Kaci and Dylan | Wedding @ Tuscan Hills Winery, Effingham IL

Thanks to some business travel, I’m about a week or so behind on my wedding blog but I think Kaci and Dylan might forgive me if I add a few extra portraits to this blog that I wouldn’t normally add 😉 It isn’t very often I have two back to back weddings at Tuscan Hills Winery but I have to say, Tuscan Hills you put on quite the awesome show and we had a spectacular day with Kaci and Dylan on their big day. I’ll preface this by saying that Kaci probably didn’t know it when we were reviewing her schedule for the big day that she would schedule perfectly around mother nature’s rain wrath of summer and that her outdoor wedding would go off without a hitch despite some serious rain threat throughout the day. We started the morning at the Fairfield Inn and Suites where the bridal party gathered for hair, makeup, and laughter in the morning hours to prep for the late afternoon ceremony. Kaci was super relaxed and enjoyed the morning as her family and bridesmaids were in and out. We were able to snag some pre-detail photos of the dress and decor at the winery before Kaci’s sister  and mom helped put her into the most beautiful dress. Kaci chose a perfect silhouette for her bridal gown and added a veil and jewelry for some finishing touches. Thankfully, Kaci and Dylan opted to do a first look which was not only smart given the late start of their wedding ceremony but also gave us the perfect opportunity to work around some crazy storms heading our way that threatened our ceremony time. Outdoor weddings are always risky, but we lucked out on this one. We take wedding photography very seriously because we know we are the single, sole responsible people in charge of making sure there ARE quality wedding images for the couple and their family to treasure forever. It is in this spirit that we have a philosophy of “never wasting time.” We know that things like the weather can change in an instant so when we have a solid chance at outdoor photos, even if it’s before the ceremony and there hasn’t been a first look, we take it. That way, if it happens to rain out the rest of the day, we at least got some outdoor photos in. Kaci and Dylan maximized their photo time and we think that it shows greatly in this blog by doing a first look prior to the ceremony. It was sweet, intimate, private and even though they had already seen each other, Dylan still had that same amazed look as he watched his future wife walk down the aisle which was basically just another first look. We loved it. We dealt with some serious heat and humidity as we did pre-wedding ceremony photos of the family and bridal party but things cooled off as the rain rolled in and we shot as much as possible before the downpour. Watching the radar closely we knew that the rain would be out of the area right as the ceremony was getting ready to start and thanks to the help of the Tuscan Hills staff and some family friends, the chairs were wiped off and the ceremony went off outdoors without a hitch. The couple and bridal party took a short break before the reception in the party bus and we opted to take a few more park photos to really maximize our cloudy day where we can essentially shoot anywhere without throwing our bridal party into the blinding hot sun. The reception was treated with another amazing meal by Niemergs Catering and of course Tuscan Hills took care of us the rest of the night. We snuck in a few more evening shots and the couple enjoyed their toasts, speeches, cupcakes and first dances in front of their family and friends. We loved working with this beautiful laid back couple and we love how the photos show how much they really love each other. Congrats Kaci and Dylan, we wish you all the very best!

-The Keys