The Silver Fox, Streator Wedding – Kelsie & Paul
I recently introduced you to Kelsie and Paul, who were married at The Silver Fox in Streator, when I shared our tips for creating emotional wedding photos. Remember, the classy pair reading love letters on opposite sides of the door? I know, how could you forget? It’s time to take a look at their full wedding day which was just perfectly lovely, personal and relaxed from start to finish.
Here’s a few from the no peeking first look! Be sure to see them all in the other blog post. I mean, I loved them enough to give them their own blog. So it’s probably worth looking at…
Kelsie also planned a first look with her dad – this is almost always a great idea!
Time to tie that knot!
I was mega nervous about taking this next shot. We follow some basic self-imposed rules when shooting church weddings, regardless of the priest/pastor/minister’s rules. We never walk onto an altar, we don’t shoot during the reading of the Gospel and we don’t shoot during the Eucharistic prayer. All things we base on our own comfort, respect for the ceremony and the experience of the guests. But… Kelsie requested this image. So, with clear permission from their pastor, I took it. But I was so worried I was going to enrage a member of the congregation and have a bible thrown at me when I walked back down!! I did not. Thankfully. And the image is pretty awesome.
Two takes on a first kiss…
Married!
This church has some spotlights and other lighting that can be tricky to work with but that spotlight did it’s job in this one!!
Then it was time to bust out some formal images of the newlyweds! Before the wedding, Kelsie had shared of a photo with us. It was her grandparents, on their wedding day, in the back of a car. I almost said vintage car but I suppose at the time it was just a car ;) Anyway, that image was important to her and they wanted one of their own! So they secured this super cool vintage automobile and we had some fun and created our own take on image. I adore these.
BOOM! Save this one for your grandbaby’s wedding photographer!!
I do this group hug bit at almost wedding… There’s no such thing as “natural” posing of a wedding party. Because honestly, when do you gather all your best friends, dress in matching attire and stand around together? I highly doubt people frequently rock giant group hugs either (maybe they do…who knows!) but the interactions and smiles are at least a bit more real than standing in a line! Love this one…
Suffice to say a photographers favorite words are not, “I saw this pose on Pinterest…” but when it comes out of dudes mouth – we listen. Admittedly, we’ve done this guys-acting-like-girls thing more than a few times but these dudes NAILED it. For real! Guy on the far right, you win at life.
The Silver Fox makes me happy on so many levels.
Obviously, it’s a beautiful venue and as a photographer I dig that.
But on a much bigger level, as a Streator kid, it just makes my heart really happy and really proud to be seeing Streator weddings elevated to a whole new level; made fabulous and gorgeous by a killer group of local, independent and family owned business. Husband and I didn’t get married in Streator. Six years ago, creating the kind of wedding we envisioned in Streator was essentially impossible. So we took our show (and ultimately, our cash) on the road to a place where we could assemble the team of vendors and venues we wanted. If we were getting married today, we’d actually have a hard time picking between venues.
I just can’t even tell you what it means to me to be able to photograph these weddings, in my home town. At The Silver Fox, that feeling is just magnified. I’m so thankful that the right people saw the potential in this space and this town and made this happen.
(PS… If you’re planning a Streator wedding, talk to us about our preferred vendors. Working with the best-of-the-best locally makes our job even more enjoyable and we happily offer discounts for doing so!)
At Kelsie and Paul’s wedding, The Silver Fox totally delivered. Gorgeous space, attentive and friendly servers. Did I mention the gorgeous space?
It looked even better when we came back in the evening! Swoon!
As I was prepping these toast images, I realized that of the weddings we’ve shot in past two months, half of them have had a parent missing. That hurts. It sucks. That’s all there is to it. It means something different for every couple – how it plays into the day, how the parent is honored, celebrated, remembered, mourned, what have you – but what really sticks out to me are the siblings. The siblings that keep their sisters and brothers going throughout the day and then stand up in front of everyone and somehow deliver toasts to the newlyweds that balance humor and love and the words that are just too damn hard to say but are worth saying anyway.
We see you, brothers and sisters, we see you. You rock and you are making your parents proud.
We had our gear all loaded up and where almost to the door when we heard the DJ tell every able-bodied man and woman to report to the dance floor for a celebratory dance in honor of Kelsie’s mom. Our gear was back out and firing before they got to the first bum-bum-bum of Sweet Caroline. It was epic.
Congratulations to Kelsie and Paul on a beautiful day, we were honored to capture it for you!
COMMENTS