Katie & Brian are married-! Katie and Brian got married over the weekend here in Northwest Indiana. Their wedding this semi rainy Spring Day took place in Northwest Indiana in Lake Count- a Chicago Metropolitan Area where residents often buy beautiful houses and then commute to their jobs in Chicago. Katie is an Occupational Therapist so when we met them out there initially (prior to their Engagement Session a year ago) we bonded with her over that since both Jenny’s sister & brother-in-law are Occupational Therapists out in Arizona-! We love both Katie & Brian and were glad to have photographed their beautiful Engagement Session a year ago (after meeting them masked in person for their Wedding Consultation in the months prior) which you can look back on here: https://www.jennyandjasonphoto.com/blog/katie-brian-indiana-engagement-session
Back to their wedding day this past weekend: Katie & Brian’s wedding day started out with them both staying in separate rooms of a local hotel with Brian getting ready with the guys at the hotel and Katie heading out with her ladies to the salon to get their hair and makeup done. While Jason joined Brian at the hotel, Jenny met Katie and her ladies at Katie & Brian’s condo in Schererville to photograph some of the process of Katie getting ready for her big day. While Katie waited to get her wedding dress on at the wedding/ reception venue, Jenny was able to capture a few images of Katie and all of her bridesmaids as they prepared for the day. She was also able to photograph Katie’s beautiful wedding dress and some other details before things got into full swing.
We loved seeing their special details of their wedding within their home including the printed Engagement Session photos that we had captured and printed for them (and that Katie’s mom had custom matted & framed for her for Christmas)-!
Katie’s mom even got a bit emotional seeing her daughter before Katie got her wedding dress on-!
Meanwhile, Jason was at the hotel where Brian and his Groomsmen were getting suited up. Brian made sure to look his best as we documented the full process.
Katie and her crew rode over in a spacious travel van and arrived at the wedding venue a few minutes prior to when Brian arrived, so Katie kept perfectly on schedule heading into the bridal suite to get her wedding dress on before heading lakeside for a First Look with her soon-to-be husband-!
While Brian waited for Katie to make her way out to the lake, Jason captured a few photos of just Brian in Brian’s last moments of not being married.
Once Katie has been adorned with her wedding dress, veil, and all of her jewelry/ accessories it was time for the big reveal of their First Look together. It was a cold day with spring rain heading in shortly after, but Katie made sure to push through the cold for her big reveal.
With a rainy/snowy upcoming forecast for the rest of the day, we made sure to take some time before the ceremony for a few Portraits of Katie and Brian together while the weather was still good. We preemptively brought all of our 15 special wedding day/ bridal party umbrellas and made sure to work them into a few of the portraits of the wonderful couple together. (They did also serve a purpose beyond looking pretty).
Once we had captured Katie and Brian First Look, we headed back inside to give Katie and few minutes to warm back up inside before the most important part of the day; the wedding ceremony!
Due to the weather (spring rain), the ceremony was moved indoors instead of the original outdoor ceremony area.
Katie made her way down the aisle to Brian and Katie’s dad handed her off to her groom-!
The couple kept things relatively traditional, but also kept the ceremony a manageable length. They said their loving vows to one another, exchanged rings, and took part in a unity ceremony. After all the formality was taken care of they were excitedly announced to the guests as husband and wife.
The two exchanged vows and with that had their first kiss and were married-!
Immediately following the ceremony it was time for some formal family photos-! These too for the most part were also moved indoors due to the rain outdoors.
For the bridal party photos we were able to make use of a slight lull in the rain and find a dry area to a side of the building. They opted not to use the clear umbrellas that we had set aside for the bridal party as the awning outside did protect them. The brick and tinted reflective windows made a pretty nice backdrop while still keeping everyone warm and dry.
For other formal group family photos we headed back inside-!
Once the bridal party and formal photos were done we headed over to the reception for Cocktail Hour. Katie and Brian wanted to enjoy some of this time, so we used the period to photograph some of the details around the venue. Brian is an avid 3D Printer, and actually designed and printed all of the centerpieces and the cake topper for the wedding (a process that took him literal weeks worth of printing time).
After the cocktail hour it was time for the dinner portion of the reception to begin. The bridal party were all introduced into the hall for the reception before the Newlyweds were finally announced in to massive applause!
Katie welcomed guests, they had a blessing, and then the two of them headed over to cut the cake (East Coast Style timing). They opted for a smaller wedding cake, but also provided mountains of mini pies and desserts for all of their guests!
The cake cutting was then followed by the formal toasts and greetings by some of Katie’s family members. After this, the Best Man and Matron of Honor each gave heartfelt toasts to the couple.
During this time dinner was served to each table and folks enjoyed their multi-course meals!
The next thing on the agenda were the formal dances of the night. Katie and Brian mixed things up starting with the parent dances before having a First Dance of their own together. It began with Katie and her Father followed by Brian and his mother sharing a few moments dancing together for the audience. Finally, these two shared their First Dance as husband and wife which immediately led into an anniversary dance to find the longest married couple (and of course Kick off Open Dance/ the fun reception activities)!
(Above pictured: The winners of the Anniversary Dance)! The rest of the night was spent like any other good wedding: with a combination of greeting guests, mingling, Open Dance, enjoying the Photo Booth, enjoying the giant Music Video screen playing by the DJ, and signing of the cool guest books (both a wooden engraved circle one and a photo album)!
At the end of the night a bit after sunset we concluded with some last Portraits of the Newlyweds (who opted for indoor portraits over outdoors with umbrellas in the last of the rain).
During dinner we had managed to get some beautiful detail shots of their wedding rings and at the end of the night had these to recreate Brian’s favorite: A scene from Star Trek-!
Congratulations to you, Katie & Brian! We had a blast meeting you two masked for your consultation last year out there, capturing your gorgeous Engagement Session for you two last year, and capturing your beautiful wedding day this past week-! We can’t wait to see you two enjoy a lifetime together and hope that you two had a great rest of your wedding night at your reception-! We hope that you two enjoy these hundreds of Teasers as we continue to edit your and other weddings, Engagement Sessions, & Portrait Sessions over the next month-! Woo!