Becky Brown Photography

I’ve been looking forward to this weeding for a looong time now because not only was it in my hometown, it was in the church that I grew up in. Luckily, after some doubt and stress, the church was still standing for the wedding (there had been talks of it being torn down and re-built – can you imagine hearing that as a bride-to-be?!).  The couple are high school sweethearts and after having the pleasure of shooting their engagement photos in the fall, I could tell how much in love they are.

I started the morning out at Rumors salon where all the girls were getting their hair done.  Shout out to all the wonderful ladies that work there – especially Rachel who did the brides hair and is married to my cousin Zach (let’s face it, I’m related to half the town). From there it was off to the church to do separate shots with the guys and the girls before the early 1:30 ceremony start time.

After some fun shots and everyone’s co-ordination (thanks guys!) we were ready to head to the ceremony. It brought back memories to be in my old church, I spent so much time there as a child in school at St. Mary’s it’s like a second home.  And I finally got a chance to hear Father Myer speak – I’ve been hearing rave things about him (and his breakdancing – pictures later).

And after rapping up photos we headed over to the reception for some dinner and dancing. It was great to see some old friends (I knew most of the wedding party) and some folks I haven’t seen in years. All in all a great day that I was blessed to be a part of.

Congratulations to Michelle and Matt!

Church and Reception Venue: St. Mary’s Catholic Church – North Vernon, IN

Hair Salon: Rumors – North Vernon, IN

Bridal Gown : David’s Bridal

Meanwhile ……

For the record I dominated in many games of kickball, 4-square and basketball on the playground below.

My favorite detail of the day. Michelle wrapped her Grandmother’s rosary in her bouquet as her “something old”.

In front of the elementary school I attended…. oh the memories…..

Bring on the details!!! Note the M&M’s aka Michelle & Matt… how clever

One of my favorites below

And on to the reception

First Dance time…

And here is proof that Father Meyer did in fact bust out some breakdancing to “Ice Ice Baby” at the reception. These pictures don’t even do him justice – not doing to lie , I was pretty impressed. If you want to see the live version you can check out this YouTube video… not the best quality, but you get the point.

And last but not least me and the wonderful couple. Congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Sharp!

Gotta love Friday weddings! I met Christy  Friday afternoon at the salon to start her wedding day off. Her bridesmaids joined us, along with her sister’s baby (who is the cutest little thing).  From there it was off to the church to continue getting ready and do photos. The church was gorgeous! Amazing stained glass windows everywhere – I was in love.  Everyone in the wedding party was great and ceremony was picture perfect.

We did all the photos before (which I love) so after the ceremony is was on to the lovely Palamino Ballroom in Zionsville for the reception. Such a great venue The ring bearer (who was also adorable) came up to me when I first arrived and asked me  if  ” this party was for his birthday”….. I mean what do you even say to that …. so cute…

Congratulations to Christy and Jason and thanks to the families, wedding party and everyone involved for a wonderful day.

Hair Salon: Flaunt – Lebanon, IN

Ceremony Venue: Central Christian Church – Lebanon, IN

Reception Venue: Palomino Ballroom -Zionsville, In

Bridal Gown: David’s Bridal

The amazing couple

At the salon

The normal one vs. the goofy one

And then it was on to the guys…

How cute are these two? They held hands half of the day….

The entire wedding party

And then it was time for the ceremony. This first one is Christy and her father hiding until it was time to walk down the aisle

Reception details…

And last but not least here’s me and the happy couple

This wedding will definitely go down in history as one of the most memorable for many reasons. For starters it was scorching hot – one of the hottest days of the year. I can’t even imagine being in a tux or wedding gown, but they were troopers during the entire day.

I’ve know Ashley and Tyler for awhile now. I used to work with Tyler back in the day at Yogi’s and I had the pleasure of doing their engagement photos last year (which you can see here and here).  I’ve been super excited to shoot their wedding out at Four Winds for awhile now. I know how gorgeous the venue is, right on Lake Monroe . And Tyler if you’re reading this, I’ll add this day to the list of memorable moments at the Lake… at least no chairs were broken this time!

