Brooke + Jake | World Shooting Complex Wedding, Sparta, Illinois

July 10, 2019

Filed in: Weddings

This blog should have been up weeks ago because I’m really excited to share Brooke and Jake’s big day. But I had surgery with a little bit of a complication that put me a little bit behind on schedule. I’m playing catch up this week and I FINALLY get to share my favorites from Brooke and Jake’s wedding now… yay!

June is one of my favorite months to shoot in because the colors are still soft like spring but the air is warmer and the lighting is absolutely perfect. With all the rain and flooding we had this spring, it’s a miracle that this day was as perfect as it was. I know I usually say wedding days are perfect but come on, they really are! It’s one of the biggest days in a person’s life and you can plan and plan and try to make everything go according to a timeline, but wedding days just go on as they are suppose to. I’ve learned to just let the day unfold and go with the flow, all with keeping things moving along to get portraits in.

Brooke and Jake had a large bridal party so timing to get everything done took some planning. The biggest help is that their bridal party was awesome and nobody complained. In fact, most of them helped keep the ball rolling and rounded people up quickly for me to get stuff done. I always appreciate that. I know it was probably so they could get more time on the party bus, but I’ll take it 🙂

The ceremony took place at Peace Lutheran Church in Steeleville, Illinois and the reception took place at The Seasons Event Center in Sparta, Illinois. Both I’m very family with and I love dearly. I grew up in that very church and the reception venue is absolutely beautiful for portraits, especially in the spring/summer when it’s still light outside during first dances! I need good lighting for portraits and everyone always wants to have it pitch black for first dances LOL. Let me tell ya, as a photographer, I need light in order to have my camera find something to focus on.

One of my favorite parts of the day was during Brooke and Jake’s romantic portraits. They had stayed traditional and didn’t see each other before the ceremony so I knew we had to make the most of our time afterwards. I had them doing a kiss shot but then I wanted them to giggle and laugh afterwards. I mean, everyone can get a kiss shot but these two just have so much fun together and are always laughing that I wanted to get the moment after the kiss. That is probably one of my FAVORITE shots of the whole day and the softness from Brooke’s veil made it that much better. I miss veils and a lot of brides do not wear them anymore, but they look so good in portraits… just saying 😉

I now present you with a “few” of my absolute favorites from Brooke and Jake’s big day. Enjoy looking at their love story through photographs.