John and Tiffany had their perfect, fairytale fall wedding this weekend and I SO enjoyed being there to watch it unfold!!

The necklace Tiffany wore for the ceremony:

Some of my favorite images always come from the couple’s ‘first look.’ The way John and Tiffany looked at each other was so romantic and so touching!

Couples always tell me “there is NOTHING around the church for good photos.”

I always prove them wrong. :-)

Tiffany – You. Are. GORGEOUS!

The party bus was able to take us over to the park for a few fun shots!

Although the colors outside were less than dramatic, inside John + Tiffany’s reception was a beautiful fall sunset!

Tiffany’s MOH had one of the cutest speeches I’ve heard in a long time. Nice work, Trina! :-)

I’d like to give a shout-out to JaCee who helped me out all day on Saturday – from carrying my bags to entertaining me on the car ride to being my subject for testing the light! :-)

John + Tiffany – I truly had SUCH a wonderful time at your wedding! You two are fabulous, inside and out, and I’m so excited for you and your family!

p.s. Thanks for the flowers! :-)

Best ceremony exit.

Ever.

Stay tuned for the full post later this week! :-)

I am so amazed by my couples… when things don’t go absolutely perfectly, they laugh it off and keep smiling! Two of Krystal’s three brothers also got married this summer – one in July, one in August, then Krystal in September… Krystal warned me that her mom’s funeral would be in October. Thankfully at the end of the night, everyone looked healthy and very much alive. But maybe just because they are DONE with weddings for the year! :-)

Back to the beginning of the day, I found Krystal getting ready at the Buffalo Ridge Resort in Gary, SD. I loved loved LOVED her dress and shoes!!!

You know how most dresses have fake buttons with a zipper up the back? Yeah, well Krystal’s dress had ACTUAL buttons. Win for Krystal.

Hooray for first looks!!

Krystal’s bridesmaids were so much fun – they couldn’t get enough time in front of the camera! :-)

The guys rocked it for the camera, too!

Krystal got to have a second first look – with her father. How sweet is that!?!

Ryan + Krystal had SO many friends and family attend their wedding, they had to get a bigger reception site!! Off to Ghent, MN we went and ohmygoodness it was BEAUTIFUL!! So many fun details!

They even had little take-out-style boxes to fill up at the candy bar.

If you’re a fan of studio lb on facebook, you saw this sneak peek image last night.

Thanks, Ryan + Krystal for having me as your photographer!! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and everything looked GREAT!! Have a great time relaxing and being done with wedding stuff, well, until your third brother finds someone to marry. ;-)

I love, love LOVE September weddings – the weather has cooled down a bit (meaning the guys don’t mind doing photos outside in their tuxes) and the trees and grass are still plenty green (meaning lots of color for said outdoor photos)!

Brandon + Laurie’s wedding was so much fun – I love photographing couples who are so in love that it shows in just how they look at each other! AND they wanted all their wedding party and family photos taken outside, so I was one lucky duck!!

Brandon + Laurie got ready at the Buffalo Ridge Resort in Gary, SD which is where we also took ALL of the portraits, and had their reception!

The bride wore boots. :-)

As Laurie was wiggling her way into her dress, the flower girl was watching, waiting for her nails to dry:

Have I mentioned that I LOVE first looks? I think I have. But in case you’ve never heard me mention this, having a ‘first look’ gives you plenty of time to get all your photos done before the ceremony, giving you all the time in the world to socialize with your guests after the ceremony! Plus, you get images like this of you and your hunny:

So… either my jokes were SUPER funny on Saturday, or Brandon + Laurie are just two genuinely happy, in-love people!! Or maybe a little of both. :-)

There is a barn at the resort. And Brandon + Laurie rocked it. :-)

I first met Laurie back in high school when we were Council/Ambassadors for 4-H together. It’s so much fun to see old friends all prettied up and getting married!!

I do believe this is my favorite from the day:

You wouldn’t believe how hard they had to focus to put on a serious face, but I am so excited with how this one turned out! Nice work, guys!

Yay for snuggles!! :-)

I love the flowers that Laurie picked out – so fresh! Like a cool drink of cucumber water!

Excited to get married!!!

This is becoming one of my new favorite moments… dad giving away his daughter:

LOVE how Brandon’s looking at Laurie while father reads a poem from their engaged encounter…

There is SO much love in this family!! Brandon and his mom:

Laurie and her dad:

Brandon + Laurie, I hope the rest of your evening was wonderful!! It’s such a joy for me to watch such a happy couple like yourselves tie the knot!!

Remember back in the day when I used to second shoot weddings all the time? I just went along for the ride, took pictures of all things details, and taught myself all about different camera settings. It was so relaxing to not have to tell people where to stand or keep a timeline for the day. I just followed along.

I recently had the opportunity to do this again. I can’t check “second shoot for a Rapid City photographer” off my goal list because I shot with Rachel Marthaler. And she’s from Hastings, Minnesota. *sidenote… Why must I be so specific with my lists?! This would have been such a fun way to cross off a goal!!

I first met Rachel at SDSU through a basic photography class. After graduation I found out that we had some mutual friends and interests (such as running a photography business). So we sent emails back and forth “What are your favorite lenses to use?” “Loved your latest wedding you posted!” “We should second shoot for each other sometime, what’s your schedule like?”

We finally found a weekend where we both had a wedding in Sioux Falls – mine on Friday, hers on Saturday. So we both extended our weekends and helped each other out! It was great to have a second point of view at my wedding, but it was SO much fun to kick back, relax and shoot nothing but details the next day!

So here are my favorite detail and candid shots from Rachel’s wedding.

The lovely Rachel, doin’ what she does!! :-)

Grandparents make my heart melt! :-)

And I’m a huge fan of wide-angle ceremony shots!!

And what wedding post would be complete without a self-portrait!?