Nicole and Jacob | Wedding @ Carriage House, Altamont IL

Happy Valentine’s Day! Better late on the blog than never right? We decided in the spirit of the day celebrating love we would share our blog a day early with the EPIC wedding of Nicole and Jacob. These two know how to throw a party for what I estimated to be over 400 guests, it was an amazing day! For starters, the weather (in February no less) was a beautiful 60 degrees and although we had some cloud cover and the threat of rain, we managed to sail through the entire day without a drop getting on our bridal party. I call that a success. What I loved about these guys were that they were really good natured, down to earth family people. They incorporate their families in everything that they did and I have some great respect for that. We loved working with them all, they were all so much fun!

We started the morning in Newton for hair and makeup and the bridal party was dancing and having a blast even in the morning hours. We headed to St. Thomas Church in Newton for the pre-ceremony pictures and we were happy to be able to get a handful of outdoor photos in prior to the ceremony start. Nicole’s bridesmaids sang beautifully at her wedding (that’s one talented bunch) and she had a lot of happy tears during the ceremony. Both sets of parents put in a lot of work for this wedding and they were beaming with pride as their children exchanged vows and rings. Once we finished up with formal pictures after the ceremony we had very little time to beat the rain and the darkness so we headed to Newton Lake where we took some bridal party shots and some outdoor photos of the couple featuring Nicole’s epic veil. We headed to the Carriage House where we walked in and were amazed by the hundreds of guests and loved ones of the couple waiting to greet them. There aren’t too many venues that can pull off over 450-500 guests but the Carriage House could do this with their hands tied behind their back. They did an AMAZING job keeping all of the guests happy and hydrated while Niemerg’s Catering provided another fabulous meal. The couple chose some beautiful decor and colors for their wedding and ceremony and add to that the Maid of Honor’s awesome rap speech and you have one awesome wedding reception. We laughed so hard listening to the speeches and it was very clear that these two were very loved. The guests danced the night away to the talents of our friend Brad Miller who always does an amazing job working with vendors and couples to give them a great experience and we left the reception feeling like we had been a part of the family all day long. We really enjoyed working with these two they are so in love and so happy together we know they will have an incredible future together. In the spirit of Love on Valentine’s Day today we wish you nothing but the best in your married lives and from one ole married couple to another we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day (your first as a married couple)! Congrats you guys!

-Kate