Kyla and Walt are MARRIED as of this week!!! You may remember Kyla & Walt from their Engagement Session that we captured for the two of them in St. Louis, Missouri in Kyla’s home state when they came back from Germany to the United States in January for a week of contracting work and looking at wedding dresses. It had been unseasonably warm, then snowed beautifully, but then the day we captured their Engagement Session it was pretty frigid with icy winds and icy drizzle (literally the coldest we’ve ever been while photographing professionally for any couple… ever… in over 10 years and they somehow held it together). If you never saw their Engagement Session, here are the Teasers from it (click the following link): https://www.jennyandjasonphoto.com/blog/kyla-and-walt-st-louis-engagement-session-missouri-germany-italy-wedding They were both troopers through the entire thing at multiple locations and even took us out to dinner afterward to chat about their wedding! These two live and work in Germany as contractors for the U.S. government, so they have extremely interesting lives and it was a blast to get to catch up with them. We know these two because Kyla started Jenny’s MFA in Fine Art Photography with her out in Santa Barbara, California over 7 years ago and these two have kept track of each other online. It’s been a great year catching up with these two and being more involved in their lives! Kyla & Walt are currently in Croatia celebrating their honeymoon over the next couple weeks and are loving it. (We’re so happy that everyone made it to the countries they were heading to after Italy!)
The start of Italy: Kyla & Walt were kindly ok with us going to Italy early with the flights they got us, so we spent a week traveling from Pisa to La Spezia to Cinque Terre to Urbino for 4 nights (Jenny’s old city of study & living in her apartment at the end of her freshman year of university) to Florence to Pisa to see the leaning tower and lastly to hot springs and Siena on our own dime with a cheap rental car and awesome AirBnBs booked a half year in advance! After that initial week, we along with all 70 guests checked in to Kyla & Walt’s wedding venue villa in Castlenuovo, Italy at Villa Catignano last Tuesday evening just ONE week ago! Kyla, Walt, family, and many friends drove the 9 hour drive into Italy from Germany stopping along the way at various beautiful vistas, tourist spots, etc! Once finally to the villa near Siena for the wedding week, all of the family, friends, and guests mingled as they sat under amazingly large trees watching as sun set over Siena. The villa sits just about 18 minutes from the city center of Siena, but their plans for the night were to head up about 45 minutes north to around Florence for a meal from the world renowned butcher Dario Secchini at the restaurant Panzano in Chianti (featured on Chef’s Table a Nexflix series). We did not go (had we known we would have gone to photograph it!), rather cooked up some of our groceries that we’d gotten in the week in Italy leading up to Siena! It was a gorgeous night, so we unpacked, got our camera gear and wedding photography clothes all together, and just relaxed. We did manage to capture some photographs of Kyla, Walt, and their guests arriving and mingling before they headed out to the late dinner, though!
The next day on Wednesday many folks slept in and some went off to explore Siena or Florence! We headed over to Siena in the morning as people slept in, but the free parking was so hard to find that we just barely missed their weekly Wednesday Farmer’s Market. We did manage to explore quite a bit, then came back to the villa to capture some photographs around sunset around the villa to get a handle on when sunset would actually be for the wedding the next day (and scout spots to capture portraits). After that we had more work to do and had to sit by the villa’s office in order to get fast internet to post our Weekly Wednesday blog post here on the website! Afterward we went over to find Kyla, Walt, and a few of their friends/ family and started helping them choose songs for their wedding day as well as finish up photo checklists on what they’d want (as well as get a good loose schedule for the wedding day since things were chaotic for these two leading up to the wedding week and they didn’t get a chance to tackle that prior).
The next day came quickly and it was soon Kyla & Walt’s WEDDING DAY at Villa Catignano! What had been calling for rain turned out to be a literally perfect day with weather in the upper 70s/ lower 80s F as the sun shined through after the clouds parted! Kyla and her bridesmaids started the day getting ready with a professional makeup artist and professional hair dresser in the bridal suite 3 room/ 2 bathroom suite that would later serve as Kyla & Walt’s room! Walt and groomsmen got ready in the room immediately next door, so we had to make sure to be careful closing doors and making sure that Walt wasn’t leaving the room too often.
