It was a crisp fall day this past Saturday for Laura and Matt’s wedding, but it was nothing compared to the temperatures we braved for their engagement session this past winter. This time, instead of snow, we had beautiful, bright autumn foliage as our backdrop and it could not have been more glorious.

The joy surrounding Matt and Laura was palpable on their wedding day. It was exactly a year since Matt had proposed on their vacation to Disney and that proposal was less than a year after meeting each other. “I walked away knowing I would never have a first date again,” Laura recalled. “I called my mom and told her to get the invitations ready. I just knew. I had known about halfway through the date. I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is the man God created for me.’ I told him not even two months after being with him that I was going to marry him and he was over the moon. I still remember his grin.”

Once they knew they were going to get married, Matt’s first thought was to propose in Disney World. They were already excited to be going there for Laura’s work conference so it only made sense to him to propose too. “After I got the ring from our jeweler (which was a close call getting it done in time), I knew everything would work out. I planned to propose in front of Cinderella’s castle and have the Disney person taking our pictures.”

Laura knew it was coming–in fact, I had talked with them right before they left and I had told them to text me a picture afterwards!–but she said she was still surprised and overjoyed. “I cried with happiness because it was such a beautiful moment. I was bouncing and smiling and I just wanted to hug him. People were clapping for us and just writing this, makes me cry those happy tears again.”

Now, a year after that fairytale moment, they had their own true fairytale wedding day filled with so much love and support from their family and friends. It was a joy to be part of their day and I am so honored to be able to consider them both clients and friends now!

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I first got to photograph Morgan and her family back in 2016 and, throughout these past 4 years, it’s been so much fun to watch her grow up. She’s now in her senior year at Liberty High and planning ahead towards college next year.

Morgan has an easy smile and a beautiful laugh and she was a really great sport when we had to reschedule due to rain and then landed ourselves on a super windy afternoon. Thankfully, the wind died down right as the session started and I was also able to find some strategic locations that would be a bit more sheltered.

Happy senior year, Morgan! COVID-19 has forced a lot of pivoting and reshuffling of our ideas and plans and expectations, but I hope you’re able to use those forced-challenges to become an adult who can roll with the punches and find success even in the alternate plans.

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One thing the Midwest does well is autumn. And when you combine Iowa autumn with Katy’s parents’ wooded yard, it makes for the most stunning wedding backdrop.

As with many weddings this year, Katy & Chris’ wedding plans changed due to the pandemic and, when the idea came up to go forward with the wedding, but make it much smaller and move it to her parents’ home, she was most worried that it would stress her parents out trying to get everything ready. Thankfully, her parents were completely on board with it (even while blissfully unaware that a derecho would hit in the meantime and force some major cleanup). The week of the wedding, lots of winds hit, prematurely forcing a lot of leaves to come down, but it made for the most quintessential fall crunching underfoot. On Sunday morning, I woke up to the sound of rain and my first thought was, “It’s okay. Rain now and get it over with.” The rain cleared up by noon and everything could go forward as planned; even the dirt path down to the ceremony spot was dry enough to make for easy walking! It was chilly–the warmest it got was 41 degrees–but the sun even popped out later in the afternoon.

It was such a joy to meet Katy & Chris’ families and friends and I’m especially grateful to Katy’s family for being such gracious and kind hosts and giving me complete trust and access to their home and land, allowing me to capture the pieces of the wedding day that can remembered forever.

Katy & Chris, I’m so happy for you both! Your happiness and love is evident to anyone who is around you and I am so honored to have gotten to witness it and celebrate with you!

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I get the pleasure of often photographing the Ohloff family and actually met Elisabeth’s family at her and Seth’s wedding a few years ago (you’ll see some familiar faces in the bridal party)! When I recently photographed the Ohloffs, they wondered it would be possible to set up this extended family session and I was so glad we could find a date that worked for everyone!

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It was no surprise that October 10, 2020 would be a big wedding date since it landed on a Saturday and I was thrilled when Amanda & Tyler booked me for their wedding at Bien Venu in Cedar Falls. They are both originally from Iowa, but when they booked me, they lived in Utah and, since then, they’ve moved to Kansas City. We were able to sneak in their engagement session a few weeks ago when they were back for some wedding planning and we instantly clicked. I knew their wedding day was going to be so much fun and filled with so much joy.

As far as weather goes, October is typically gorgeous, but the actual temperatures can vary a lot. Two weeks ago, we had a solid 7 days of 50s. Then last week, we had 80s again. Saturday ended up being perfect. Warm, but not hot; sunny and clear.

I arrived to find a large room for the ladies with lots of natural light (praise!) and Amanda had all of her details organized in a box for me, which is always so appreciated! This color palette is so beautiful and I had so much fun putting all these shots together, the combination of the colors and beautiful natural light inspiring me!

Amanda and Tyler chose to do a first look and, let me just say, photographing first looks never gets old. There’s always this moment just before where nerves get a little overwhelmed and excited and then that moment, that moment of seeing your love on your wedding day, emotions burst–whether laughter or tears or beaming smiles–and it is so much fun to witness.

Just down the road from the venue is a beautiful park and so, after their first look, we drove to the park for their photos and then the bridal party joined us there as well. The autumn colors weren’t playing around!

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The Gingerich family lives on a beautiful piece of land in the Kalona area where I have been lucky enough to photograph before so I knew when Bailey reached out for family photos that we could use the space surrounding their home! It was the most perfect afternoon with glorious sunshine and I love how bright and happy all these photos are.

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