midwest wedding, Middle of the Map Weddings

Engagement Session: Emily and Kyle, Kansas City, Missouri

emmyray — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:59:01 +0000

Today’s e-session was a submission from the bride to be, Emily. Emily was a past customer of mine when I was selling jewelry, and I was so excited to hear from her and share her and Kyle’s adorable pictures. I love the bright pops of color, and the fact that they did some of the shoot at their own home, which always gives an engagement session a super personal feel. Thanks to Emily for her submission and to Jennifer Wetzel Photography for the lovely images.

Floral Friday: Purples and Plums from the Garden

emmyray — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:00:07 +0000

There can be no doubt that purple’s and plums were a huge trend in weddings in 2011, and this color palette doesn’t seem to be stopping for 2012 either. Libby and Matt’s wedding was no exception, but their flowers had a lovely rustic, picked from the garden feel to them. Made up of tons of textural blooms like astible, liatrus, allium, dusty miller, and even a few lovely black centered anemones in a shade of purple to die for. Enjoy the gorgeousness!

Flowers: J-Mac Flowers and Gifts. Photos: Jaclyn Marie Photography.

Real Weddings: Ashley and Wil, Bloomington, Indiana

emmyray — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:29 +0000

Ashley and Wil were both born and raised in Bloomington, and are only three years in age difference. It seems strange that their paths never crossed growing up. They knew about each other, and then one fateful night in 2009 they both ended up getting money from the same ATM machine. As Ashley tells it they hit it off that very night, talking for 2 hours at the cab stand. Soon after they went on their first date, and the rest is history. They wanted their wedding day to represent the things they love most, their hometown, the Hawaiian Islands (where Ashley attended college and Wil proposed), and food! They incorporated little details of these three things throughout their day. Ashley loved the experience of planning her wedding so much that soon after she started her own wedding planning business with her good friend, The Bird & The Bee Wedding Planning and Design. A big thank you to Ashley for sharing her big day, and to Jessika Feltz for the lovely images.

Who, What, Where~ Ceremony: Tree Suite Garden, IU Campus. Reception: Alumni Hall, IU Campus. Photography: Jessika Feltz Photography. Flowers: Artful Bloom. Event Design, and Invitations: The Bird & The Bee Wedding Planning and Design. Cake, and Sweets: Sugar Daddy’s Cakes and Catering. Brides Dress: Allure Bridals. Bridesmaids: Ann Taylor.

Even more details and loveliness…

[Show as slideshow]

From Ashley…

Wil and I are both from Bloomington, IN. Although we’re both from the same small college town, we went to separate schools (including high school – he is 3 years older than me) so we never crossed paths growing up. Fast forward to fall of 2009- about 6 months later on Halloween night. I was dressed as Sandy from and I was at an ATM downtown getting money out to take a cab home. Wil was also at the ATM getting money out to get some pizza. We hit it off immediately- we talked for over 2 hours at the cab stand. The next day, he asked me out and we had our first date, and have been together ever since. I like to think that it was fate that we happened to be at the same ATM at the same time that night.

The ceremony was held in a place called the Tree Suite Garden which is nestled within the student union on IU’s campus and is where Wil studied throughout his college days. It is a beautiful location and we knew that we just had to have our ceremony there. When we were dating we would go out to eat and then walk around campus in the evenings. We used the “A+W” symbol and a tree/leaf theme throughout the wedding since we were getting married in the tree suite garden.

Our wedding colors were green and black and we had orchids and hydrangea for flowers throughout. Orchids are extremely popular in Hawaii and are given as leis for celebrations and other important events-naturally this was something we had to have. We even had fresh leis flown in from Hawaii for the wedding reception that were given to the bridesmaids and Wil.

We especially love eating at restaurants here in town that feature locally grown food, so we chose foods that were in season- butternut squash soup, sweet potato fries, a mashed potato martini bar (YUM!), roasted vegetables, basil chicken and more. We offered donut holes in wax bags from our favorite late-night-snack shop (Cresent Donut) as our wedding favors.

