This week we’d like to share with you Bee & Jordan’s legal Wedding Ceremony that was just a few days ago-! We’ve been working with these two for almost TWO YEARS so far (since we started our first wedding chats with them back in mid-2018), we captured Jordan’s sister’s Legal Adoption that fall of 2018, captured their Engagement Session last summer (https://www.jennyandjasonphoto.com/blog/bee-jordan-summer-south-bend-engagement-session), and had plans to capture their FULL wedding day THIS May 24th, 2020… then Covid/ the Pandemic hit. Right when we were working with them on their wedding schedule back in March, things began to start closing due to Covid-19 hitting the U.S.A. at an unprecedented rate, so things went quiet as everyone was frantically trying to figure out school, work, and wedding things.
Bee & Jordan actually JUST graduated from their Universities LAST month-!! Jordan had already secured his new job out on the East Coast and they had plans to get married here in Indiana at the Conservatory & The Brick (in a big wedding wherein we were to capture 10 hours of their big wedding day), then move out to the East Coast to start their new post-graduation lives in July. Due to the Pandemic, their plans have since changed a couple times, BUT they DID graduate on time (after the closing of their campuses, finishing their courses FULLY online, etc), pushed back a new small legal ceremony to June 13th, 2020 set for Bee’s grandma’s house ((so that she could watch their ceremony from the safe indoors if need be), moved their big wedding day (with their loved ones and 2 original venues) back 13 months to June 2021, and moved up their moving date to the East Coast to just about a week & a half from now at the end of June 2020-! Clearly these two have had an IMMENSE amount of things to juggle over the course of their past 2 years of being engaged, but they’re luckily now MARRIED (-!!) as of THIS WEEK and will still be having a huge wedding celebration next summer-!
These two additionally decided to have us capture their legal wedding THIS year as well which is sort of a new thing for us for this Spring/ Summer 2020. Many of our couples over the past 10 years have gotten legally married anywhere from a month to 12 months prior to their big wedding day (either keeping it a secret from their parents OR sort of eloping to a destination wedding), but this year many of our couples were put in these weird circumstances, chose last second to also do a legal wedding ceremony additionally (either on their original wedding date or close to it), keeping the other ceremony and reception planned for a date 4 to 13 months later, and wanted us to capture both days. Our June is filled with every weekend being the same situation- a shorter legal wedding, then a Vow Renewal Wedding Ceremony & full Reception set for later in 2020 now OR even 2021. Given that it’s still a pandemic, these two also chose to have all of their guests masked up to protect their elderly and young immediate family members which you can see in the photos below. Without further adieu, Bee & Jordan’s long awaited WEDDING DAY!!
When we arrived to Bee’s grandma’s house everything was pretty much set up already. Bee’s grandma had a bunch of beautiful benches on her property, so they’d taken these to the backyard and socially distanced these benches out for families to sit on during their legal ceremony. They made sure that households stayed together and Bee’s mom even had masks specifically made for everyone- including vintage camera-patterned ones for the two of us-!
Prior to their wedding ceremony Bee' & Jordan’s families (and a couple bridal party members) gathered outside as they showed up- socially distanced of course. Those who hadn’t met yet introduced themselves to each other, but most seemed to already know each other and enjoy relaxing outside for a second while picking up their newly made masks (to add over the masks they’d brought).
After everyone arrived, folks showed each family their bench/ seating for the ceremony and Bee & Jordan got ready. Bee brushed up on the wedding vows and grabbed their bouquet while Jordan & their officiant (Jordan’s brother) got their flowers placed on them. Soon it was time for the ceremony though, so Bee & Jordan got ready and waited behind their 2 bridal party members until it was time to head down the aisle-!
It was a bit surreal looking out over all of the masked guests, but it felt historic at the same time. Once down the aisle, Jordan, Bee, & their officiant (Bee’s brother) took their masks off. Bee and Jordan had spent time with Bee’s mom & brother (in the same house and also on a trip out East for a Memorial), so these 3 were ok and safe being close together outside.
Bee’s brother did a wonderful job as the officiant. He started out with Bee & Jordan’s wishes by asking that guests please not hug or be intimate with families of other households to remain safe during the Pandemic and he wonderfully lead the wedding ceremony.
Part-way through their wedding ceremony (Wedding Ceremony #1/ prelude to full wedding & reception 2021) 2 of their bridal party members (who were on either side of Jordan & Bee) gave their wedding speeches. One of Bee’s best friends unmasked temporarily to share her happiness about these two finally being wed and then the bridal party member on Jordan’s side did the same. It was a beautiful moment that sort of integrated an aspect of their reception into the wedding!
