Jerri's daughter, Jessica, contacted me a few weeks ago to hire me to shoot some family portraits. She explained that her mom, Jerri, was marrying Mike down in St. John, and the weekend before they left the family was having a dinner party to celebrate. My services were intended to be a surprise gift for Jerri so she could have some formal family photos.
As it turns out, the surprise was on Jessica (and the rest of the family.) Jerri called me about a week later saying that Jessica had spilled the beans about hiring me - but she wanted to let me in on another secret. The family had been a bit disappointed they wouldn't be attending the ceremony in the Caribbean, so as a surprise Jerri and Mike decided to be married that night in St. Charles! None of the family knew the wedding was going to take place, so I had to keep quiet.
On Saturday night, shortly after I arrived at the Embassy Suites where the family dinner was taking place, Jerri and Mike led their 14 family members back to a private room for dinner. A few minutes later, Jessica's 4-year-old daughter came into the room with a small bouquet and she had an announcement - that Mike and Jerri were getting married. Jerri had made a quick change into her wedding dress and the couple came into the room to surprise their family, who were genuinely shocked! They then all shuffled over the the Conservatory in downtown St. Charles for an intimate candlelit ceremony.
What a beautiful venue for an intimate ceremony! Jerri and Mike are still going to St. John next week, but now the trip is a honeymoon instead of a destination wedding :) Congratulations to them, and good work on keeping such a big secret!
Hot pink was the color of the day for Sarah and Dan's wedding on March 14th. Bridesmaids dresses, flowers, reception lighting - they even both had hot pink shoes to wear at the reception! What a fantastic color for photos. The pink light at the reception at Mad Art posed a bit of a challenge for me at first, but in the end I think it made some really cool ambient lighting for their dancing photos. The ceremony was at First United Methodist in St. Charles, which had some pretty great light of its own with all those big windows. Add in the sunshine and warm weather (slightly unexpected in March), and let's just say it was a good day for shooting!
I stayed until the end of the reception to catch the couple's exit, which was pretty entertaining. As a surprise, Sarah's mom rented a vintage police car to escort the couple from the reception to their hotel. They even had a police officer handcuff Sarah and lead her and Dan out to the car - they were both a little shocked, but I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it!
Thanks to Kelly Park for doing a fantastic job second shooting with me for the day. You can view more photos in Sarah and Dan's SLIDESHOW HERE. Congrats to the new Alvarezes!
Sheena might be my biggest blog-stalker :) Or at least the one with the best memory! She remembered all kinds of things from old blog posts - now it's her turn to be blogged!
We went to Main Street St Charles for some engagement photos on Sunday. Sheena's bright red skirt provided some great contrast for the images. It looks great against the green weeds along the riverfront. You may recognize Sheena from Sarah and Dan's wedding photos - I love when I get to see clients partying at other weddings. I'll see these guys partying again at their wedding in September - looking forward to it!