While everyone was getting ready we captured Kyla’s wedding dress, their wedding invitations, Kyla’s shoes, and more!
Jason headed in to Walt and began capturing the guys getting ready and soon it was time for Kyla to get her hair and makeup done prior to getting her wedding dress on!
The entire bridal party had custom hangers with their names on them, Kyla gifted the bridesmaids prosecco with their names and the wedding date on them, and the groomsmen got Star Wars socks from Walt!
Kyla & Walt’s bridal suite that Kyla and her bridesmaids got ready in was a whopping 3 connected rooms with two bathrooms and a secret FULL kitchen hidden in a wardrobe-!
Walt and his groomsmen were literally next to the bridal suite in another hall next door that included a giant living room, kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and multiple bathrooms.
While everyone got ready, Kyla and Walt opened gifts from each other!
They both got each other accessories to wear on their wedding day: Walt getting advice from Kyla’s mom and getting Kyla a long, slender necklace to wear with her plunging neckline wedding gown and Kyla got Walt beautiful cuff links to wear on the wedding day.
Soon it was time to put finishing touches on before being dressed and ready for their ceremony!
Walt and the groomsmen were ready on time, but the pastor was a bit late, so they headed down to the ceremony early. Once Kyla and all of the ladies had their hair and makeup finished, they enjoyed the final bit of prosecco, the ladies got their dresses on, and it was time for Kyla to get her wedding dress on!
Walt’s mom helped him with his boutonniere and he was ready to go!
The morning’s first 4 hours of us photographing preparations had been casual with the pastor being a bit late (due to a car accident near Florence), but soon things ramped up and they asked Kyla to get her dress on and get out to the ceremony ASAP. It became a bit hectic, but things continued as planned with everyone pitching in and helping her finalize her wardrobe.
Once her dress was on, it was out the door to their wedding ceremony!
Kyla & Walt’s ceremony took place right near their room at the villa just outside in the gardens near a picturesque view out to the valley all around!
Walt headed up to the front and awaited his bride as the bridal party headed down the aisle. Kyla’s nieces preceeded her and soon it was time for Kyla to walk down the aisle to her groom! Walt was tearing up as was Kyla as she made her way down the aisle.
The two joined together at the altar and were all smiles!
Kyla & Walt’s wedding was required to be a religious ceremony to be legally binding (with it being Italy), so they had a cute little Italian Baptist pastor who gave a funny and memorable sermon during the ceremony. He had people cracking up with first a funny story from Charlie Brown.
Also an Italian requirement, these two had to sign their marriage document there at the front of the ceremony, but beforehand first partook in a nice candle ceremony wherein their moms lit candles up at the front by the “altar” following which Kyla & Walt took those candles and lit their own together. We loved this beautiful shared moment and symbolic significance!
Once the marriage documents were signed things were official! These two said their heartfelt vows and exchanged rings…
….and Kyla & Walt headed down the aisle a married couple! Guests threw rose petals as they made their way down the aisle lined with lemon trees!
After their ceremony we captured all of their family portraits there at the ceremony spot as yards away Cocktail Hour started outside.
We made sure to grab the pastor as he ran out so that these two could get a photo with him! We then captured they and their immediate families for some formal photos.
After family photos, we finished up with all of the bridal party photos!
We made sure to capture each of them with each member of the bridal party, but we won’t be sharing all of those here in the Wedding Teasers (we already went over our normal number of Teaser photos by DOUBLE!)
After we were finished up with the bridal party, we snapped a couple candid photos of Walt and Kyla, then let them head to Cocktail Hour for a half hour since it was already in the schedule that we’d be doing their Newlywed Portraits at sunset after the reception started up!
Cocktail Hour was also outside just next to where their ceremony was! Folks enjoyed some bruscetta & cheese with their drinks as appetizers and mingled!
Guests signed the Guest Book during Cocktail Hour as well!
Right outside of their room the outdoor portion of their reception was set and ready for dinner! After Cocktail Hour guests headed up and the reception began!
Per the wedding planner’s request, the reception started with Speeches and Toasts from Kyla’s Maid of Honor (best friend) and Walt’s Best Man (best friend).
