Since Kim & Sergio opted to have an intimate destination wedding in Aruba with their family in attendance on June 18th, they then came back to South Bend to celebrate their hometown portion of the wedding on July 5th back in South Bend, Indiana! Since we were both in California in mid-2014 finishing up our last semester/ month & a half of classes for our additional photography degrees out in California (prior to Jenny having her fine art photography MFA Master's solo gallery opening, show, book publication, and defense), it was as many of our wedding work is now: Communicating with Kim and Sergio across the country amidst chaos! (A lot of our clients hire us from out of state and then travel across the country to the Midwest for their weddings and Engagement Sessions, so it makes for a lot of cross-country calls, emails, Skyping, etc!) Luckily Sergio and Kim were very patient and understanding, so everything during the hometown wedding day went off without a hitch!
Backstory: Kim and Jenny have known each other since Jenny was in first grade and Kim was in second grade back in 1993/ 1994 and got to know each other much better when Kim was in 6th grade and Jenny's mom was coaching her team for volleyball! Ironically Kim reached out to Jenny last year, resulting in them both coaching the 5th grade girls' volleyball team at their elementary school alma mater! It's been great re-meeting a friend in adulthood and we've loved being around their amazing family! It's great to have friends who share similar humor, politics, morality, food taste, etc. with, so we're happy that we all now live in the same city. *Oddly enough, the couple Kim & Chris whose wedding we photographed just a week and a half ago at the Notre Dame Basilica had their Maid of Honor (cousin of the bride) who actually bought Jenny's childhood home from her parents just two summers ago (2015) AND on top of that: Kim and Sergio just moved in to their direct neighbor's home recently this summer of 2017!
Anywho, onto their big day! Kim and Sergio got ready at Kim's parents' home nicely set in the woods on the St. Joseph river in South Bend. Her bridesmaids, daughter, and mother all helped her get ready while Sergio had his groomsmen help him get ready in another area of the house. After getting ready themselves, Kim and Sergio hilariously even helped their son de-wrinkle his shirt as he wore it! Everyone enjoyed some calm in the kitchen with a few drinks before we headed outside for some group and couple formal portraits. Kim's parents have a beautiful raised porch out by the water, so we started with some photos down there, got more photos in their gorgeous gazebo with stained glass, and captured even more just right outside in the yard amongst the trees. We even snapped a few of Sergio and Kim giddily enjoying the rope swing in the yard!
We all then headed off to their reception hall "The Woodward" in one of the taller buildings in downtown South Bend. The bridal party and Kim & Sergio's parents lined up and were announced into the reception before speeches started. Kim's mom took the mic and talked a bit, then announcing the Sand Ceremony that Kim, Sergio, and their kids partook in right then and there to signify their lives being permanently intertwined together. (Many of our couples have done this throughout the years and as far as metaphors go, it's a pretty good one). After the Sand Ceremony Kim's young daughter Madelyn gave her sweet candid speech, the Maid of Honor and Best Man gave their speeches and Kim's dad followed with his own speech and blessing. After they gave all of the speeches, Kim & Sergio cut their seashell cake and had their first dance! They invited their bridal party and parents to come dance, had a bit of open dance, and then did their flower toss and garter toss before closing the night out with more dancing (wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble). All-in-all it was a laid back, fun wedding with all of their hometown friends and family in South Bend after a beautiful ceremony in Aruba! We couldn't be more thankful to know you and your family and thanks for contacting Jenny to capture you on your special day!
Happy (Belated) 3 Year Anniversary, Kim & Sergio! It's been great getting to know your newest daughter Gabby and we're excited to catch ya around South Bend more & more in the coming years (because we have a lot to catch up on and volleyball has to be coached)! Here's to a lifetime of memories to come for you and your family :)
We have another throwback to a 6-year anniversary of our clients next week before weddings three weekends in a row! We're really looking forward to your weddings, Liz & Aaron and Caitlin & Joe! We also cannot wait to meet some more amazing couples in person in the next week and are looking forward to all of our late summer/ early fall weddings as well! We'll catch you next week with another wedding! We have a wedding blog post every week coming at ya all the way until November!!!