June 12, 2019

Kira & Derek
A Fairfield Iowa Spring Wedding

Weddings

BROWSE BY SEASON:

RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

RECENT WEDDINGS

CATEGORIES:

Welcome to my blog!
Pour yourself a coffee and enjoy browsing through some of my latest work. Stay awhile and say hello!

If you know what you're looking for,
you can use the search bar below
or feel free to browse
by categories.

Hi, I'm Emily.

We were all praying for a break in our rainy spring and the forecast kept changing in the entire week leading up to Kira & Derek’s wedding. It was supposed to be thunderstorming all day, then only 10% chance, then back to 90%, then, on their wedding day, the skies cleared completely and it was humid and sunny! But despite the weather really showing up for them (which we were all very thankful for!), there were a few other hiccups that none of us could have seen coming.

With Kira’s permission, I’m going to share her own words: “I think we are finally coming down off the excitement of the weekend, and are really enjoying our new titles of husband and wife. As most know already, we had some problems Saturday, including that our broken down party bus was replaced with a semi and livestock trailer (special shout out to our groomsman, Colton, and all the other guests who frantically made phone calls to find a ride for us). Also, my beautiful wedding gown tore while giving my first hug of the day; causing us to spend most of the day trying to keep my modesty and make my dress right. While it wasn’t ideal, Derek insists that I still looked beautiful.

“Despite the bumps in our day, we had so many things that went perfectly. In fact, Derek and I have looked at one another multiple times and said we feel so humbled and blessed. The rain stayed away, and the beautiful sun was shining down on us. Neither of us had cold feet, and we were able to finally say our vows with our faith front and center. We missed our late loved ones, but we had a special piece of each of them with us; our favorite was the quilt block once started by my Grandma Jo and finished by her best friend, Wanda, and my mom, just for Derek and I. We just loved our bridal party! We could not be taking on life as a married couple without all of your support. Thank you for bringing the party!

“And to Derek, thank you for holding my hand, reminding me that the hiccups that happened didn’t ruin our day. We wanted perfection, but perfection isn’t what has gotten us through six and a half years. Trust and faith are our strongest features as a couple, and I know those are the things that will help us through life, along with a whole lot of help from our family and friends.”

This was the special quilt block that was gifted to Kira & Derek, a beautiful reminder of her Grandma Jo watching over them.

After we failed our many attempts to get Kira’s broken strap back in place, she made the call to cut the straps completely. We let her dad know she would be running late for their first look together while everyone else did a quick-fix with some double-sided tape just to get her through some of the first photos before they could do a little more justice in the downtown right before the ceremony.

At this point, I would like to give special credit to Kira. As any woman can imagine, the idea of your wedding dress tearing at any point in the day, let alone right at the beginning, is devastating. I wouldn’t wish it for anyone. Kira did allow herself a few tears (probably less than I would have!), but she also rallied in a way I’ve never seen, choosing to embrace her circumstances and smile through it all. She chose to see the bigger picture: that her wedding day wasn’t necessarily about her stunning gown, but instead, that her and the love of her life would become husband and wife. She knew that life has hiccups and some are minor and some are really disappointingly major, but by the end of the day, they were married and that, in itself, was reason enough to shrug off the disappointment, embrace the joy, and celebrate wholeheartedly. Those who know her already knew she’s beautiful, both inside and out, but on her wedding day, she became truly dazzling.

After their first look, we did a few quick portraits of the two of them before heading inside to do family photos. Because it was an early afternoon ceremony, we rearranged our timeline a bit to make the most of the time that day and chose to do the bridal party photos after the ceremony. This all ended up working out well because we were a) running a little behind due to the dress and b) needed a bit of extra time before the ceremony to do some extra pinning and taping to make Kira more comfortable.

But this space!!! It was perfectly positioned to the sun and it was right off of the parking lot at the church; it makes me feel like I’m in a field somewhere in Utah!

As Kira mentioned, the dress wasn’t the only issue that day. As her and Derek were greeting guests after the ceremony, the bridal party discovered that the bus to transport them to photos and then the reception had broken down by the ride on it’s way to the church. They made frantic calls for another ride and, in the end, this is what they found: a semi and a [clean] pig trailer. It arrived just a few minutes before they walked out of the church and the look on their faces was amazing. They just laughed and laughed because what else could you do? Everything ends up working out in the end.

Both of their parents had celebrated big milestone anniversaries so they had the tops of their wedding cakes recreated complete with the original cake toppers and invited their parents to join them in cake cutting as well!

We stepped outside for a few glowy evening portraits, which are some of my favorites from the day. I had a very small frame to work with as there were cars parked beside and in the background of my shot (I am standing very strategically!) and someone mowing the lawn right behind them! But the light was so perfect and that tree gave us some beautiful lush green!