Kelly & Zach are married!! These two tied the knot a few days ago on October 14th at the beautiful Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame. This is a location we love photographing our couples' wedding days at and these two had one of the most memorable weddings there over the weekend. Kelly and Zach have been together around 10 years. The two met in 4th grade, started dating in high school, and have stayed together ever since- through college, Kelly's SLP master's program, moves, etc. They currently reside in Chicago, but knew that they wanted to have their wedding at ND's Basilica, so they put in the work that goes along with booking the Basilica: called incessantly (on the ONE morning per year that Notre Dame books weddings for the Basilica) until they got a spot in the schedule! We loved that many of our clients whose weddings we've photographed got their Basilica date for summer, but it's also cool and unique that Zach and Kelly got a mid-ND football season fall date for their Notre Dame Basilica wedding-! These two after a decade's worth of relationship so far, such deep kindness always, and hard work truly deserved a day all about them and man, did Notre Dame and Morris Park Country Club deliver! It's been fantastic chatting with and working with these two over the past year and a half and without further adieu, Kelly and Zach's wedding day teaser:
The morning started with Kelly, Zach, their bridal party, and families getting ready at Morris Park Country Club (their reception and preparation location). We love capturing wedding days at Morris Park, but this one was unique in that it included both starting there with preparation/ photos and all day rainstorm! The weather didn't bother us as we captured Kelly and her bridesmaids getting ready as well as Zach and his groomsmen getting ready in their beautiful wooden locker room. Zach tried to send Kelly the traditional pre-wedding note, but Kelly was so excited and overcome by emotions that she couldn't bring herself to read it and may have teared up even thinking about Zach and how it was finally their wedding day-!
Suddenly it was time to leave and Zach and the men headed out in their bus to Notre Dame's Basilica. Kelly and the women got her dressed and ready in her wedding gown and waited patiently on the steps of Morris Park staying out of the rain under the awnin. Time seemed to stop for a while and a bit of anxiety mounted as the bus took a while to get back. Finally it arrived and rushed Kelly and her ladies to the Basilica. The bus arrived right on time for the ceremony without a minute to spare, but the Basilica coordinator (ever the class act) let the women settle in, gather their flowers, and unwind a bit for 5 to 10 minutes before starting the ceremony.
Zach awaited his bride at the front of the church as their parents were seated and the bridal party headed up the aisle. Time seemed to almost stand still as we awaited the processional to begin. Although he had done a great job of staying calm throughout the morning Zach now could barely contain his excitement as the bridal party began to come down the aisle. As Kelly emerged from the room at the front of the church Zach's ecstatic reaction at first seeing his bride was obvious to all in attendance. The two met at the front of the church and the ceremony began. The ceremony itself was a traditional Catholic mass including a Mary Adornment ceremony at the read of the Basilica. The two exchanged their vows and rings and were announced before the happy audience.
After the ceremony we were shocked to find that we still had 20 minutes within the Basilica to capture family and bridal party portraits! Though the service had started late, it only went 10 minutes over the allotted time and we had more time than we've had with recent wedding couples within the Basilica (sometimes only having 5, 10, or 15 minutes to stage and photograph everyone due to long homilies!). We were able to capture every group photo on their list provided and even had a couple minutes to capture photos of just the two of them! Kelly and Zach were organized and relieved when we were able to make it out of the Basilica to find that it was barely drizzling and that we could capture as many photos outside as possible!
Once we got outside we were so happy to be able to capture Kelly & Zach's photo of they and their entire party of wedding ceremony attendees on the Main Building steps at Notre Dame-! The forecast had called for continued rain and a thunderstorm starting right then, but it miraculously held off for a half hour of the initial important photos which was fantastic. We were able to photograph their entire bridal party both in front of the Golden Dome and Grotto, the bridesmaids each with Kelly, the groomsmen each with Zach, and some wonderful photos of Kelly and Zach down in the Grotto. When it was time to head about 10 minutes across campus to Touchdown Jesus & the reflecting pool, suddenly the rain started back up with a vengence. Luckily we'd all brought umbrellas and we brought our clear umbrellas that we always have ready in case it rains and we still have to capture portraits after the ceremony-! We decided it'd be best to call the bus for a ride and it carted the absolutely packed bus of all of us over to Touchdown Jesus.
