Samantha & Ross | Champaign-Urbana, IL Wedding Photographer

October 8, 2011

Remember that crazy, rainy engagement session I did in Chicago in April?  It was so miserable the day of their engagement session…freezing cold, lots of rain & Chicago wind.  Yeah…one of those days you hope to never have to take photos in.  Sheer miserableness.  Samantha & Ross powered through their session despite the conditions & rocked out some crazy, awesome photos.  I told them that they would be rewarded with the most fabulous, gorgeous,  amazing weather in the world for their wedding day.  Thank goodness I was right!!  They really did earn the perfect wedding day weather though! 🙂

The day went great.  I enjoyed hanging out with the girls at the hair salon & at the hotel. (I LOVE it when people get ready somewhere other than the church…the light is yummier & the backgrounds are prettier. And, you don’t have to worry about having Noah’s Ark wallpaper in the background of your photos! haha!)  We then loaded up in the limo & headed to the Salt Fork Center to get ready for the first look.  They exchanged hugs, kisses, and presents & then we headed out to photograph the wedding party.

When we arrived back at the ceremony site, we were surprised to find another wedding party there.  They didn’t arrive at the site to take photos…they arrived at their site a half hour before Sam & Ross’s wedding & crashed their site!  They had a bunch of family & friends there & got married really quickly before Samantha & Ross’s wedding began.  That was definitely a first for me!  The park ranger was notified, but they wrapped up the ceremony pretty quickly & was out of the way before Samantha & Ross’s wedding began.  Craziness!!!  At least they walked away with a good story to tell from their wedding day!

Besides the wedding crashers, it was such an amazing day.  I adore the way Samantha looks at Ross & the way that Ross takes care of Samantha.  Sigh.  It makes my heart flutter!

A little bit about their day (AKA–awesome things you should be sure and check out!)

Wedding Planner – Our day-of coordinator was Kristina Graham, a friend who had never officially done this before. We felt hiring a day-of coordinator was one of the best decisions we made.

Hair & Makeup – Crystal Oschwald of Balance Hair Design

Florist- Blossom Basket – Brittany was excellent to work with. The vases were custom made and hand blown by the groom’s cousin, Eric Bernardi.

Ceremony/Reception – Salt Fork Center at Homer Lake

Cake- My mom 🙂

Tuxes- Men’s Wearhouse

Musicians- Two talented friends, Todd Reese and Dustin Hoke played guitar for us during the ceremony

Officiant-Matt Robinson, one of our closest friends, got ordained for the occasion and performed our ceremony. We always knew he would do an amazing job, but he really knocked it out of the park, making our ceremony unforgettable, hilarious and touching. It was also quite the family affair – his wife was my MOH and his adorable daughter was our flower girl.

DJ- KC’s DJ Service

First dance song– “Then” by Brad Paisley

Honeymoon–Cozumel and stayed at the Cozumel Palace

A bit about their day from Samantha:

One of the best moments for me was the first look. The girls and I were rushing around like crazy in the morning, and I was starting to feel stressed out. I knew once I saw Ross I would feel so much better. Kellie gave me a couple ideas that would make for really cute photos, but I didn’t remember any of that when I was approaching Ross on the dock. When he turned around and we saw each other, it was an amazing rush of emotions realizing our wedding day was finally here!  Everyone told me the wedding day is a whirlwind and it’ll be over before I know it. For those reasons, I tried to be present in everything we were doing and take a few moments to soak it all in. Ross and I took “mental snapshots” of a lot of things we wanted to especially remember.

Funniest moment:  When you get married at a forest preserve, you can’t control the other people that may want to enjoy the park that day. Well, a couple decided to have an impromptu wedding a half hour before ours was set to begin, and their guests stuck around after to watch ours. Ross was furious at first, but obviously it was out of our control. And once we refocused on our own day and got in the moment, it quickly faded away. It sure makes for a great story!

Favorite details: We put so much work into a lot of little details, It’s impossible to pick just one! I loved the vases Eric made for us; they were completely custom and added so much to the reception. Ross and I refinished and aged some old doors to make our altar and photo display. So many of our family and friends saved jars for over a year, and my father-in-law spent a weekend cleaning them and peeling off labels. My mom made our amazing cake and a Bears cake for Ross. My matron of honor made the table numbers, and I crocheted all the favors over the course of a year. We couldn’t have pulled together the wedding of our dreams without a lot of help from our hardworking and talented friends and family!

Samantha & Ross, thank you so much for choosing me to capture your day.  From the crazy wind in Chicago to the wedding party crashers, you have left me with lots of memories & great stories to share with future brides and grooms! haha!  I just adore the two of you & am so thrilled that you are starting the wonderful journey of marriage together.  Congrats!!