Since we're officially coming up on the last day of fall in about a week, we figured we'd share one of our favorite fall weddings this week! A whopping seven years ago Emily and Kendell got married in Columbus, Ohio! These two were married on November 13th, 2010, so they just celebrated their 7 Year Anniversary about a month ago! This couple knew the other photographer (Jamie) that I (Jenny) worked with to photograph their their wedding day and it all went off without a hitch.
The day started at the beautiful Hyatt in downtown Columbus at the edge of the Short North (arts district) with me going off with the groom Kendell and groomsmen to photograph them getting prepared for the ceremony. At the time I lived in the Victorian Village touching the Short North, so for me it was about a two minute drive to the beautiful Hyatt touching high street just at the end of the Short North as one heads to downtown Columbus. The Hyatt is a huge landmark as you head into the downtown area of Columbus, Ohio, so it was an absolute honor to get to photograph wedding preparations there! Kendell got ready in a room with not only his groomsmen, but his mom and his son at his side. His mom was a hoot and had me drink a bit of champagne in the morning as I photographed them all getting ready, so I can definitely say it's the only time I've ever had a drink while working! Kendell's young son was adorable and fun to photograph, but also a reminder to me that there are often so many more people joining together in the marriage union than just the couple. I've photographed a few weddings over the past 8 to 9 years where the bride or groom has a child and it's always a beautiful thing to see the family officially (legally) be joined together, though they already are a family in all other ways. On a sidenote: Since over the past 8.5 years I've normally gone with the bride and women getting ready, this was one of the only times I was able to soley photograph the groom and men getting ready. It's always a leisurely time for the men and they're often done in a matter of 10 minutes freeing up time for them to enjoy beers. For the bride, bridesmaid, and her side, the process almost always takes hours of hair, makeup, and clothing prep starting at the crack of dawn and there aren't generally too many moments of quiet!
While I was photographing Kendell and the men getting ready, Jamie went off to photograph Emily and her bridesmaids getting ready at a house in Columbus. She photographed the preparation for about an hour until a limo came to the house to pick the women up and I continued to photograph for a couple hours at the hotel until the limo came to pick the men up at the Hyatt Regency. The wedding was scheduled for 3:30 p.m., so since the men got picked up about an hour prior to the wedding and since the church was a mere 5 minutes away, I headed home to download images to my computer. My apartment was a mere half block/ a few houses down from their wedding venue of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in the Victorian Village, so I actually walked to their wedding from my apartment! The location of the adorable church is literally nestled in the neighborhood, so the location was very unique. I've heard amazing things about the inclusiveness of the priests there and I actually have friends who attended the church, so I was excited to photograph there!
After arriving to St. Francis, I met up with Jamie and she suggested I capture some wide photos from the church balcony and move around photographing different angles than her. It was a traditional Catholic mass (as are most Catholic weddings/ the majority of weddings we photograph), so it was an hour service. The wedding was beautiful as was the church! I photographed the couple coming out of the church, they hopped into their limo, took a trip around the block, then came back for photos. Afterward we captured not only photos of the families inside, but also some photos outside of everyone on the steps of the church.
We then headed on to the reception venue: the ever amazing and beautiful Franklin Park Conservatory! This is one of my favorite places from the 4 states I've lived in across the country, so it was amazing to get to photograph a wedding here! The conservatory was a quick 15 minutes from the church (just a quick shot through downtown Columbus), so before we knew it we were at the reception! Both inside and outside the conservatory is a stunning place. I have captured Portrait Sessions outside and inside the conservatory before and also just enjoy the conservatory as a beautiful place to relax and look at butterflies and plants, so it was a dream on Emily and Kendell's wedding night.
When we arrived there around 5:30 pm we captured some more photos of Kendell and Emily outside of the conservatory before heading inside to photograph Happy Hour! Happy Hour took place upstairs from the reception hall and though it was a small space, it was alive with beautiful plants, delicious hors d'ourves, and a lively crowd. Guests signed puzzle pieces and mingled as we photographed, then everyone was encouraged to head down to the main room below.
The main dining room/ event space in the conservatory is a huge room regularly used to view the large tropical plants including palm trees and the like! There were Chihuly glass sculptures floating in the air by the floor to ceiling windows and the entire room looked like a beautiful jungle! The tables for guests curved all around the path like a river cutting through the jungle and people began to be seated. I photographed the wedding cake surrounded by tropical plants and suddenly it was 7 p.m. and time for the beautiful couple to be announced!
