Just a few days ago Mike & Amy celebrated their wedding day in Southwest Michigan! Though they live in Chicago, Amy is originally from Michigan, so they chose to have their big day at The Blue Dress Barn in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The travel is a little under 2 hours from Chicago, so it's not that bad of a trip for a cool barn wedding near Lake Michigan! (It's only about 40 minutes from us here in South Bend, Indiana and we just photographed wedding photos up in Benton Harbor at The Stonegate Manor a couple weeks ago and checked out the foliage at The Blue Dress barn a week prior to the wedding, so the drive is one we've done quite a bit this month!) We tracked the wedding day weather for weeks leading up to the big day: Weather had originally called for hot 75 degrees, then called for rain and 50 degrees, but on the day of the forecast again changed and it luckily panned out to be no rain and a nice 60 degrees with sun peeking through the clouds during and after the ceremony!
But let's backtrack for a second and explain how we know these two. Mike and Jenny actually met a whopping 12 years ago at University in Urbino, Italy during a study abroad! The small group of students studying abroad from Miami University of Ohio (209 year old school in NO way related to Florida) got to know each other very well throughout the months they lived in apartments around the city and studied Italian for a few hours a day all week, so it was quick friendship since day one. Jenny and Mike have kept in touch randomly and met up with the Italy friends back in Ohio during and after college, then again after college in Chicago a few times for group outings since Mike moved there and many friends from the program/ elsewhere were also in Chicago or nearby! We met with Mike and Amy at their apartment earlier last year (so that none of us would be tempted to get too caffeinated at the Starbucks right next to them) and we loved Amy the moment we met her. Amy is a teacher in Chicago (and an artist). We love that she and Mike aren't from Illinois, yet made a life for themselves in Chicago. We have lived in a handful of states ourselves, so it was great to hear about Mike's life back in Kentucky, we of course know a good bit about Mike's portion of life in Ohio, Amy growing up in Michigan, and their current place in Chicago! And of course that they love cats too. (Guys love cats too!) We truly believe that Mike & Amy are a great pair that balance each other out and without further adieu, here's the story of their wedding day:
The bridal party along with Amy and Mike all arrived at The Blue Dress barn on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. to a fog-filled nature scene. There was worry of rain, but at the last second the day no longer called for rain at all! The fog parted and by the time we got there the fog was gone and the weather was starting to warm. When we got there at 2 p.m. Amy, her mom, and her bridesmaids were all getting ready in the Bridal Suite under the barn. Mike and his groomsmen were on the other side of the barn getting ready in "Big Blue" which is an amazing camper van converted into a dressing room of sorts for the groom. Amy had already gotten her hair done by the hairdresser and was doing some last makeup adjustments while Mike and the men were putting the finishing details into their outfits. Jenny grabbed Amy's dress for a few photos outside, then when she went back in it was time for Mike and Amy to open each others' pre-wedding gifts!
Amy gifted Mike amazing wood cufflinks engraved with their first initials and Mike loved them and put them on immediately. Mike gifted Amy a few things: First, a couple video greetings recorded JUST for Amy on her wedding day from a couple of her favorite reality show stars! Amy was overwhelmed with tears from the note and even more so the videos. It didn't end there, though. Mike also gifted her a locket necklace with a buffalo nickel on it which inside held a sweet message from Mike. Amy was overwhelmed by emotions by each and every gift asking, "Was it like this for you too?!" to see if one of her friends (who had recently gotten married) had also been overwhelmed by emotions on her wedding day. Her friend reassured her that a wedding day is definitely comprised of ALL of the emotions and that it's normal to feel overwhelmed by the waves of feelings.
After the gift exchange, we photographed Amy and Mike's sides of the families with them separately (so that Mike and Amy didn't see each other before the ceremony at all) as well as Amy with her bridesmaids and Mike with his groomsmen. This ensured that after the ceremony when we may not have a lot of time that we'd be able to get all of the big group photos and final formal portraits before the two of them could go off and enjoy the reception!
Once those photos were finished it was about time for the ceremony! We both walked a little over 20 feet to the beautiful ceremony spot at the front of the barn (rather than the side venue that's also an option for couples) and took our places as we photographed the attendees mingling.
Before we knew it, immediate family members were being walked to their seats, Mike proceeded to the front, then the bridesmaids and groomsmen came in from both sides and up the aisle together. Amy was then walked out of the bridal suite by her dad and Mike's face lit up! As Amy and her father approached the back of the aisle, the clouds parted for a brief few moments and the sun shined down onto the ceremony. It was something straight out of a movie. A violinist perched on a balcony played a traditional wedding song as the ceremony began. Amy then made her way down the main aisle, where her father handed her off to Mike at the front of the ceremony space beneath a decorated trellis.
The ceremony began with the officiant (a friend of Mike and Amy) sharing a few words about his role for the day and his feelings regarding the importance of the union between these two. It's not often that the wedding officiant is actually close friends with the couple, so it's very special that he knew these two personally and knew them well. It's always very special when the officiant can actually genuinely speak to the relationship of the couple and he did an amazing job talking about the two of them and the real hurdles that relationships sometimes face.
The ceremony then moved along with Mike's sister sharing a short special message to commemorate the occasion. Following this, Mike and Amy shared their personal handwritten and emotionally moving vows with one another. They expressed their deep love and caring for each other through their heartfelt words and vowed to be there for one another through thick and thin.
The ringbearer (Mike's nephew) then presented the rings to Amy and Mike (following a small bribe of a tiny toy dog and a pack of grape Pez). With the rings in hand the two took turns sliding their wedding bands onto each others' ring finger. They sealed the deal with a first kiss after being announced to the happy crowd as husband and wife.
