A few days ago, I shared Alyssa’s bridal session from St. Louis. Well, today we travel even further. We actually crossed the line and went into Illinois for their wedding. This was only my second wedding ever in the state, and it was a special one. Alyssa and Austin are a special couple. Like I said before, they are so kind and easy going and grateful. Everything was wonderful from start to finish.
Getting Ready
The first amazing thing was Alyssa’s dresses. That’s right. Plural. Three actually. She’s a style queen, so it made since that she wanted different dresses for different parts of the day. Luckily. there were three spots for hanging, so we were able to capture all three at once.
While upstairs, we did two first looks: one with her dad, and one with Austin. Her dad didn’t get super emotional because I think he’s more the goofy type, but Austin had the biggest smile, and you could see it in his eyes.
The Wedding Ceremony
From there, we went to the ceremony. It was an old Catholic church, but they were much more relaxed and easy to deal with than most Catholic churches. It made our job a lot easier. They did a fun exit after the ceremony and then it was really time for fun.
The Reception
We traveled to this hole in the wall bar. It was a place they spent a lot of time in the past. It has pool, darts, games, and just a really fun atmosphere. They stayed and had a good time for about two hours before it was time to kick off the reception.
The highlight of the reception for me was the father daughter dance. It started out normal, but then they broke out in a choreographed dance. At one point, Alyssa even rolled over her father’s back in a cartwheel type move. The rest of the night was dancing and fun.
It’s so crazy how all of this happened. What’s the chance of me connecting with a girl that lives in Illinois, but it did happen, and I’m so happy it did. Alyssa and Austin are one of my favorite couples of all time, and I’m so happy for them!