But... did we mention that Kelly and Zach booked the Notre Dame football stadium for an hour of portraits?! Well they did!! This is a rare treat and we were so excited that they had the stadium booked both because it's a unique, fun place for wedding photos DURING the football season AND it was a great place for they, their bridal party, and their families to take cover within the covered outer portion! We were still able to capture the bridal party and Touchdown Jesus- just this time from the vantage point of inside the stadium and with the gates opened-! We then moved on to capture Zach and Kelly within the comfort of the dry hallway where the Play Like A Champion sign (that football players touch for good luck) hangs!
Rain really started coming down after that, but we decided to give it a go on some quick photos on the field of Kelly and Zach amidst the rain under a clear umbrella. We tried to make it quick for them as Kelly didn't want to soak her dress, so we moved them into the tunnel as quickly as we could when we were done. After a few photos with their parents we decided that it'd be great to utilize the rest of their time in the stadium for an epic run down the tunnel of Zach and Kelly with their entire bridal party! We absolutely love how it turned out and made us feel better about the fact that the rain impeded them from running out into the middle of the field for fun photos!
Once finished at the stadium around 4:30, we all walked halfway around the stadium while inside to escape the rain and head right to the bus. It was time for cocktail hour to start soon and Kelly and Zach wanted to head to Morris Park for their room reveal of the reception hall decorated with everything they worked so hard to choose! We all piled back into the bus (with the videographers and Jason heading away separately to get their cars/ getting soaked) and headed over to Morris Park in good spirits. Once there, Kelly and Zach sent their bridal party downstairs as they checked out the decorations. Everything was gorgeous and they were excited for the party to start! Their bridal party and parents even got to check out the reveal early afterward and there were many tears shed out of happiness for the awesome couple!
Included in the reception were beautifully decorated games of Connect 4, card games, etc, a caricature artist drawing portraits of the guests, our favorite harpist (Anna Hagen) playing beautiful harp melodies, a photo booth, and more! Guests enjoyed cocktails in a beautifully partitioned off area of the reception hall as Zach and Kelly greeted each and every person who arrived in a welcome line! Guests signed a special Notre Dame themed keepsake image made of architectural details from around the university spelling the words "Notre Dame" . Once cocktail hour petered down, the bridal party along with Zach and Kelly headed away to be announced into the reception! When announced, Kelly and Zach came out last: hand-in-hand and giddy. These two then started their First Dance which was beautiful. Shortly after their First Dance they cut their cake: A beautiful cake with a surprise Batman back just for Zach!
Following the cake cutting Kelly's father gave a short speech and toast followed by a blessing and prayer offered by Zach grandmother. It was then the time salad and dinner to be served. Dinner was fantastic: fish, full plate-sized steaks, mashed potatoes, buttery green beans, and the works! With rain still pouring down outside, we didn't have a chance to take Zach and Kelly out to the country club grounds, but we did take a few portraits of the two of them around the event space. After dinner it was time for the Maid and Matron of Honor, as well as the Best Man to give their speeches. Zach's best man Kevin gave one of the most memorable speeches we've ever seen, having all the women in attendance return "their keys" to Zach's bachelor pad. This stunt required a some planning to pull off, but he pulled it off like a pro and had all of us surprised and laughing.
A huge, sincere Congratulations to you two, Zach and Kelly! Your wedding day was absolutely beautiful despite any rain (which actually contributed to a beautifully glittery reception!) and you two deserve all of the happiness there is! May you two enjoy the rest of your lives together as much as you've enjoyed the past 10 years together!
Coming up this weekend we have some lovely wedding meetings followed by portraits of Heather and the Hooley family! Following this within the week we have 96th Birthday Portraits of a South Bend resident to capture AND Megan & Nolan's amazing eclectic wedding to capture down in Indianapolis! Between coaching 6th grade volleyball, editing a plethora of images from 3 weddings, and more to come, we are ending October with a BANG and are ready to finish up as much client work as possible in November as we design some client Christmas cards, Save the Dates, and New Year's cards!! We can't wait to share everything to come with ya and have 3 & a half FULL months of client work on blog posts to share with you, so strap in! It's going to be crazy until the beginning of February! Catch ya next Wednesday :D You won't want to miss baby Colette's Newborn Session photos next week of her within her first week of life!! (These are adorable- tune in in a week to catch them!)