Mary and Ryan are Married! ~ Iowa Wedding Photographer Carisa Keeling

Posted on June 24, 2010

I was recently honored to be a part of Mary and Ryan’s wedding day.  These guys, their entire wedding party and all of their family were a pleasure to work with.  Despite some minor mis-haps they kept their cool and had a wonderful day.  The ceremony was held in Imogene, Iowa at St. Patrick’s church with a reception in Omaha at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center.  Mary was absolutely stunning in her wedding gown, and Ryan didn’t clean up too badly himself.  Our plans got sidetracked a little bit when the party bus broke down on it’s way to pick up the wedding party in Imogene.  After placing a few phone calls and making some last minute logistical changes the wedding party arrived at the Scottish Rite safe and sound.  After dinner I stole Mary and Ryan away for a few minutes for an outdoor session in downtown Omaha, which was a lot of fun and an interesting change of pace for me.

This post is going to be a little longer than my typical post, because I am going to step you through the story of their day…

When my assistant Mitch Miller of MD Miller Photography and I arrived, Mary and the girls were finishing the final preparations on hair, makeup and dresses.  Mary has a large family, and there were a lot of women (and a lot of sisterly love and teasing) in that little room!

Mary and Ryan did not want to see each other before the wedding, so we did some of the family and wedding party shots before the ceremony, and then the rest of them after the ceremony.

St. Patrick’s is a beautiful, old church.  The detail is stunning.  The ceremony was beautiful, and Father Ken Gross gave a wonderful sermon.

After the ceremony, we went back inside the church and did the remaining group shots.  Then, while we waited for the party bus (that never made it) we did some more shots of Mary and Ryan outside.

Once we were at the reception and had a chance to eat Mary, Ryan, my assistant Mitch and I took a brief stroll outside in downtown Omaha to do some additional wedding portraits of the two of them.  This was a fabulous little session, and the results are some of my favorites from the entire day.

Once we headed back inside, it was time for Mary and Ryan’s first dance as husband and wife.  This is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day.  It is easy for the bride and groom to forget about everything around them and focus on each other.  The result is fantastic, natural expressions.

I love this series of shots of the bouquet toss.  You can actually see the daisy petals flying through the air as one of the bridesmaid’s catches the flowers.  There was an enthusiastic response as the girls tried for the bouquet too!~

In this last image I noticed how puzzled the children seemed by the “Chicken Dance”.  These kids really look like they think the adults may have gone a little crazy

I always ask my clients if there is anything else that they need from me before I leave for the night.  When I asked these two, Ryan commented that they had not taken a picture WITH me yet.  Aww…I thought that was pretty sweet.  So Mitch took the image below of the three of us.

Ryan and Mary, thank you so much for including me as part of your day!  I wish you a lifetime of happiness and joy.

Marci and Jake~Engaged! Carisa Keeling, Iowa Wedding Photographer

Posted on June 13, 2010

Marci and Jake are absolutely adorable together.  We did their engagement shoot on Iowa State University’s central campus and the session was a lot of fun.  They are both attending the University of Iowa now, but Jake’s heart is still in cyclone country!  I was able to capture a wide variety of expressions during the shoot and Marci and Jake really relaxed and had fun.  At least, that was the way they appeared!

I include engagement shoots in all of my wedding collections.  These shoots are a fabulous way for me to get to know my clients, as well as a great way for them to get some really great images which are then often used in one form or another in the wedding day.  I create custom guestbooks for many of my clients as well as invitations, save the date cards and even those super cute little magnets!

Ok, enough of my chatter, you came to see pictures right?!?!