The guests were then treated to a cocktail hour on the beautiful grounds around The Blue Barn. Amy, Mike, and their best man and maid of honor headed back over to big blue to sign the marriage license and make it official on paper.
Being the head of a skeeball league in Chicago and having many avid fans and players of the game in attendance, Mike made sure to include a couple of skee ball themed games emblazoned with the league logo. There was both a "putt skee" game as well as a ball toss game themed after a classic skee ball game. We photographed cocktail hour festivities before grabbing the happy couple for a few large group photos featuring both families, the full skee ball league, and the full bridal party.
For the full bridal party we did a few photos in both the ceremony location as well as the large back of the barn!
Before heading inside for Amy and Mike's grand entrance we took a few moments to photograph just the two of them and let them practice the choreography for their first dance.
While Amy and Mike prepared for their entrance we entered the barn to take a few detail images of the beautiful rustic decorations around the reception space.
Finally it was time for the two to be announced in as they triumphantly made their way out to the dancefloor to the theme of The Office! (If you remember, Eileen & Dustin were also announced out to this song earlier this month also in Michigan! It turns out that the friends Jenny made through work and her study abroad 12 and 13 years ago have great taste!) The crowd in attendance stood and cheered as the two took their place on the dance floor to share their first official dance as husband and wife.
Once their dance was complete Amy's father greeted them on the floor to share a blessing with the crowd before dinner was served. During dinner, Jason borrowed Amy and Mike's rings and captured a few detail images of the rings. Following the dinner service it was time for speeches. Amy's mother and father gave a speech explaining how while things were now official, Mike had already felt like part of the family for years. Amy's mother also shared a short message utilizing a bow to explain how love takes all types of twists and turns, but in the end creates a beautiful union. Up next it was time for the speeches by the best man, groomsman, and maid of honor. The speeches were heartfelt and a little tearful, as these special members of the bridal party shared a few stories about how their lifelong friendships with Amy and Mike had led them to this big day.
Mike and Amy also addressed their attendees with short speeches after their toasts. Mike went very deep talking about when he had cancer in college and how after getting back from months in the hospital he watched Big Fish with his mom and wished deeply that he'd live to the point where someday he'd get to celebrate with all of his loved ones around him. The wedding day was THAT day for him. After we all wiped tears from our eyes upon hearing that journey, Amy gave her heartfelt speech to their amazing guests. We then snatched them away for some last photos in "Big Blue" of just the two of them at sunset before the scheduled events of the night.
Once we returned inside it was time for the cake cutting. Amy and Mike cut a piece of cake and nicely fed a small bit to each other (not wanting to cover themselves in cake like some couples opt to do). Amy's mom actually made a couple gorgeous special ceramic plates for them to enjoy their cake on: One with their wedding date on it and another that said love! Over the past 9+ years of wedding photography we can honestly say that these were the most beautiful and heartfelt wedding cake plates we've seen!
After dessert was served it was onto the special father/ daughter and mother/son dances. When these dances concluded the dance floor was fair game as Open Dance began. Those brave enough to show their moves then took to the floor to dance the remainder of the night away!
Games were still open to play outside, so Mike and Amy went around to check things out and play a bit. Once the sun had set a bonfire was lit where all the fixings for s'mores were provided. We took a few photos of Mike enjoying a couples of s'mores before getting grabbing the couple of some final images of the night on the right barn deck! (All 4 sides of the barn were used as portrait backdrops during the day!)
Near the end of the wedding, amazing Jet's pizzas were brought in (what looked like 30 to 40 pizzas!) and everyonehad a very late night delicious snack! It's always the best when savory late night snacks are served at a wedding since throughout the day there's so much movement that one forgets to eat... and it also helps soak up any drinks guests may have enjoyed ((and it brought back great memories of Greg & Abbey's wedding late night hot dog bar last year and Caitlin and Joe's late night wedding burger sliders and desserts at the Palais Royale))!
Congratulations to you both, Amy and Mike! We couldn't have asked for a nicer day or a nicer couple to photograph on such a special day up in Michigan. We hope you two have had a great first few days in Chicago being officially married. We'll have to meet up soon in Chicago and get schooled at some skee ball!
Unrelated: Coming up in a few days we're heading down to Purdue University again: This time to photograph Minnesotans Matthew & Mikayla's sunset Engagement Session! They're in from Minnesota at Purdue this coming weekend to attend a wedding, so we all figured it'd be the perfect time to photograph them where they originally met in college! Their wedding that we'll be photographing is coming up in 4 months here in South Bend at the end of September at St. Matthew's Cathedral (where Jenny's cousins attended school and church) with the reception following at St. Hedwig.
We love that many of our couples come in from out-of-state and that we're working with clients from about 6 states this year! We noticed that last year we photographed a lot of weddings in Indiana at universities/ colleges and country clubs (along with some Chicago and Indianapolis weddings) and THIS year we're photographing half of the weddings at beautiful nature-filled Michigan wedding & reception locations and the other half are heavily at our local South Bend elementary school Catholic churches! (St. Anthony's, St. Matt's, Christ the King (where Jenny went to school), etc.)! We are still photographing receptions here in town at the Morris Park Country Club, the Woodward, etc. and have weddings down in Indianapolis as well (nature-filled goodness!), but this year definitely has its uniqueness and we've loved both years! Next year/ 2019's weddings are already looking to be amazing as well! We'll be photographing a gorgeous nature-filled wedding down in Tennessee for the first time, we have weddings booked for Michigan, Basilica of the Sacred Heart/ Notre Dame weddings booked, and also weddings booked for other amazing venues in South Bend that we LOVE. If you know anyone who is engaged and planning on getting married in 2019 or 2020, send them our way! We're still scheduling meetings for our Consultation Office here in South Bend and would love to meet and get to know new couples!