Maria & Chad's Wedding

Maria & Chad had a beautiful wedding ceremony at Maria's parent's house in Annapolis, IL. Their house on a hill proved to be a beautiful backdrop for this home wedding ceremony on a perfect blue sky day.

I started off the day at the Hair Connection salon in Oblong, IL where the girls were getting their hair and makeup done. Some girls enjoyed it more than others!!



Later, I came to find out that Maria's mom, Martha, is a bit of a local celebrity! The proof was right there in the magazine article with a beautiful picture of her dream home. I definitely felt special being able to photograph a local celebrity! ;)


No matter how hard you try to get everything done before the wedding day, there always seem to be last minute things to take care of on the day of the wedding. Maria was able to take care of everything with ease- which is not easy for everyone.


Speaking of attire, check out this super cute flower girl dress with loose rose petals floating in the tulle! When I saw it hanging on the door in the hallway, it was too precious not to photograph. Of course, the dress doesn't even compare to the flower girl herself - how irresistable! All together now.... "awwwwwwwwww!!!"



I think cuff links are universally the most confusing part of putting on wedding attire for men, but they always seem to figure it out!


One of the things that Martha said to me was how much she wanted a sepia bridal portrait of her daughter to go with the other sepia family photos that hung in her hallway. Sepia is no problem - but traditional bridal portraiture is not really my forté, so I gave it a shot and tried something a little different with dramatic lighting and slightly unconventional posing. What do you think?


Maria & Chad decided to make their children a special part of their ceremony. More and more often a bride & groom will give a rose to their parents during the ceremony as a token of thanks, which Maria & Chad did, but they also gave them to each other's children with the promise to care for them and treat them like their own. It was a very sweet touch.



Being a "city-girl" for most of my life, I never really played around with four-wheelers until I dated a "country-boy" (before I met my husband). Now I understand the joy of just taking off into the wilderness and riding around on trails with little to stand in your way. Some people take their boats out for an afternoon of relaxing, but when you don't have a big lake, you can still take off into nature on a four-wheeler. Thus, it's only appropriate to get a picture on one of the favorite family toys.


I still can't figure out why, but this is one of my favorite unexpected portraits of the day.


The reception followed shortly after at the VFW in Robinson, IL and it was easy to see how in love Maria & Chad were in everything they did - never holding back their affection, which became contagious and inspired everyone in the room to be more loving.




Maria's dad had no problem tearing up the dance floor with his daughter! Look at them go!


Name that tune!!


Maria's daughter was a tough cookie to crack. She started off the day with many more scowels than smiles, but by the end of the day she was all smiles and having a blast at her mom's wedding. I know that in the next few years, the distance will grow between these two- as it naturally does when a daughter progresses through her teens and seeks to define herself, but I hope that images like this one will help them remember their love for each other and how much fun they can have together.


I think this image is a slight foreshadowing of the total shirt removing that happened later in the evening. In any case, many of the guests had me in tears laughing throughout the night! I just love people... they're always full of surprises.


Maria & Chad - I wish you many more years of laughs, tears, and good memories!