I had the opportunity on Saturday to be the matron of honor at my sister’s wedding at Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel. My husband and assistant photographer Pete, photographed the majority of the day and Jason from Joy Orcutt Photography also helped out for a couple hours. The photos below are a combination of  Pete’s and mine. A very special thank you to Luna Vinca for gorgeous flowers and to Amy Stuzriem for beautiful hair and makeup!

They started off their winter wedding at the studio getting ready where they had their first look outside on the cobblestone streets.  Then we headed to Fort Snelling for some gorgeous photos. The lighting was incredible and we even managed to find a couple patches of snow Matt, a former Marine suited up in his dress blues shortly before the ceremony in the gorgeous intimate stone chapel. Candles lit up the aisle and live music from the very talented Jeff James filled the chapel throughout the ceremony. We headed to Mears Park in downtown St. Paul to capture some of the twinkling lights, then headed off to Ideal Hall for a reception filled with mason jars, candles and birch trees. The evening was complete with great music played by DJ Travis Stanich of Sound Factory Systems. Enjoy….

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So many of you may think photographing those closest to you would be a piece of cake… well that is not the case. I have found the more you know someone the trickier it gets and the pressure is on to create the most spectacular photos, although the outcome is even more special and rewarding I had the opportunity last month to photograph my sister’s engagement session (I know I am waaay behind blogging and they have been super patient!) We did a few quick photos at Fort Snelling the week before, where their wedding will take place this January. Their “real” engagement session took place downtown St. Paul. I also had a unique  opportunity to photograph their session along side my husband who as many of you know is one of my second shooters and will be photographing their wedding day. We started off the shoot under a loading dock downtown that I have driven by for years and never had the chance to photograph, followed by a stroll through the downtown streets, a quick stop in Mears Park (love the birch trees here), and ended their session with a gorgeous sunset view of St. Paul. I hope you all enjoy these photos as much as we did photographing them…

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