About a month ago, I got the pleasure of photographing a gorgeous wedding, in the little town of Dassel, Minnesota.  (Remember the engagement shots from awhile back?  Yup!  It was that couple.)  Dassel, from me, is just about an 80 minute trip west.  I showed up right around 10:30 in the morning, and met up with the girls at the salon.  (An adorable, tiny, place, called Shear Elegance–right in downtown Dassel.)  I hung out there until noon-ish, when we all headed back to the couple’s home.  (A few blocks from the salon.)  They chose to have the ceremony, and reception, right in their own backyard.  (How cool is that!?)  Every time I get to be a part of someone’s wedding–I’m always in awe of the way everything and everyone, just works together to make things go smoothly.  (I’ve seen them work not so smoothly too–but, that’s definitely the exception.)  This wedding though–the only outside of the family/friend circle help they had was their hairdresser, florist, and makeup artist.   Cousins, parents, siblings, friends…we all had a part to play, from set-up, to catering, to photography–we all had a job to do.  Anyway, here are a few favorite photos from the day…

I adore everything about the emotion in this shot.  We were a few hours, pre-ceremony, and still at the salon.  The bride’s cousin was still getting her hair done (the last one in the group), and the bride had just sat down to practice signing her new last name.

Well, since I’m a huge fan of all things containing sugar–obviously, any wedding with a candy bar will steal my heart.  I decided to grab their ring shot in the candy.  Because…yum!  (And, also, I clearly couldn’t put back all the candy I had played with.  So, I ate it.)

This is the first bride and groom I’ve worked with, ever, that insisted on not seeing each other, all day, until the actual ceremony.  If one of them needed to go outside, they’d have someone else make sure the path was clear.  It was like a dance.  This was such a sweet moment when the bride just wanted to touch her groom for a moment.  And, in the middle of all the noise and chaos, they held hands.  It was beautiful.

I’ve known this girl for a long time now and have seen her in a lot of different lights.  This though, this bridal portrait–this is the most graceful, beautiful, light I have ever seen her in.

The colors they chose for the day were stunning.  Peach, orange, pink and white–against the summery greens of their yard, their colors just felt like a cold bowl of sherbet on a hot summer afternoon.

Even the officiant of their ceremony was a friend.  Their old roommate became ordained in order to marry them.  It was her first wedding, the first time she officiated anything, and she did incredible.

This group is the original, high school, bunch.  They have photos of them through the years at different parties, and other weddings, so this was a fun one to grab!  It’s the first ‘professional’ one they’ve had.  The energy in this group is awesome.

Catering, and all decorations were, again, handled by family.

((Sigh))  These colors.  I love them.

This tent was HUGE.  It contained the dance floor, the food and candy buffet, the cake, the DJ, lights, decorations, AND seating for nearly 200 folks.  Kids played the yard games that were set up closer to the house, they fished (and even caught a couple), people danced, chatted and many of them put up a tent and spent the night right in the backyard.  They even thought to bring in porta potties and set up doughnuts for breakfast!

Anyway, there was a brief look at a day FULL of fun, love, laughs and entertainment. 🙂  I’m, finally, almost done with all the editing both of the weddings I shot.  I’m looking forward to that moment–popping all of their HUNDREDS of photos in their box and handing them over to the Post Office.  THAT is going to be an amazing feeling for me–and for them!