The speeches were sweet, heartfelt, and funny perfectly starting the dinner portion of the day!
After toasts, the first course was served: A bit of delicious pasta. After the first course, we stepped out for a quick half hour with Kyla & Walt for their newlywed portraits at SUNSET!
It was absolutely gorgeous at the villa and these two were glowing. We were thrilled to get to have this time we’d set aside with them.
We had them head in the little chapel at the villa for some quick portraits, then headed over to the perimeter of the property for some portraits of them by the valley at sunset!
We made sure to also head to their ceremony spot for some portraits of the two of them there where they were officially wed!
We finished up portraits of these two by the maze of shrubbery that leads to the garden where their ceremony location was! Since it’s October, there were some beautiful red leaves down there as well which was beautiful framing for the two of them!
Lastly, we made sure to also capture them in front of their dinner reception location under Kyla’s veil as well!
As the sun set on their Newlywed Portraits, we made sure to capture a handful of solo photos of each of them on their wedding day.
After portraits we all headed back to the reception dinner. Kyla & Walt had only missed the second course of dinner which was one piece of ravioli which was indeed delicious! (It was breaded in a light, flaky crust sort of like a croissant- shout out to our tables for guarding all of our meals so that the four of us could enjoy that second course too!!)
After enjoying the 3rd and main course of thinly sliced meat OR eggplant parmesan, attention was called to a guest whose birthday it was that night! Kyla and Walt went over with a specially made dessert from the villa and sang Happy Birthday to her before their wedding cake itself was brought out!
Kyla headed in in between these times and her dress was bustled up!
Out under the open skies, starts, and twinkle lights surrounded by ivy and roses everyone enjoyed bottles upon bottles of wine and sparkling water while also enjoying the last bit of their meals. After dinner there was time for mingling and then it was time for Kyla & Walt’s Italian wedding cake! The cake was a surprise for the guests and was a traditional 3 layers of crisps & icing cake! The baker came out with all of the pieces of the “cake” disassembled, then right then and there assembled the entire thing in front of everyone!
Walt and Kyla jumped in to have a go at trying to help ice the first layer, then passed the icing back to the baker for him to finish up the entire thing! At the very end he intricately sprinkled fresh fruits over the top of the cake as everyone cheered and shouted! These two then cut their cake and fed it to one another (Kyla later smudging some of the icing on Walt’s nose)!
With that it was time for Phase Two of the reception: Dancing! Since the night became a little cooler, everyone headed into the the stone portico-looking wedding reception hall! The wedding planner had Kyla and Walt start the indoor portion of their reception off with their bouquet and garter toss. One of Kyla’s nieces caught her flowers!
After a nice lap dance on Kyla, Walt then threw the garter to the guys.
Finally it was time for dancing! The dancing started off with Kyla and Walt doing their First Dance followed by the Father-Daughter dance and Mother-Son dance.
The hall was aglow with beautiful colored lights post-sunset and soon everyone was joining in for Open Dance! Walt even got each of us out on the floor at different points after we were done photographing Open Dance for a while! No one was safe from being pulled onto the dance floor!
Earlier in the evening we’d photographed Kyla & Walt’s rings during dinner, so it seemed only fitting to close out their Italian Wedding Teasers with a few images of their rings romantically sitting on the villa’s stone walls.
Since we had to leave the villa at 7 a.m. to catch our flights we headed to our room later in the evening (literally the room above the dance floor) to pack up our final things, get our checked bag ready with olive oils & sauces, and more! An amazing surprise when we got to the room was that Kyla & Walt’s gift to all guests was an olive oil with their names and the wedding date on it AND pasta! One guest told us that when she found out, she rushed right to her room to make a late night snack of pasta and olive oil! Kyla, Walt, and guests danced the night away until 1 a.m. and we nodded off to sleep to some dark techno industrial music playing at the reception. Kyla had brought a minute cooker and a TON of mac & cheese, so we have a feeling everyone came over to their room and had a late night snack!!
