wraps on where we were going. We had discussed with Aileen & Ryan how much we all love the Crooked Ewe (a brewery + restaurant near us), so they had planned a surprise for the bridal party: An hour at The Crooked Ewe before heading to the reception! The bridal party all cheered once we got there and everyone headed in to grab a beer.
The upstairs was finished and one room was relatively empty, so once beers were acquired, everyone headed up to the "private" room (called The War Room) and chatted away. At some point toasts started and about 6 of the bridal party members toasted to Aileen & Ryan's relationship. After many heartfelt toasts everyone headed back to the limo to move onto the reception venue. Once we arrived at the Woodward in Downtown South Bend the bridal party all lined up at the front entrance to the event hall and awaited their introduction. Each duo came in and tried their hardest to do their best little dance move on their way to the head table before Aileen and Ryan were finally introduced to the awaiting attendees.
Once we arrived at the Woodward in Downtown South Bend the bridal party all lined up at the front entrance to the event hall and awaited their introduction. Each duo came in and tried their hardest to do their best little dance move on their way to the head table before Aileen and Ryan were finally introduced to the awaiting attendees.
After being announced in to the room, Aileen and Ryan began their festivities by cutting their cake. After the cake was cut Aileen's father gave a welcome speech to everyone and thanked all in attendance for coming to help celebrate this important day. Following this, the Reverend that officiated the ceremony led a prayer before salads were served.
After salads were served it was time for the best man and maid/maiden of honor speeches. The best man gave a great speech cracking Ryan and Aileen up, then was followed by the Maids of Honor. The maids of honor that gave their speeches were both Aileen's sisters who also went to St. Mary's College, so the speeches by this close-knit family were funny and heartfelt. Once the speeches concluded it was time for dinner to be served. While the tables were all dismissed to get food Jason borrowed the wedding rings and got a few details shots of the wedding bands.
Once dinner concluded it was time for the formal dances. The couple chose to take part in the mother/son and father/daughter dances prior to having their first dance together as husband and wife.
Once these dances were complete, Aileen did her bouquet toss (since Ryan had already done the garter & toss at The Crooked Ewe brewery before the reception)! Open Dance then started after the flower toss and the the dance floor crammed full with what seemed like every person in attendance.
We concluded our time photographing for 10 hours as the party kept on raging for another hour and a half!
Congratulations Aileen and Ryan on making things official and becoming Mr. and Mrs. Schwab! We loved being a part of your big day and cannot wait to print your photographs, fill the Keepsake Box we made for you two, and design and make your physical Wedding Album! We hope you two have a (literally) cool time on your Honeymoon in New Zealand and Australia starting TOMORROW!!
Unrelated: Today we photographed little Emmaline Grace's Infant Session in our studio and we cannot wait to share those photos with you all next Weekly Wednesday blog post next week-!! She was less than a week old when we photographed her today and we cannot wait to share these adorable photographs and story with you next Wednesday. In the meantime Jenny's sister and brother-in-law are heading in to visit this week and we'll be spending time with family for a miniature "holiday" this holiday end-of-week and weekend-!