Zach and Rachel's wedding was lovely and beautiful. Their whole day was just wonderful and they were a joy to be around, and are so obviously in love.
Zach is from Illinois and Rachel is from Malaysia, but they happened to meet while they were both studying abroad in New Zealand. After a romance mostly conducted over Skype, they were married last month in a beautiful ceremony at Le Fer Ballroom at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and are now living back in New Zealand.
I started the day photographing Rachel and Zach separately as they prepared for the wedding with the help of their wedding party and parents. I love capturing the anticipation and little details during this time. The pocketwatch in the photo below belonged to Zach's grandpa.
Zach and Rachel chose not to do a first look, so we did their portraits separately before the ceremony. This little area was right inside the door to Le Fer. I've photographed there several times over the last few years but never really noticed this area before.
If you get married at Le Fer (or really anywhere at St. Mary's) it's a given that you'll have photos taken on these stairs and on the bridge.
Even though they didn't want to actually see each other before the ceremony, Rachel and Zach did want to have a minute together to talk and pray before the wedding. They spent a few moments together here on opposite sides of the door to the ballroom.
I just love these big windows at Le Fer. So perfect for photos!
All the details were just perfect. I loved the colors and just look at that cake! I loved the use of fresh flowers on the cake. The flowers were by Angela's Garden, the cake was made by Tina Sanders, Naomi Vice was the hairstylist, and Nick Spidel and Kim Buger were the musicians.
The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and perfect. Zach's dad performed the ceremony and Rachel's dad said a few words as well. Some of my favorite moments: both fathers placing their hands over Zach's and Rachel's hands during the prayer, Zach and Rachel having communion, and everyone singing Be Thou My Vision.
Both families were amazingly sweet and awesome. I loved meeting all of them!
The flower girls and ring bearer were just the cutest! I also loved the ring bearer's pillow - perfect to represent Zach's Scottish heritage. There was also talk of photos of Zach and his brother in kilts, but were just weren't able to fit it into the day.
When I first met with Rachel and Zach, she said she hoped there would be lots of fall color for their wedding day. Seeing how it was only the end of September, I wasn't holding out a whole lot of hope for much color, but we did find one pretty tree with leaves on the ground under it. We spent a few minutes taking photos with the whole wedding party, then Zach, Rachel and I walked around the campus for some portraits of the two of them.
Their reception was sweet and just perfect for them.
This photo was a special request from Rachel and Zach. It took quite a few tries and a few groomsmen running around like crazy with the sparklers, but I'm pretty happy with the result.
The dancing at the reception was mostly traditional Scottish dances. I think everyone's favorite was the Rose Dance.
This photo is definitely not as sharp as I'd like, but sometimes just having captured the moment is more important than technical perfection. The flower girls were tossing the petals on the dancing couples and then scooping them up and tossing them again, over and over and over. It was the cutest thing.
Zach and Rachel's exit was definitely unique - instead of bubbles or sparklers or whatever, the guests waved glow sticks and tossed them up as Rachel and Zach walked by.
If you're looking for a wedding (or family) photographer in the Wabash Valley or surrounding areas, I'd love to hear from you! Click here to contact me, or go check out my Facebook page or Instagram. Like or follow while you're there!
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