Spring Wedding at The Pour Vineyard – Red Bud, IL

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and I’m currently sipping on a hot cup of coffee and staring out my living room window watching cars drive by and wondering where everyone is headed this morning. I’m also sitting here remembering all the wonderful weddings I was a part of last year. My 2021 wedding season was totally crazy, in a good way. It was probably one of my biggest years in terms of the amount of weddings that I shot. I normally do about 12 weddings a year and last year I had 18. For wedding photographers who do this full time, that’s probably not a huge number but since I work full time it was hard for me to stay caught up on the back end of things, such as blogging. With rescheduled Covid weddings and my normal bookings, it was jam packed wedding season. I deliver wedding galleries in 2 weeks but for blogging I find it harder to find time for that. I told myself I would get caught up before my 2022 wedding season and so here we go. Be prepared for lots of great images coming. Up first… Emily and Jake.

I absolutely adore these two and I know I probably said all of this in their engagement blog post, but I just want to share again. They first met at the Marissa Coal Festival through mutual friends. At the time, neither of them were looking for anything serious so they were both caught off guard when they started to fall for each other. They’ve been together for a decade and their wedding took place on their 10-year anniversary! In those 10 years, they became parents to two beautiful children, Maddox and Matilda. They are adorable! Just wait till you scroll through my favorites and see them with the swans! Emily and Jake try to go on date nights once a month to their favorite restaurant, Popeye’s Chophouse in St. Rose, IL. If you’ve never been there before…. make a plan for it now! It’s amazing! I love how Jake proposed too… over a pancake breakfast on Emily’s birthday! I remember Emily telling me that she knew she and Jake would eventually get married, when the time was right and it finally felt right now. The fact that their children get to be a part of the wedding is something that she was very excited about as well. She said there was no better way to celebrate their 10 years together than with a wedding with all of their family friends and children by their side.

The Pour Vineyard in Red Bud, IL is a breathtaking venue. Emily and Jake had their ceremony close to sunset by the lake with swans swimming in the background and their daughter Matilda in their arms. She wasn’t wanting to sit with family and her brother in the first row, she wanted up there with mom and dad. Their good friend, Jimmy, was their officiant and his did an outstanding job. His words were beautiful and sincere. I think there’s nothing better than having one of your closest friends pronounce you as HUSBAND and WIFE! Their ceremony was so special and intimate and such an honor to capture.

The night ended with a beautiful reception decorated by none other than the wonderful Jude at The Pour Vineyard. She does amazing things with flowers and her decor is always top notch. There were so many other wonderful vendors that I loved working with as well including J&L’s Salon, Bridal Manor, S.L.A.M. Catering, Sling N Scoops, Becky Cowell, Night Magic Entertainment and The Bridal Parlor. Looking back on Emily and Jake’s wedding there were three moments that stuck out to me.

1.) When Jake saw Emily for the first time. Emily turned to show him the full look and he was VERY fond of the way her booty looked in that dress! You’ll see below 🙂

2.) When watching them say their vows together while passing Matilda to each other. It was so sweet watching her stare at her parents as they said those words. When she gets older she’ll look back on those photos and see that she was a part of something so amazing.

3.) When Emily changed into her beaded jumpsuit for the dancing part of the reception. She looked so amazing and now I want a beaded jumpsuit! I don’t know where I’d wear a beaded jumpsuit but I still want one LOL.

I wish Emily and Jake nothing but the absolute best and like I said before it was an honor to capture their wedding day. Enjoy looking through my favorites.