Sarah + Craig :: Forever

What a blast! I can't remember laughing so hard during the toasts as I did during Sarah + Craig's wedding. I could tell you the stories, but you had to be there, honestly. Anyway, Sarah + Craig had one of the most amazing days for a wedding, and we took advantage of it for photos.

From the first moments of the day, Sarah + Craig were fun to be around. They are so full of life, and you can tell that they enjoy each other. Craig always knew how to get Sarah to break out that great smile when we would tell him to.

Sarah + Craig, we wish you guys all the best God has for your lives together. You make a great team, and your sense of humor will carry you a long way! Congratulations!!









The flower girl and ring bearer gave us great looks all day...






Sarah's dad manages this sweet little bar called the Chrome Horse. It's got sweet old motorcycles hanging from the ceiling, and it looks great since it was flooded out last summer.












The ceremony was at St Ludmila in Cedar Rapids, and the reception was at The Longbranch Hotel.

Melissa + Chris :: Forever

This is part 2 of our back-to-back weddings this past weekend.

Melissa + Chris are cool cats. That pretty much sums it up. We had fun with their engagement session back in September in the Iowa City park. The very nice people that work at the park have, since then, totally wrecked the location we worked with that day, which was created by the flood. Why didn't they ask us first? Come on, people. :) Ask a photographer before you wreck stuff!

It was mildly raining on Saturday morning, putting a damper on the plans we had made for their wedding pictures. But, we ended up finding a cool old House Museum to work with for their first glances, which had a nice porch to work under. So while I was waiting for the couple at one point, I grabbed my phone and Twittered "Lousy rain, go away for a few hours" and apparently God has Twitter, because that's what happened! :) It was awesome.

We totally love when a couple takes leadership on ideas for pictures that represent them in some way. That way, your wedding images/album are tailored to who YOU are as a couple. Chris was a very good baseball player in college, so they suggested some baseball pictures would be fun to try. So we grabbed up an old mitt, mask and a bat, which we ended up leaving at Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids. (so if anyone picked them up, let us know!)

Melissa + Chris.... You are a beautiful couple, and we enjoyed working for you both!

Kari + Mike :: Forever

Kari + Mike... We enjoyed working with you two, and very much appreciated your great attitudes with your little mishap early on in the day.  You guys didn't panic, and everything turned out pretty well!  It was a beautiful day, and we were so honored to share it with you and capture it all for you!  We wish you all the best God has for your marriage.... see you soon!

We hadn't photographed much in downtown Cedar Rapids for quite a while, and certainly not since the floods early this summer.  So, we spent some time scouting before the wedding as to where we would go.  We picked a street to take us downtown, and the first thing we found was an abandoned parking lot with some busted up bus stops and these railroad cars that spent some time in the Cedar River a few months ago.  

Stephanie + Derc :: Forever

As promised, here's this past Saturday's wedding.  The ceremony was in Marion, Iowa, and we had a great time!  Everyone was dressed and ready for pictures about 30 minutes early, so we had plenty of time to work before the wedding. :)  I didn't get a picture of it (not sure how you anticipate this shot) but during the ceremony, the video guy in the balcony knocked a black cloth over the railing into the laps of some surprised guests! :)  I'm not sure anyone on stage knew what happened, but the people in the back could barely contain themselves!

During the reception, Derc had one of the most heartfelt speeches that we've ever heard from a groom.  He and Steph have a real connection to their families and it was very evident during the toasts. Thank you both, so very much, for allowing us to be part of your day!  Be blessed....

Sara+Eric :: Love

We don't often get the chance to photograph in, or near, boats, so when Sara and Eric told us that they spend a great deal of time on their pontoon boat... we knew we wanted to use it in the images.  Eric's family has a great little cabin on a lake, so we met them there to check it out.  Fortunately, none of their boats were damaged too badly by the flooding, but some of the boat owners on the lake were not so lucky.  Mike (Eric's dad) was our skipper, and the weather was absolutely perfect. We had a great time on the lake, and stopped off at a few places for some different backgrounds and such, so most of these pictures were taken on or from the boat.

Even little Bella got in on the action...

...and was eventually joined by her friend Ace.