Ever since Katie and Sterling first booked me I was super excited to shoot their wedding because it was at the gorgeous Morris Arboretum.  You could not ask for a more beautiful place for photos.  As their wedding day approached, however, I was a bit nervous as the weather was forecasting one of the hottest days of the year, 102 degrees.  Did I mentioned that both their ceremony and reception would be outside?  So I stocked up on some bottled water and mentally prepared myself for a HOT day.  It actually ended up being better than I expected because of a passing storm brought clouds (no hot sun beating down on us!) and then a thunderstorm which really cooled things off.

We began the day at The Chestnut Hill Hotel where Katie got ready with her bridesmaids.   The hotel has a carriage house that is used as the bridal suite.  These cool wooden doors were perfect for a dress shot. 

Katie brought a second dress to change into to cool off for the reception.  Isn’t it so fun?

The stunning bride, makeup by Cheekadee.

A few quick portraits before heading off to the venue.

Katie and Sterling opted to do a first look to get some of their portraits done before the wedding, one of my favorite parts of the day.

Love these happy faces!

While we waited for the bridal party to join us for portraits, I took a few quick shots of the happy couple.

Such a gorgeous group of girls!  The gorgeous flowers by Schaeffer Flowers.

Sterling with his groomsmen, these guys were troopers!  You can’t even tell they were hot 🙂

The gorgeous bouquet, love the wild flower look of it.

Heading off to do some portraits, we only had about 15 minutes so we made the most of it.

In love with this gorgeous venue!

I love the way these two look at each other,  you can totally see the love.

The ceremony was in a beautiful meadow.  Guests were greeted by these lovely programs surrounded by vases of colorful flowers.

Love Sterling’s expression as he watches his bride walk down the aisle!

Married!

This is the part of the day where I got super nervous because the radar maps were showing a huge storm rolling in and we still wanted to do pictures in the rose garden.  We hustled over to do another few minutes of portraits and finished just before the storm kicked up.  Such a gorgeous setting!

The reception was held in a tent on the grounds.  The center pieces were these beautiful arrangements of small bouquets and wood pedestals.

My favorite part of the wedding, these gorgeous minicakes – 6 different cakes all with different flavors.  Yum!  Cakes by The Knight Kitchen Bakery.

First dance!

We snuck outside one more time at sunset to take a few more shots.  The Morris Arboretum has a beautiful sunset view, as you can see.

 

Katie and Sterling, I hope you had an amazing honeymoon in St. Lucia, and that the weather was slightly less warm than at your wedding 🙂