Kendra and Luke | Wedding @ Effingham, IL

I dont’ even know where to begin in describing the awesomeness that is Kendra and Luke. I guess I could start my randomness in order. We started the morning with makeup by the fabulous Candice Frese where I became instantly obsessed with the lighting in the room. She did a fabulous job and then we wrapped up the morning with Brittany Tucker, hair ninja at Stylez in Effingham, IL. I have NEVER seen anyone do amazing hair this fast. Seriously, hair ninja. We were able to have an amazing private first look on the beautiful church property followed by some “Family” photos with their adorable little dog, Bentley. The ceremony was beautiful and full of love incorporating a very cool slideshow. We had an awesome post ceremony location for photos already scoped out and we had a good time with perfect weather capturing images. We had some fun at the downtown bars and then headed to the reception. Now, I’m gonna tell you WHY I loved this couple and this wedding:

1. Luke was a Cubs fan. Sorry to call you out like that buddy but it was AWESOME giving you a hard time with all the Cardinal victories and all 🙂 Literally, the entire day was giving Luke and some of the groomsmen a hard time. Kendra, I’m glad you’re a Cardinals fan, someone has to make up for Luke…

2. The wedding party was fantastic. There are some wedding parties that get drunk, ridiculous, and hard to deal with but this wedding party was FUN, cooperative, and were a dream to photograph. Kudos to your awesome peeps!

3. DJ: Awesome. Big Shout Out to Kyle Jakubs from Complete Music in St. Louis. Awesome, funny guy. He played the St. Louis Cardinal Song at the reception. Best. Song. Ever.

4. Organized dancing. Yes. There was apparently some kind of “special” rehearsed dance at the reception. I have NEVER seen such a cool organized dance. Awesome job. Outstanding.

5. Did you SEE Kendra in these photos. Stunning. A photographers dream.

6. A puppy. In photos. It doesn’t take much for me folks…

7. Cool Photographer Brother. Not the kind that wants to pull double duty and be the groomsman and the photographer but the kind that talks shop, does great work, and appreciates the art. Loved talking shop with Derek Dirks and he did an awesome job on the couples engagement photos.

8. Awesome family, treated us like family the ENTIRE day.

9. There was at least one “Cubs Fan” jab in all of the speeches. Never laughed so hard in my life.

10. A realistic schedule was made and followed. The wedding ran on time, the pictures ran on time. Never has this ever happened in the history of weddings. Kendra, you made history.

If I don’t stop talking about how awesome this couple is, they’ll never get to see this blog so I’ll shut up now. Kendra and Luke, I hope you grow to be 100 together sitting at Cardinal games rooting for the home team with all your babies and grand babies and dogs. I hope you love each other more with each day and it was an absolute BLAST spending the day with you and your families.

-Kate and Doug