Liz and Noah were married this last Saturday, at the beautiful Chalet at Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove, Minnesota. It was a gorgeous, cool fall day . . . until just moments before the ceremony. But I’ll get to that part of the story in a bit.
First, you should know that Liz is a very talented person! She designed their invitations, thank you cards, programs, and myriad other details for the wedding. She hand-crafted gifts for the bridal party and really thought of every possible detail for the wedding. Check out this fabulous, trifold invitation:
I met the ladies at Liz’s parents’ home, where a make-up artist had set up in the sun room.
Here’s Liz getting some assistance with her dress, and the reaction to seeing Liz as a beautiful bride!
Liz picked a beautiful color palette for the wedding, with rich pinks, oranges, and turquoise. Usually, I’ll convert about a quarter of my photos to black and white or split-toned, but everything from this wedding was so colorful, most have stayed that way. Even Liz’s shoes fit the color scheme:
From there, we headed out to the Elm Creek Park Reserve, where Noah was waiting to see Liz. I asked Liz to hide behind a building, so I could set up the couple’s “first look,” where she was promptly stung by a bee! Liz handled it so calmly, and was ready immediately for more pictures. I don’t know how she did it — I think I would have been in tears!
Needless to say, we did many of the pictures without the flowers, so as to keep the bees away!
Finally, Liz and Noah see each other for the first time — one of my favorite parts of the day.
And Noah takes care of Liz’s bee sting:
We then did some more portraits and the family formals. A big thanks to Greg of View From the Tundra for second-shooting with me. At this point the clouds looked a little threatening, but they made for some dramatic photographs. Here’s the whole wedding party on this great bridge over the bike path. I love the variation in the bridesmaid dresses!
Shortly thereafter it started to sprinkle, and a quick decision was made to move the ceremony inside. An aisle was cleared, decorations and chairs were moved indoors, and the wedding was saved. Within a few minutes it was absolutely pouring, so it was definitely the right call. While everyone else scrambled, I took the time to photograph a few more of the many details. Here are the wedding rings, sitting on top of a felt coaster that Liz also made, one of many that decorated the tables.
Instead of a ceremony overlooking the park, the ceremony was instead held in front of a giant & roaring fire place. The fireplace seemed very fitting for our suddenly fall-like weather. On top of the fire place were dozens of glowing candles, it was quite stunning.
Liz and Noah then snuck outside for a couple pictures in the rain. And then later, after the rain cleared, to grab a couple sunset snaps.
Wow, my sneak-peek blog-posts (say that 3 times fast) keep getting longer, and longer. Here are a couple more from Liz & Noah’s first dance, to Van Morrison’s Someone Like You.
Liz and Noah — Congratulations again! It was such an honor to be part of your wedding day. I hope you’re enjoying your honeymoon, and I can’t wait for you to see all of the photos I couldn’t fit here.
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by Minneapolis Photographer Sarah McGee
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