My last wedding of the 2014 wedding season and as usual I want to end the day with a bang. Well, Hayley and Brennan definitely did that. What an AMAZING wedding. Slightly chilly, but overall the weather was great for a late October wedding. Sun was shining, church was full of friends and family, and Hayley and Brennan were full of smiles. From the beginning we knew it was going to be a great day. Everything just seemed to be working out great. We were ahead of schedule, everyone was relaxed and enjoying themselves. Not only did they have photography, but they had video too provided by Gaddis Graphics, so we had a great videographer to work alongside with. To top it off Hayley had an amazing wedding dress as well as a cathedral veil to go with it, as a photographer, I LOVE these veils. Hayley and Brennan got married in Teutopolis, IL and celebrated at the Keller Convention Center in Effingham, IL (I’ll get to this in a moment, but WOW! What a reception it was). They did a first look that morning and the lighting was tremendous in the location we chose to capture that first moment where Brennan got to see Hayley. The ceremony went great, as do all weddings at St. Francis Church.
After the ceremony we made our way to a location we shot their engagement pictures. Now during the engagement session we didn’t explore too many locations there as we knew we were coming back for wedding pictures, but we did revisit one of those locations because it was just too amazing not to. But the pictures outside, like the entire day were perfect. So perfect I didn’t know what to do with all the time we were allotted. Seriously, Hayley and Brennan gave us 3 hours after the wedding to do pictures!! Obviously this is much more time than we need but it was just perfect. So we were all able to take our time with pictures, the wedding party was able to enjoy themselves some since we weren’t in a rush, and we finished with so much time before the reception that we were able to photograph the hall without any guests in the room or without any of the tables messed up or bags thrown in, again… perfect. Of course this was with the help of Katie at the Keller Convention Center as she helped coordinate everything to allow us to have this alone time in the hall to capture some images showing just how amazing the hall was.
This brings us to the reception, of course. Did I say it was amazing early? I’ll say it again, it was absolutely amazing. The decor was beautiful and it definitely had a wow factor about it. Another thing we absolutely loved about the set up was the private table for Hayley and Brennan. I’ve seen this a couple times and I think it’s just awesome. The day is ultimately about the couple, not the wedding party and by doing this it gives the couple kind of their first meal as a couple a little more intimately, or at least as intimate as it can get with hundreds of guests. But seriously, we love this set up and I think the couples, in the end, like having it this way more than anything else. But just like any other reception at the Keller Convention Center, it went without a hiccup. Katie stayed on top of things making sure everyone was doing alright, something as a vendor I really appreciate because if there is anything that we needed, videographers, dj, etc. she would do what she could to make it happen. Like I have said over and over now, this day was absolutely perfect and it was absolutely the best wedding possible to end with in 2014. Thank you again, Hayley and Brennan, for allowing us to be a part of your day and a huge congratulations to you two!!
Photographer: Steffen Harris Photography
Videographer: Gaddis Graphics
DJ: Complete Music
Reception Hall: Keller Convention Center