After Emily and Kendell were announced into the hall it was time for toasts! It was a little difficult moving around without blocking the view of guests since the couple were seated at a table amidst the foliage and the tables curved around the plants without much floor space around, but we captured it all! After the speeches, dinner was served and Jamie and I headed upstairs to eat our meals separately since there was no room for us in the hall. (It's standard to feed your photographer who has been working for you all day since morning and Jason and I actually have it in our contract that if hired for a wedding, we're to be fed during any wedding between 6 and 12 hours. We're always starving on days like this! 10 to 12 hours with no food is dangerous when running around physically working, so it's always a huge relief when it's time for dinner! Half of the time we get the standard wedding meal and sit at a table in the reception hall with everyone, and half of the time we're given sandwiches and a back room to dine in. Either way, food is always appreciated so that we don't pass out!).
Once dinner was over, Emily and Kendell enjoyed their First Dance! Kendell's son joined in and before we knew it, it was time for Open Dance! This crowd was no joke and they danced their butts off well into the night! Our entire work day was to last 10 hours, but I think we actually spend 12 full hours photographing! (This is on the longer side for weddings, but depending on the layout of the day does happen! It's always a bit weird now when we're only hired for 6 hour days because we're commonly photographing for at least 8 to 10 hours not counting the hours prior preparing or the hour when we're trying to pack up and head out.)
Happy Belated Seven Year Anniversary, Emily & Kendell! We hope you two have enjoyed your past 7 years together, parenting, and everything in between! I did a little research to see what these two were up to, and I believe that they have 3 children now and I found this little Bio about Emily from her author profile on Amazon: "Emily Weisner Thompson is a writer and historian. She spent over six years in the National Park Service as a Park Ranger, and is currently the Executive Director of a non-profit museum and historic site. She lives in the very merry town of Santa Claus, Indiana, with her husband and children." It looks like Kendell is also a National Park Ranger which is awesome that they get to work together (speaking from experience, it makes life all the better)!Congrats on all of the success, Emily, and I hope you two are loving life here in Indiana- the city of Santa Claus in December at that!! It truly sounds like you're living the dream.
Some more back story: This wedding in 2010 (at the end of my first year of wedding photography) was the only wedding that I photographed with another photographer rather than solo during my first 5 years of wedding photography. It was nice being able to work with someone else- especially an independent woman similar to me! It's a little hard to look at photos from 7 years ago because I think I've improved photo quality and my "eye" 10 fold, but it's humbling to see photos of weddings we photographed 7 and 8 years ago! Most people try to hide their old wedding photography away because they're ashamed that the quality is lower than their current work, but it's nice to see how far you've come as a professional photographer in my opinion (so judge away!). Much later in my career near the end of my first 5 years of professional wedding photography I was finishing up my second year in my MFA in Fine Art Photography out in California and for only the second time ever worked with another photographer (Kip a friend from high school) who I hired to help me out as a "second shooter." During that time I was in my Master's of Fine Art Photography program- higher than a regular Master's in that like a PhD I can teach at a university rather than just high school level. The stress of being in my last month of classes was high and I had to fly across the country to Indiana to get here to South Bend to capture the wedding, so I felt like having a second photographer stationed in Indiana would be very helpful and I paid him well to help photograph that day.
Just about one month later Jason and I started dating out in California after our classes finished at Brooks Institute (one of the best photography schools in the world) and the rest is history! We're in our fourth year of photographing together and are going on our 9th year as professional wedding photographers. Looking back on this wedding that I photographed 7 years ago shows me not only how much I've grown as a wedding photographer, but also reminds me how amazing it's been photographing weddings in 6 states and 2 countries over the years (California, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, and Puerto RIco). Our wedding clients JUST this year came in for their weddings from SEVEN states including California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, & Indiana, so needless to say it's been a wild ride over the past 9 years! I truly cannot thank our past and present clients enough for trusting us during their big day! It's been an honor to photograph so many weddings for so many people throughout the country over these going on 9 years!
Unrelated: Next week we will be sharing our 4th Annual Christmas card family self portrait here on our blog! Make sure to check back next Wednesday the 20th to check it out (along with our Halloween family photo) and look back on years past! I've had bronchitis for nearly 2 weeks, but we hope to capture that photo this week amidst snow and we may have a few surprises in the photo this year-!