*Dialup warning! This post contains tons of photos!*
Jessica & Steve were married on Oct. 24 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the UI campus. It was nice having both the ceremony and reception in one location! That doesn’t happen very often. The ceremony was beautiful (and we had great light to work with!), and the couple carved out an hour and a half of time for us to shoot portraits of them and their wedding party in between the ceremony and reception while the guests were enjoying cocktails. It worked out perfectly as we had a chance to walk to the Quad and were not rushed as we took lots of relaxed and creative portraits. My assistant for the day was my friend Rob from Still Life Photography and two of my absolute favorite shots of the day are his and I’ll point those out in the post.

I was so excited about the fall colors, and we definitely had a fantastic palette to work with around campus!



And Rob’s view… those red bushes and bokeh (background blury-ness for my non-photog readers!) just make the photo!

They both went to the School of Social Work at UI. “Learning and Labor” is right! And now Steve’s going for another master’s degree!

This one’s mine:

But I like Rob’s version better.

A big thank you goes out to the student who left a piece of chalk on the Quad!


My shot, but Rob’s pose:


Rob’s view from the back (before he instructed Steve on how to dip his bride!):

I love this one Rob captured just before Jess’ walk down the aisle with her dad. It’s moments like this when it’s great to have an assistant photographer shooting with me!

They had one of the best first kisses I had ever seen. Steve, FTW!





Isn’t this groom’s cake sweet?! I couldn’t wait to get home to show my husband. It even had an autographed puck on it!

Vendors:
Ceremony & Reception: Alice Campbell Alumni Center
DJ: Bugbee’s DJ Plus (Greg)
Florist: University of Illinois
Catering: University of Illinois Catering
Cake: Round Barn IGA
Hair: Ruth’s Salon

On Oct. 17 I headed back to my hometown of Mason City (Easton) to photograph the wedding of Ashley and Scott. You can see their engagement session again HERE. I’ve known Scott’s family forever so I was excited to see who all would turn up at the wedding that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Scott and Ashley are also fantastic at the “serious” pose, which you’ll see below. Ashley was all about the candid and non-churchy type photos and I gladly obliged! Here are a few more of my favorites:







FAVORITE:



She’s so happy.

Who needs American Gothic?!





Gorgeous sunset light!

There are a bunch of first dance photos, but this one is just cool looking to me:

Congrats, guys!

Finally, after about a year of planning, several revisions, 3 photo shoots, and tons of phone calls and emails, Oskee in Illini Land is in print! This book is definitely a labor of love, especially for Joanne, who gets to take care of this adorable pooch.

Copies and more information on “Oskee in Illini Land: Memoirs of a Small Canine on a Large College Campus” are available at www.oskeesbook.com.

Up until their engagement session, I hadn’t met Melissa or Kyle and only Melissa’s parents who were big fans of my work. It was great working with both Melissa and Kyle (and her dad who served as chaffeur!) and I love doing engagement sessions prior to weddings because it really gives me a chance to know the couple and their personalities and quirks. Kyle kept reminding me that I’d have to remind him to smile and look at the camera so I am so after lots of practice during the e-session, I am so ready for their wedding!

They took instruction well.

Kyle is one lucky guy!

On Sunday I got to take a short country drive to rural Lovington, Illinois, to do some family portraits for my friend Sarah and her husband Kyle’s family. I actually showed cattle with Kyle and his brother Joel (they showed Shorthorns and I showed Herefords) too. And I was so excited that Kyle knew what my license plate (named after one of my favorite steers) meant! I was also excited to get to shoot pictures with corn, straw bales and a CaseIH combine. Everyone knows that red is the way to go, whether it’s tractors or cattle.

Here are my favorite images from the session:

The three farmers of the bunch:



So adorable! Gotta love those blonde curls and blue eyes!