Ninth Street Abbey Wedding – Sara & Jeremy
It is time to share a truly beautiful wedding with you all! Prepping the shots from this stunning Ninth Street Abbey wedding (wait until you see how happy this bride is!) has me fired up and ready to go. Good this we have a wedding tomorrow!It’s been quiet around here while we kinda-sorta took the winter months off to recharge, rest and plan for a bigger, better 2016 wedding season! I’m so excited about the couples we’ll be working with this year. So many different stories, venues, styles and personalities to capture this year and we’re looking forward to making it our best one yet.
Sara and Jeremy’s day began at the Magnolia Hotel in St. Louis – which is so chic and lovely. This suite was so perfect for the ladies to get ready in. Spacious, stylish, well lit and seriously photogenic!
There were some serious Florida Gator fans at this wedding…Grandma included :) I love this shot of her watching the game amid all the hair and make up hustle and bustle!
The floaty, light texture of Sara’s wedding dress was incredible and so perfect for the time of year and style of the wedding.
I told you this suite was perfect!! My dear brides – this is the sort of place you want your getting ready photos to be taken. If you’re paying for a photographer to capture this part of your day, its worth the extra cost to choose a clean, well-lit space. You don’t have to choose the Penthouse, you just have to know what to look for. Ask me, I’ll tell you ;)
Meanwhile, in a different hotel room…
Back to Sara being gorgeous in her floaty, perfect-texture dress…
E
xcuse me while I share a silly amount of putting-on-the-veil images. I just really like them. For one, I like veils. But I also just love this part of the day. When the bridesmaids and sisters and mama’s are huddled around the bride, fixing this, straightening that. It’s so sisterhood-y and feels like the pinnacle of all the “you’re the bride!” excitement that leads up the big moment.
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erfection!!
First look time, shot at Tower Grove Park. With a November wedding, you never know what you’re going to get for weather and tree foliage. I’d been picturing mild temps and tall, bare trees creating a stark-but-warm setting. (Perhaps I based this on my own mid-October wedding. When all the leaves had already gone away.) But, these two must have excellent karma because the sun was shining, the leaves were a gorgeous yellow – it was incredible.
Great bridal party style, right!? So classy and classic but not at all boring. The flowers you are surely drooling over are the product of Style: Altar’d. Trust me, you need to know the women at Style: Altar’d.
Jeremy’s groom style for the win!! Repeat after me: Fitted suits. Fitted suits.
Crisp, clean, quiet pops of color. Killer beard optional but recommended.
It’s all just too beautiful for me to handle.
Love this!!!
See below?! I told she was a happy bride!!
Hashtag romantic, am I right?!
Ohmagoshthelightissowarmandsoamazing GAH!! The colors!! The colors! The textures! I’m loosing it over here. An hour ago I was all, “Oh man I’m not ready for wedding season, I think I’m still tired from last fall.” And now I’m like, “GET ME A BRIDE!!! Get me a gorgeous bouquet!!” Freaking hell I love my job!
Helllooo beautiful venue! You guys, have you been to a Ninth Street Abbey wedding? This venue is cool as hell. And maybe I’m just easily amused but I love spaces like this that make an intimate ceremony space and then POOF they turn into a killer reception space. Plus its such a blank slate, its ready to take on whatever style you envision for your wedding.
H
appy bride alert! I’ve said it before – it makes my heart grow two sizes when a couple laughs during their ceremony. It means something.
Deal sealed! That shot on the right, of Sara smiling at her parents that way…basically that’s everything. Like, I think this photo has made me cry on 3 separate occasions. Not every bride has parents present to smile at, some do but that kind of connection isn’t there… It’s a lucky and special thing happening on both sides of that photo. If our baby looks this happy on her wedding day and thinks to turn and smile at us on her way back down the aisle…Mission Accomplished.
You’re welcome for that overly sentimental and sappy sidebar.
I’m a wedding photographer, people, it’s ain’t a job for the jaded!
PS: If you think the professionals you are hiring to create your wedding day seem jaded… Pick new ones!! I know florists who drop off bouquets, wave and walk out without a second thought. And I know florists who are ready to burst into pieces anticipating a bride’s reaction to seeing her wedding bouquet. There are DJs who might as well be cardboard cut outs letting the same tired dinner music play on a loop and there are DJs who are learning your crowd and energized by the opportunity to make them dance. Find people who love their job. Find people who geek out over weddings!
Out on the patio, while the ceremony space turns into a reception space…
All this gorgeousness and the smiles on Sara and Jeremy’s faces courtesy of the Style: Altar’d team.
Toasts.
Dances.
And then a surprise… Sara is Backstreet Boys fan and she was a bit perturbed that a BSB song was not a key part of the evening’s formalities. Except it was. Midway through her dance with her dad, the lights went from classic to club and BSB started blaring from the speakers. At first I think she thought it was just a surprise change to the music…but then her friends started to pop up, rocking some icon BSB dance moves,
Not a bad way to start a party!!
Much thanks to Sara and Jeremy for the opportunity to capture your beautiful, happy wedding day! It was a pleasure to witness!