Amanda and Ben | Wedding @ Shumway IL

Well, like we have said in the past, wedding photography brings about a lot of “firsts” in our experiences and this wedding was no exception. This wedding was full of fun and love and as you can see, a few cute little animals as well 🙂 Amanda and Ben are one of those couples you just instantly love and on a perfect day in September, we saw them become husband and wife!

Stylez Salon in Effingham is one of the best in the area, hands down. These girls keep us on time and make our bridal party look fantastic. We started there with the makeup expertise of Kaci who gave our bride and some of her bridal party flawless looks and the rest of the Stylez staff created art out of hair as they made our bridal party look as sharp as ever. We headed over to St. Mary’s Church in Shumway where Amanda and Ben had the most beautiful ceremony planned complete with Bishop Kemme presiding over the mass as well as Barb Conrad and the angelic voices of her choir singing beautiful harmonies throughout the service. We could tell that faith and family were very important to Amanda and Ben and this was very present in their ceremony plans. We spent the morning snapping family photos and letting the couple exchange private letters to each other (without seeing each other before the big reveal down the aisle). Once the ceremony was over we headed to the couples family home where we included some of the cutest little piggies ever in their wedding photos. This may not seem like your traditional wedding portrait but this is a very unique and special couple. They both have a shared history with showing and raising pigs and while I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about pigs, showing pigs, or caring for pigs I can tell you that this little guy in the photos was a sweet heart and if Doug would have let me I would have a farm full of cute little animals.  I also want to mention that my good friend Tanya Pedersen of Design Pro created the couples wedding programs and she is the definition of profession, perfectionism, and personable. She does all of our design work for our business and we couldn’t run this show without her! We took some bridal party and couple portraits before heading to the Effingham KC Hall for the reception. The moment I walked in, I was completely stunned by the overhaul that had been done to the banquet room. Mary Dust (along with her sisters Linda and Pat) of PaLuMa Events literally turned the KC Hall into an elegant and romantic atmosphere. I’ve never seen more beautiful floor to wall draping in my entire wedding career. The uplighting brought about the intricate detail of the table decor and thanks to their vast knowledge of weddings they had not only made it easy to move around in the reception hall but they also made sure that the bridal party had enough space for their grand entrance (a common mistake couples forget to think about when planning reception arrangements). I’ve known Mary Dust for years now, this lady is pure talent. Martins Catering provided another delicious meal and the reception was hopping with an energetic crowd.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it was also a VERY special day for Ben as it was his BIRTHDAY. HOW COOL IS THAT? He got a wife as a birthday present! He will certainly NOT forget his wedding anniversary ever right? Nice play Amanda, nice play. Happy Birthday Dearest Ben! We LOVED being able to celebrate both occasions with you both. Thanks to you both for being super cool to work with and we will never forget the pigs, the ice cream (thanks Homewood Grill), the genuine love you had for each other, and the beautiful wedding day you had! Doug with Key-Films provided the video services for the day and we can’t wait for him to share the epic video of the big day.

Congrats Amanda and Ben!

-Kate and Doug