Elise & Matt are MARRIED-! These two Chicagoans tied the knot over the weekend just across the Indiana border in Niles, Michigan out at the Morris Estate-! Their entire wedding day from getting ready in hair, clothing, makeup, etc to their ceremony to their reception all took place there on the scrolling acres of the property. You may remember these two from their Engagement Session in Chicago this summer ( https://www.jennyandjasonphoto.com/blog/elise-matt-pandemic-chicago-engagement-session ) OR you may know Elise if you went to Notre Dame OR Christ the King elementary school OR St. Joseph High School here in South Bend (or both grade school & high school like Jenny, her sister, Elise, & Elise’s brother Bob who was in Jenny’s class for 12 years)-! After meeting Elise’s nephew and sister-in-law at Elise’s end-of-February wedding meeting here in our office, we finally got to meet Matt at their Engagement Session in Chicago this summer and we absolutely love the two of them together (and their 4 pets)-! These two are absolutely hilarious, accommodating, humble, kind, and just all around fun people to be around (as you’ll notice in their wedding day photos). Without further adieu, enjoy Elise & Matt’s WEDDING-!!
Elise & Matt started their morning at Morris Estate where they woke up in different B&Bs on the property! Elise, their families, and her ladies started breakfast, hair, & makeup in the morning at River House - the large mansion B&B on the property while Matt had stayed at and began prepping for their wedding day at the Red Horse Inn there on the property.
Matt and his groomsmen started getting ready later in the day at the Red Horse Inn. You may remember this building from other Spring and Autumn weddings we've captured outside of this B&B building in years past. Matt had slept there the night before and happily got ready there on his wedding day.
Elise actually had TWO dresses for her wedding day- one for most of the day, then another lighter (weight) and more casual dress for late in the evening at the reception! We loved all of her details-! Her wedding dress was definitely one of our absolute FAVORITES from the past 11 years of wedding photography (and her shoes & purse were extremely original and gorgeous- even if she did ultimately opt for tennis shoes)!
With a longer-than-usual morning for prepping, we had a blast joking with these two for hours as they got ready!
As the morning went on Elise was able to pack up gifts for Matt to open on their wedding day, get her hair and makeup done, and write her vows.
Family floated around the B&B as Elise and the ladies got ready. We even spotted a face mask with Elise’s mom’s name on it since she is currently running for Coroner of our city-!! (Yes, we already early voted for her! Who better than a real DOCTOR in the position?!)
Matt was ready first, so he was able to open all of his 5 gifts from Elise-!! He loved them all and even immediately put on his tie clip.
Elise & the ladies continued with their hair & makeup, then all of Elise’s flowers arrived! We made sure that these were taken to the chapel for everyone to final prep in the 2 separate prep rooms for the ceremony in the chapel-!
After having a casual morning, enjoying some Jimmy Johns for lunch, and joking through the morning, soon it was time for Elise to head over to the chapel to get her wedding gown on.
Elise & her ladies headed over to the chapel and got Elise into her gown! We absolutely always love the bride’s fully mirrored dressing room in the bridal suite within the chapel!
Meanwhile, Matt leisurely awaited the last of his groomsmen to get dressed.
Things were getting tight in the schedule to keep the wedding ceremony on time, but Elise was still able to give the corsages to everyone and open her gift from Matt: A digital camera for their upcoming Honeymoon to Napa (which they’re on right now! They’ve been there for a few days now!)
We managed to hide Elise and still get portraits of she and her bridesmaids as well as her immediate family as well! We knew that there was less than an hour before sunset after the ceremony in which to capture portraits of the families and bridal party with the newlyweds (as well as portraits of the Newlyweds themselves), so we made SURE to have everything set and ready to rush portraits after the ceremony-!
In the meantime Matt & his groomsmen got ready and headed out for photos with just Matt. Elise & Matt didn't want to see each other prior to the wedding ceremony, so Jason took Matt, his groomsmen, and Matt's immediate family out further in nature on the property for their pre-wedding portraits with Matt.
We even managed to fit in individual photos of the two of them within the wedding day-!
These were Matt’s last moments unmarried before their wedding ceremony-!
After 6+ hours of being with these two, it was finally time for their WEDDING CEREMONY-! Once finished up with all pre-ceremony portraits, Matt & Elise separately touched up final details in their separate rooms (still not seeing each other) and headed to get in line for their WEDDING ceremony-!!
We loved these Pandemic pins at their ceremony reminding folks to stay 6 Feet apart and Spread Love, but also Wash Your Hands.
The Morris Estate Chapel is notoriously simple and stark white, so the florals within the ceremony were a gorgeous touch!
After the last second addition of Elise’s veil and Matt’s boutineer, things were ready! The guests were all seated (luckily more than 10 gusts since the Michigan law of only 10 allowed for indoor weddings changed just 1 week prior) and the anticipation mounted for Elise to come down the aisle.
The "Ring BEAR" and flower girl made it down the aisle and suddenly Elise had her turn- walked down the aisle by her dad. We swear Matt nearly teared up as he looked on!
With their bridal party flanking their sides and almost all of their loved ones in attendance, these two exchanged vows, then rings, then their First Kiss!
After their ceremony instead of greeting every guest, there was a tunnel made by everyone and Elise & Matt ran down the tunnel to their cheering guests!
After getting well wishes from loved ones, these two headed in to the church to sign the official marriage documents, then headed on to the final formal Family Portraits-!
At this point, guests were already outside and were enjoying cocktail hour out there right next door at the tented reception!
