You may remember Marisa & Erik from their Notre Dame Engagement Session with us in the fall-! (If you don’t, here’s that from Notre Dame back in the fall: https://www.jennyandjasonphoto.com/blog/marisa-erik-south-bend-engagement-session-notre-dame-sunset ). These two met at Marisa’s alma mater of Notre Dame since these two are employed by the University! They were engaged at the beginning of 2019 and have patiently been awaiting their June 27th, 2020 wedding date… that is until the Pandemic came along. Once Notre Dame started giving our Spring & Summer wedding couples new dates, Marisa & Erik worked hard to communicate with us and their reception venue (The Armory) to figure out a new date that would work for their families and vendors from the few dates given to them by the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame. Much like all of our couples from March through July, they made the hard decision to push their big wedding date back by about 5 months to the first few days of December this late fall 2020.
We had just made their Wedding Invitations, they’d sent them out to everyone, and then these two were then forced to make a tough decision about a month in to the Pandemic to change their wedding date. They handled the entire situation with such grace (as have all of our couples) and we’re so proud of them for their swift decision making abilities. They rallied their families, rescheduled, and kept going- even back in April efficiently deciding to add on a Bonus Wedding (legal wedding) of their original wedding date in June. Since ND gave this as an option, they chose to have their legal wedding (Bonus Wedding) day at their home church: St. Jude Catholic Church. That’s where we’ll start their wedding/ marriage story…
Just a few days ago over the weekend, Erik & Marisa were legally wed at St. Jude Catholic Church here in South Bend, Indiana on their Bonus Wedding Day with a small group of 11 family members attending ON their original wedding date of June 27th, 2020! This month our couples’ weddings have really only been comprised of 7 to 15 guests which is a far cry from the 150 to 300 guest weddings that we always capture every year throughout the year (for the past 10 years). These intimate legal weddings are actually very beautiful and really drive home the importance of your “inner circle.” Though masked and socially distant, these families couldn’t be any emotionally closer than recently when they’ve helped our couples deal with the intense stress of rescheduling their big wedding days that they’ve planned for for a whopping YEAR or TWO!
On their wedding day over the weekend a few days ago we met Erik inside of the church before their wedding ceremony, then met Marisa in the parking lot as she arrived fully dressed and ready in her wedding gown! She had all of the ladies with her and headed into the lobby of the church to await being announced in to their wedding while Erik organized the men inside of the church.
Loved ones helped Marisa with her veil and soon it was time for everyone to take their places in the church. Erik linked arms with his parents at the back of the church while below/ down the steps Marisa’s parents prepared to walk their daughter down the aisle to Erik.
It was lovely to finally hear music again at a wedding for the first time this Pandemic in this our 4th weekend for our couples-! These two had a live masked piano player (we assume a friend?) and a recording of a voice singing as Marisa made her way down the aisle. We very much appreciated and didn’t take for granted this seemingly simple thing of music filling the air to start their wedding ceremony since it’d been a good while since we’ve captured a wedding that allowed music during this Pandemic (since live music was removed from all other weddings so far for the safety of the singers and also loved ones attending the weddings).
As Marisa came down the aisle to Erik accompanied by her parents you could see the overwhelming happiness and emotion in their eyes! These two have been planning for over a year for their wedding and the past 3.5 months have been pretty stressful trying to plan and change wedding plans amidst a literal worldwide Pandemic. These two had each other throughout it all though and their teamwork is what ultimately got them through to this day (not to mention… really all of the days of their entire relationship)!
Their families were fully masked up in matching white masks that Marisa & Erik bought for their wedding day (and Marisa & Erik even hand stamped their own with their names/ wedding information)! Their parents gave readings throughout the mass AND even their priest had a personal connection to them (which we’ll explain in a bit).
The families stayed separate on either side of the aisle to stay safely with their own households, but all were also masked up. Their priest actually had a mask on most of the time, but took it off for the Homily. He spoke about how he and Marisa had actually been on a group Mission Trip to Spain and how difficult the trip had been at times, but how they got through it all together with teamwork. He reflected on how this is the sort of teamwork that Marisa & Erik will need to continue in good times and in bad to get through things together.
There was Eucharist during the mass (again without wine/ the blood). Erik and Marisa also exchanged their wedding vows and wedding rings as a pledge of their lifelong love.
