Gabe and Emily's Wedding

Last weekend, on a hot September day, my youngest cousin got married! Gabe and Emily have such a sweet love story from co-workers, to friends, to dating and parenthood. They wanted the wedding to be a celebration of their family farm and the local agricultural community and I think they succeeded. Aside from having the ceremony and reception on their land and access to pet and feed their animals (sheep, horse, oxen) the music was provided by Emily’s dad’s band. Plus, the couple’s two month old son, Silas, got to be in his stroller outside with everyone. Here are some of my favorites pictures of Gabe and Emily’s wedding day!

Therese Jackie and Jean Claude's Wedding

I met Jackie about 4 years ago when her older sister contacted me about family photos downtown Grand Rapids. Since then, I have taken their family pictures every year around Christmas and I was thrilled to hear Jackie was engaged and wanted me to be her wedding photographer! Both bride and groom are from Togo, West Africa so their reception was full of cultural traditions such as throwing money during special dances. They also changed into 3 different outfits during the night and each was so glamorous.

Since the wedding day itself was so busy, Jackie and Claude asked about meeting up with me the next day to take portraits of the two of them. This turned out to be a great idea and reduced some of the stress and pressure that would have come from driving to a new location to get all the photos they wanted. Here are some of my favorites from their wedding Saturday and photo session Sunday!

Sheena and James

I’m glad I have a flexible work schedule so that in the middle of the day on a Wednesday I could meet up with Sheena and James after their courthouse wedding ceremony to take a few pictures! The weather was beautiful, if a little too sunny, and the fall colors were just starting to show during my walk around Grand Ravines with the newlyweds. Sheena and James are part of a community that loves Jeeps so we also made sure to take some pictures by their car (which was a first for me). These two managed to be both classy and silly and we got so many great pictures in less than an hour. Here are some of my favorites, congratulations again Sheena and James!