Shortly after the bridal party speeches, Bee & Jordan exchanged vows. These two reflected on their relationship that had started in high school and underwent everything from a long-distance relationship in college to planning their wedding for 2 years, to the now-Pandemic adjustments that they had to make with each other (pertaining to school/ housing, future work, their upcoming move to the East Coast, and the new double wedding plans)!
These two then exchanged rings….
…kissed and were MARRIED-!
After their ceremony we captured some family group photos with the newlyweds. They placed their masks back on and we captured their around 15 guests with them. We kept immediate families who live in the same household and tried to social distance households per Jordan & Bee’s request, so there were spaces within the photos and we tried to angle ourselves to attempt to visually bridge those gaps through Photo Magic.
We did get some unmasked photos of some families who lived together, or like the case below with some of the bridal party we just spaced unmasked folks out so that they were socially distanced 6 feet apart.
((As you can see, Jordan’s little sister definitely took the mask thing very seriously- masking her ENTIRE face at one point while waiting her turn for photos)).
We captured some funny ones of they and Bee’s brother, then after a few of Bee & Jordan unmasked, they then had a mini reception in the front yard-!
These two had households relegated to different tables even including some poles and string barriers between the tables so that guests when unmasked and eating would remain safely with their household and not forget to keep distance while unmasked.
Bee’s mom MADE ALL of he floral arrangements from the centerpieces to the bouquets to the boutonnieres which were all lovely. Bee decided to organize all of those on the tables with decorated hand sanitizer, antique books, AND little adventuresome golden dinosaurs climbing said books-!
It was lovely outside as everyone enjoyed the wedding mini reception meal.
While guests enjoyed their meal, Bee & Jordan chatted with their guests from afar and we captured images of their wedding rings-! We didn’t include Bee’s Engagement Ring in this round, but we will be doing so during their big wedding day next summer in June 2021!
After their meal these two met us nearby to capture some final Newlywed Portraits! We gave them the old lid we had made them for their wedding photo box (that comes with every wedding) which had on it their original wedding date- May 24th, 2020 (even though it was indeed June 13th, 2020 that day that they ended up getting married this week)-!
We were happy to get to capture these two in some portraits on their wedding day since we’d been looking forward to their wedding day for 2 years already-! Their new wedding date will be about 3 years out from when we first started chatting with them about their wedding, so we’re so glad that they wanted to involve us in their legal wedding day too-!
As we said, these two will be moving out to the East Coast for their new post-college jobs & life in about a week & a half, so we’re so excited to see where life takes them-! We are so excited that unlike many wedding couples we’ve captured in the past 10 years, we’ll actually get to see them again in a year- because we’ll be photographing their big formal wedding day-!
We can’t wait to catch up with them next year and see where the past full year has taken them-! We do try to follow along with our couples’ lives every now-and-then via Instagram (we only follow our couples/ other clients and wedding vendors on there), but it’s always nice being in person!
((As a sidenote: You’ll see some of their fun, not-too-serious personalities reflected in the wonderful Jordan modeling photo above and the monster steps they took off of the bridge to go back to their mini wedding reception there in the end photo)).
Thank you so much Bee & Jordan for including us in your journey over the past 2 years of your relationship AND in the next year when your Wedding Day #2 comes-! CONGRATULATIONS on your first week MARRIED this week and Good Luck with your final packing and preparations for your move to the East Coast in a little over a week-! We can’t wait to finish editing your wedding photos and send that gallery along to you (so we can print these for you too) as a nice memory of the Midwest as you embark on your next journey!
_________ Unrelated:
In less than a couple days we’ll be capturing another legal ceremony (or Wedding Ceremony #1) for one of our Pandemic couples-! They had planned their full wedding day to be on June 19th, 2020, but due to the Pandemic and Notre Dame’s options for couples in late April, these two pushed their wedding day back 4 months from now. They’ll still be having their legal wedding ceremony at Notre Dame in a couple days on their Original wedding date, but will also have a Vow Renewal Wedding Ceremony (Wedding Ceremony #2) at the Basilica in 4 months prior to their Wedding Reception at the Gillespie. We’ll be sharing their couple hours of legal wedding day (including family group formal photos afterward as well as Newlywed Portraits on campus) next Weekly Wednesday, so keep checking back to check out these tough couples as they adapt to the Pandemic and strange, unprecedented 2020 year-!