I met the couple at their venue in Bloomington.
I was blown away by the location. Whenever I'm scheduled for a hotel wedding I'm a little concerned - they can be quite dark and uninteresting.
This place was obviously different - I believe they refer to this room as the "conservatory".
I enjoy hearing about the personal touches that people have actually had a hand in making for their weddings.
After we waiting for the family to assemble (this always takes longer than you plan on), we headed to Centennial Lakes Park in Edina.
We had just under an hour to take all of the family portraits as well as the couple portraits. This is another reason I enjoy working more on my own - I help plan this time a lot more efficiently. But, thankfully, this couple did not have a wedding party and had a relatively small family, so we got through everything at a decent pace.
It was a sunny and windy day - it was a lot more difficult to find good lighting for the larger family shots, especially since we were in a hurry. But we found some great spots for the couple.
You have to be creative when both people are wearing white and there aren't many clean things to sit on. :)
Everyone kept talking about this hair piece, so I made sure to get a couple of extra photos of it.
The couple requested some photos on this little balcony. We were both so happy to see that the flowers are bloomed - the seasons this year have been a little kooky.
I met them back up at the top and we were about to head back to our cars, as we were a couple of minutes over our cut off time, but I couldn't pass up this great spot.
So we grabbed a few more photos before moving on.
Back at the venue, the guests were starting to be seated.
A few final touches before the ceremony began.
I love when there is live music. This dou was really great.
Dinner place settings were already in place in the back of the conservatory for ease of set up. This venue ran things very smoothly.
Only around 30 people were invited to the ceremony and the dinner, so people and time management was a breeze.
Another example of if I would have been in contact with the couple during the planning stages - I couldn't get a great view of their unity candle, since it was basically on a wall rather than a table. And the couple and officiant were so close to the front of the room that I had to stay on the side of the guests rather than get in and see their faces.
After the ceremony, everyone joyfully left for the bar area while dinner was set up.
This is many cases where having two cameras comes in handy - this room is obviously quite different than the conservatory and it required bounced flash. I had one camera set up for each room so I didn't have to be constantly switching my settings and missing important moments.
I was amused that the television was on all evening but no one but the bartender was watching.
Guests were then told to head back to the conservatory for dinner.
What a happy bunch of guests. :)
Dinner looked amazing - again, impressed by the venue.
I enjoyed this delicious salmon for dinner. :)
Kids these days... :P
The conservatory was then set up for dancing and snacks as more guests arrived.
The first dance opened the floor for guests to dance.
I think they practiced.. they were pretty good. :)
