Lauren and Josh | Wedding @ St. Anthony of Padua Church in Effingham, IL

I am pretty excited to share this wedding blog because I have nothing but immense respect and love for this amazing couple. I have known Lauren for a long time now since we worked together in our teenage years and she has always been a laid back, caring person who would do ANYTHING for you. Wouldn’t you know she goes out and meets Josh who has the EXACT same qualities. Even before the wedding festivities got started, Josh had already posted an amazing sweet post to Facebook about his future wife and had everyone holding back tears.  You don’t have to take my word for it, you can SEE it in the photos. I was trying to find the “perfect” word to describe just how Josh treats Lauren and the best (and this is will be an understatement) word I could come up with is “treasure.” Josh absolutely treasures Lauren so much in fact he almost ran down the aisle to get her (she didn’t even make it all the way up before Josh went to get her)! We had such a great morning at Mainly You Salon in Teutopolis where I have spent the last few weddings and let me tell you, they always do a fantastic job on hair. After the hairstyles were all finished we headed to breakfast. I have to say, this is the FIRST wedding I have ever shot where the bride and her girls had time to sit down and enjoy a meal together before continuing to get ready. I love how laid back this couple was and how they went with the flow! Although St. Anthony Church was undergoing renovations to their roof we were able to get some bridal images inside the church and take advantage of the walkway. It was very hard not to get emotional following the ceremony when Josh, his new bride, and his family went to the cemetery to pay respect to his mother who has recently passed. They honored her in such a special way at the reception as well with a dance in her honor. Josh had explained to me prior to the visit what they had planned and I thought that it was a beautiful idea. I can remember from my own wedding day visiting my father’s site (which is in the same cemetery as Josh’s mother) the day before our wedding and it was a very special moment during the day. I loved working with both Lauren and Josh and I am proud to call them my friends. May your life be full of unlimited happiness!

-Kate and Doug