Real Wedding: Leila and Alex, Cincinnati, Ohio

emmyray — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:00:49 +0000

One of the things that struck me the most about Leila and Alex’s wedding was the amazing venue. The Bell Event Center is a cathedral that has been converted into a space for both ceremony and reception. This idea is so unique, and Leila says they were drawn to the location by the beautiful architecture, stained glass, and courtyards. Not to mention the hundreds of candles that make that create a romantic ambiance. A big thank you to Leila for sharing all the details of the day, and to Sunny Studios for the lovely images.

Who, What, Where ~ Ceremony/Reception: The Bell Event Centre. Photography: Sunny Studios. Flowers: Inspired Floral Design. Cake: Tres Belle Cakes. Videography: Lifetime Films. Invites: M Hopple & Company. Wine Tags: Nation Band and Tag.

Even more details and loveliness…

[Show as slideshow]

From Leila…

Alex and I started dating in 2005 while we were in high school. I was a baby 15 year old sophomore and he was a hunky senior soccer player. We was smitten and quickly we realized that we were meant for each other…but at that age we had a lot we needed to do before we got married. We dated long distance for two years while Alex was in Birmingham, Alabama at school and then when I graduated from high school I headed to Birmingham for school too! We are so completely opposite- he is a quiet, analytical, computer programmer and I am a loud, giddy, elementary art teacher, however we complemented each other perfectly…as they say opposites attract and this was the case for us! We were deeply in love and in November of 2009 Alex proposed in front of our huge family.

Instead of a ring pillow, we made a box for my nephew to carry down the aisle. We painted it gold and wrote “With This Ring” on the top. We have it in our home now and it always reminds us what these rings mean to us. We also did something really special to honor my grandmother. She and my mother have always used hankies instead of tissues. I ordered 150 hankies and wrote a poem to describe how special these are to me. I pinned the poem on every hankie and thought about the special women who would be receiving these. It was such a wonderful way to honor my grandmother and incorporate her into our wedding day even though she would not be there to share the day with us. We also had a caricature artist do caricatures for our guests because Alex and I have had quite a few done over the years!

Alex is the IT specialist at his 100 year old family business that makes identification tags. We thought it would fun to incorporate this into our wedding, so we had his cousin design a tag in eggplant with our monogram that we used as wine tags.

The only place we took pictures, other than at The Bell, was at P&G Gardens. Alex and I have driven past this beautiful landmark so many times and every time we dreamed of having our wedding pictures taken there. As I stepped out of the limo to show my gorgeous dress to my groom, I was filled with excitement because finally we were here to take our wedding pictures at the place we had dreamt of for 6 years!

The favorite part of our wedding day would have to be seeing each other for the first time!! It felt so real and we were able to soak up the moment. Then we were able to enjoy every second of the evening!! We had such a blast taking pictures and laughed more in that little bit than we had in a long time. Having that moment actually be there was so incredible! My suggestion to every couple is to just relax and enjoy their wedding day! All of the details will come together, and if something goes wrong you’ll have no idea! Just take a deep breath and enjoy…because the wedding day is wonderful, but married life is even better.

Engagement Session: Valerie and Brian, Pingree Grove, Illinois

emmyray — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:42:18 +0000

Valerie submitted her and Brian’s e-session along with their love story. They met when Valerie was 19 years old at a party at Brian’s house. Valerie says that she took one look into “those baby blues” and the rest was history. Five years later Brian took Valerie on a romantic tour of all the places that were important in their relationship, and then he got down on one knee in front of 60 roses (representing each month they’d been together) and asked her to say “I Do”. For their engagement shots Valerie knew she wanted her best friend from college, Whitney Huynh, to take the pictures. The shot in the small town where they live in all types of fun rustic locations. Thanks so much to Valerie and Brian for sharing their sweet e-session with us and to Whitney for the lovely images.