Their priest Father Terry gave them one final blessing (also calling ALL of their immediate family members up to the front of the church for the special intimate moment)…
…and with the First Kiss these two were finally NEWLYWEDS-!!
These two signed their marriage documents quickly and were off to a few photos with the family at the front of the church.
After only 3 group photos within the church, their family members headed over to Marisa & Erik’s house for a mini reception! We kept Marisa & Erik at their home church of St. Jude for a bit afterward for a few more Newlywed photos of just the two of them.
The stained glass was gorgeous inside, so we made sure to take advantage of these two looking lovely within their church for some final Newlywed and individual portraits.
Outside of the church we captured their customized Covid masks on them…
…as well as the original wedding box lid that we made them with this day- their original wedding date- day on it. As with all of our other clients we’re actually making them a new lid to reflect their public wedding day coming up in a bit over 5 months, but we figured we’d honor their original date/ legal Bonus Wedding date!
Upon arriving home for their reception, Erik carried Marisa into their home!
Marisa removed her wedding shoes and veil, then everyone headed outside for some final group family photos that Marisa & Erik had chosen to have!
It was pretty warm out, so we worked swiftly to try to capture all of the group photos as quickly as possible (and during a cloud covering for them if possible)!
Only a few of the family group photos are shown here, but we ended up with almost 2,000 images for the few hours we were there, so there are plenty to come as we edit for their full gallery of wedding photos-! Everyone was so lovely and we’re so happy that we have now met and have gotten to know their immediate families! We’ll feel so at home once we get to their BIG wedding day in 5 months at the end of fall-!
We ended our time with these two on their Bonus Wedding Day with some final portraits of these two newlyweds in their own backyard during their mini reception!
Jason even stubbornly demanded that we stay longer to capture some detail shots of their rings on succulents in their garden, so we even managed to snag a handful of those while with them-!
Thank you so much Marisa & Erik for having us at your Bonus Wedding Day and for navigating these weird Pandemic wedding waters with us-!! We so, so appreciate the gifts you gave us and the sweet note that came with it. (We are SO excited to use one in particular for a special evening this summer at your favorite place)-! We will continue to edit all of your wedding photos, can’t wait for you to see these, AND cannot wait to capture your BIG wedding day in 5 months-!! We’re so happy that we still got to celebrate you two on your original wedding date and are so thankful for you both. None of us ever saw this crazy year of hurdles coming, but we’re so thankful that we can always remember how we all did our very best every day through Spring and finally made it to your wedding day-!! We are so proud of you two and just want to remind you that you are so very appreciated, loved, and phenomenal. Thank you for having us along on this journey during part of your love story!
_________________ Unrelated:
We’re currently working every day finishing up edits of 2 weddings which we hope to finish next weekend, though that is not a hard end date. We’ve also already printed, packaged, and delivered 67 professionally printed photographs for 5 orders this week (and we’re only on Day 3). We have had inquiries of various things we’ve never in 10 years been asked to capture: Pandemic Newborn Sessions (jury’s out on these for us especially for In Studio- we only felt ethical/ comfortable with ONLY Jenny capturing her nephew’s Newborn Session), private intimate First Communions at Notre Dame (Pandemic style), the regular Professional Headshots (our in-studio not quite yet opened due to Covid safety concerns), last second weddings, rescheduled Chicago Engagement Sessions, and more.
We’re taking our first weekend off in over a month in a couple days this weekend to spend some adventure time with our pets since it’s a holiday. Our puppy is just over 10 months old and is seemingly in large part a Border Collie (which we didn’t know), so we’re trying to get her used to water/ potentially swimming. Our other dog (mostly Viszla & Greyhound) hates water, so it’s a struggle. Our cat is extremely elderly at this point, but he’s a great calm photo editing assistant. It’s been at times overwhelming to be stuck with these 3 goobers all of the Pandemic (with experts calling for just leaving your house without your puppy so the puppy doesn’t get insecure/ needy attachment to you and act out), but we love our little fur family. We hope that you and your household have stayed healthy and safe over the past 3.5 months of the Pandemic and we hope that you are planning for a more low-key, irregular 4th of July weekend what with the Covid rates again soaring in our nation. Much love to you all and we’ll catch you next Weekly Wednesday… hopefully with the new Newborn Session to share-!!