After family portraits inside (as well as a few Newlywed photos of just the two of them), we headed outside for the newlyweds to finally get a photo together with their entire bridal party-!
We'd already captured all of the individual photos of the bridal party members with Matt and Elise separately, so once the main large bridal party photos were over, we headed out with JUST Matt & Elise!
The fall colorful leaves were popping as we captured these two with their bridal party-!
We were racing the early sunset at this point, but we opted to drive just the two of them to the most picturesque spot on the property for their Newlywed Portraits-! Once there, we captured their Newlywed Portraits while finally getting to sort of relax again and joke around!
We arrived back to the chapel & tented outdoor reception just a few minutes past schedule (since we had to walk to the car then drive up from the nature spots far across the property in a valley)-! Right as we got out of our car there were a few drops of rain out of no where, so it was the PERFECT moment for the bridal party to be announced in to the reception!
The reception hall was looking GORGEOUS as we got back up there right after sunset-!
Once announced in with the bridal party, these two made their way straight to the bar, then their own personal newlywed table for two!
After a short blessing, dinner started right away. We headed away to have our meal separately in another building (since we were 8.5 hours into the day) while Matt & Elise headed around to greet their guests.
During the tail end of dinner, toasts and speeches began! Elise’s dad shared some loving wisdom and stories about Elise while welcoming his Son-in-Law officially to the family.
Elise’s Maid of Honor/ her Sister-in-Law delivered her heartfelt speech to Elise & Matt as well. Elise nearly teared up, but kept it stoic as she had throughout the entire day.
The same can’t be said for the Best Man speech-! Their Best Man couldn’t make it from up North in Wisconsin, so he had one of their Bridesmaids deliver his speech for him! At the end she handed these two a gift as Elise teared up, only to be ICED by a gift of alcohol (ye old tradition of being forced to take a knee and chug a small beer bottle sized alcohol).
Soon after the toasts these two cut their cake! They confessed that neither of them really like cake, so the opted for a small cake, milk & cookies desserts for guests, and late night snacks instead. Since neither of them like cake, these two instead fed each other fruit from the top of the cake after they’d cut the cake-!
After cake cutting, these two took to the dance floor for their First Dance-! These two busted out all of the moves, so we couldn’t contain it to just one or two photos-!
Following their First Dance, Elise enjoyed her father-daughter dance. Here is where Elise may have gotten a bit emotional. With all of the joking all day we were moved to see her moved to tears during their dance.
The tears soon went away though as these two goofballs threw in some Addam’s Family waltzes and finally left the dance floor mid-dance for a beer to bring back (since they decided that the song was a bit long).
Next up was Matt’s mother-son dance! These two enjoyed a bit of country music for their dance as they hugged and danced.
Once all of the formalities were over, folks took to the reception games, guest book, Cigar Bar, actual bar, and more-!
Though it wasn’t too cold (maybe in the lower 50s/ upper 40s), these two came prepared with blankets for folks and their gift of hand drawn dinosaur wedding koozies-!
No one seemed to need blankets though as they played games, had some drinks, had some late night snacks, and enjoyed the Cigar Bar outside-!
We loved their neon sign above the Cigar Bar that read “‘Til Death” -! The neon pink was so cool
Back in the tent Elise enjoyed her family and then partook in a Polish tradition involving an apron and folks circling around her.
After some fun, Elise got on the mic and joked, thanked everyone, gave them her realtor MLS number, cheered on her mom for running for Coroner for South Bend, and overall had a great time! You may or may not know this, but Elise was a comedian in Chicago, so she kept us laughing literally ALL day!
Since Michigan has been pretty strict (especially about weddings) there was no Open Dance for guests to enjoy (since it doesn’t encourage Social Distancing), but folks got creative and had fun with music & the DJ still creating a great mood throughout the night.
Before we headed out for the evening, we wanted to capture some final shots of these two at their reception outside at the Cigar Bar.
Elise had a leather jacket made with her new last name on it, so we were thrilled to get to snap a few shots of it and her 2nd wedding dress of the day on-! These two looked especially Epic by their neon light. They enjoyed a couple cigars, gifted us some, and we were on our way after laughing probably the most that we’ve laughed in all 7+ months of the Pandemic (other than at Tiger King… and for that we thank you two)-!!
**Earlier in the morning we were also able to capture some detail photos of their wedding rings, so with that, we bid adieu to their wedding day and their 4th day of marriage-!
Thank you so much, Elise & Matt for having us capture your WEDDING and Engagement Session! We have a blast with you two every single time we get to partake in time with you, so thank you for including us in a bit of your love story! We hope that you’re loving your Honeymoon in Napa right now and “Fuck Jessica Alba! You can QUOTE ME!”
_______ Unrelated: In just a few days we’ll be capturing Samantha for a second time in just a couple months-! You may remember her from her Professional Therapist Headshots a couple months ago, but coming up in a few days we’ll be capturing she and her husband’s Marriage Portraits/ Couple Portraits-! These two loved her photos so much and we had so much fun with them a couple months ago that they automatically decided that they deserved some updated photos together since the last once they had were their wedding photos eons ago-! These two have undergone moves from in the Midwest to out in Arizona and back, so suffice to say that we totally agree that they’re due for a well-deserved update to some lovely portraits of the two of them together-! We love that these two work in similar fields and love hearing all about their work, so we’re really looking forward to Saturday evening with them! Check back next Weekly Wednesday for their Marriage Portrait Teasers-!