The following day at the villa in the afternoon an artisan came in and made fresh woodfired pizzas for all of the guests on their last day at the villa! They were fresh to order and nice reception-esque tables for the guests surrounded the little portable woodfire oven! Everyone soaked in the views, delicious Italian pizzas, and enjoyed their last day at Villa Catignano!
CONGRATULATIONS, Kyla and Walt on such a beautiful wedding and wedding WEEK! Your guests were the absolute BEST being so sweet, smart, funny, and welcoming to us! We felt like everyone was family which is saying a lot since there were about 70 of us there-! We hope that you two are soaking up all of the beauty and food in Croatia and that you continue to enjoy your two week honeymoon there. THANK YOU so, so much for including us in your epic wedding in Italy and we hope to see you in yet another country or state next year! Happy ONE WEEK of Marriage to you two and we cannot wait to continue to edit your wedding photos over the next month so that you can see all of these beautiful photos and start choosing your 150 printed photos for your wooden engraved Keepsake Box as well as the photos for your what-will-be-insanely-gorgeous physical wedding album!!
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Unrelated: Just a couple days after Kyla & Walt’s wedding we also captured Katie & Kevin’s wedding at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana! Travel was hectic leaving Italy (to say the least) with our first flight being delayed a few hours, thus making us miss our 2nd (last) flight home, so we got home 12 hours later than expected on Saturday morning. We were so looking forward to casually downloading the wedding images from Italy, unpacking, charging our camera gear, etc., but it turned out that we had to do ALL of that in airports, shuttles, and cars in transit to 6 different airports. We’re genuinely BLESSED to have gotten the ONLY flight back to the United States left that flew out of London after 4 p.m. on Friday AND that all of those THOUSANDS of dollars of additional flights were free and covered by Gatwick Connects (which is what the initial flights were booked through on Google Flights unbeknownst to us). SHOUT OUT to the workers at the Help Desk at Gatwick Airport in London, our driver that they paid to drive us to the OTHER London airport, Virgin International Airlines for being the BEST airline/ plane we’ve literally ever been on (OMG the amazing hot meals and free drinks galore), the Super Shuttle driver who drove us from JFK to an Uber in NYC, the NYC Uber driver who drove us to Newark, New Jersey, again the man at Gatwick who apparently booked us a United row 10 seat with 4 times the leg room, AND Jenny’s parents for picking us up in Chicago since we had to cancel our rental car for 12 hours earlier and we were afraid being shuttled to the rental car area would be $200 and would take up too much of the precious time we didn’t have. WHEW!
ANYWHO, after an hour & a half of getting to shower at home and pack our camera bags (and download Kyla & Walt’s wedding photos from the 3 external harddrive/ computer/ etc. back-ups that we’d saved them to to our best desktop computer) we then headed to Kevin & Katie’s wedding early to get there a half hour to hour in advance to scout out some portrait spots for their First Look, Newlywed, and bridal party photos! Their Wedding Teasers will be up NEXT Weekly Wednesday here on the blog! Though their day was pretty cold and windy, there was no rain and they were still able to have their wedding ceremony outside! They even opted to have their First Look, bridal party photos, newlywed portraits, AND family portraits ALL outside like the troopers they are! They made the day easy to navigate even with a whopping 200 guests that all kindly made room for us as we ran around!
Coming up THIS weekend we’ll be capturing a few Engagement Sessions from Chicago to South Bend to St. Joe, Michigan. Coming up on the following couple weekends we have Senior Portraits, Family Portrait Sessions, and Newborn Portraits to capture before the last wedding of 2019 for us: Cassie & Jimmy’s Serb Hall South Bend Wedding-! Their wedding is a little over a month away, but we’ll be editing wedding photos non-stop until then! After that first week of November we’re hoping that since everything has run on time so far this year that we will be able to FINISH up ALL physical printed photos for our wedding couples & Engagement Sessions this November & December as folks finish up choosing their images. It will be a hectic time finishing out fall and transitioning in to December, but we have our sights set on 2020-! With weddings being booked for 2020 with only a bit of availability left for next year, we’re SO ready for winter and hopefully a slow February after this crazy fall! CHECK BACK next week for Wedding Teasers from Kevin & Katie’s Indiana Resort wedding-!