I started the day off out at the resort with the girls getting ready doing hair and makeup. They decided to see each other before the ceremony (which I love!). So after our “first look” photos we loaded up and headed out to campus and to Bloomington South for some fun photos with the wedding party.  Things were smooth sailing until we got back and learned that all the power at the resort had gone out…. it was at this point when I truly realized how amazing Ashley and Tyler are…

Despite the power outage the show had to go on. After waiting a bit to see if we could get back up and running they proceeded with the ceremony minus the microphones. The setting was gorgeous a beautiful day with blue skies looking out onto the lake…. couldn’t be better (well i guess it could have been better with power). From there it was on to the reception which proved to be interesting since the DJ couldn’t play any music and the kitchen had no way to cook dinner for all the guests.  After some mingling and cocktails we got the best news of the night – the power was back!  Dinner was worth the wait  and the rain held off long enough to get some dancing in… well barely.

Just when you thought nothing else could go wrong in came a giant thunderstorm complete with some of the craziest lighting I’ve ever seen. Everyone started to run for cover and glasses were blowing over….. like I said definitely a wedding I will not soon forget!

At the end of the day though the bottom line was that Ashley and Tyler were happily married

Congratulations to the both of you! Thanks again for letting me be a part of your day, even though I was sweaty mess for most of it

Ceremony and Reception Location: Four Winds Resort – Bloomington, IN (they also provided the DJ and the catering)

Brides and Bridesmaids Dresses: David’s Bridal

Tuxes: Men’s Wearhouse

Florist: Peppertree Floral – Bloomington, IN

Cake : Sugar Daddy’s – Bloomington, IN

Hair : Nancy from His and Her’s Salon

Officiant : Alan Phillips – Sherwood Oaks Christian Church

On to the photos!!!

“My favorite moment was sitting in the girls dressing room getting ready, with Becky and Allie taking pictures, and coming to the realization that it was all coming together. We had talked about our wedding for so long and here we were actually doing what we had planned” -Ashley

In the meantime in the boys room……

Then we sent him out to wait for his bride He’s that tiny speck in black in the distance….

And some solo shots

And then it was off to campus… Here’s Ashley with her bridesmaids

and Tyler with his boys

One of my favorites on the left

Wedding Party at Sample Gates

Ashley really wanted this shot of them walking down Kirkwood….. we managed to stop traffic for couple of minutes to get it

And there’s my assistant Allie’s shot from the other side

Then it was off to Bloomington South for some pics on the football field

The whole wedding party back at Four Winds

Details, details, details!

And then it was ceremony time

Q. What is your funniest memory of the day?

A. Walking down the aisle with my dad!! When we first started we had Becky taking our pictures, but when we got closer to a tree that marked the turn in the sidewalk, there stood 3 of our friends and family members taking pictures with high tech cameras that my dad and I referred to as our paparazzi!!

What a gorgeous ceremony location

Off to the reception!

“My favorite detail was the place card fence. I painted it a year prior and left it outside to get weathered. Then Ty and I hand painted all of the clothes pins together and hand crafted the name tags. And finally, I spent the evening of the rehearsal with my Aunt Kim and Flowergril Kate putting each of the names on the fence. There were a lot of great memories that went into the process and it turned out WONDERFULLY!!!!”- Ashley

Reception details

And here comes the storm…..

Q. What advice would you give to couples planning their wedding?

A. Always remember to relax!!! Someone once told me that planning a wedding and building a house are very much alike. People are going to come to your home and tell you how wonderful it looks and the only person that will ever notice the imperfections is you. Things will happen that you didn’t plan on and half of the battle is realizing it ahead of time and being ok with. Oh – and nothing productive comes from getting upset. You may feel better, but you’ll feel best if you just roll with it!!

Congrats to Ashley and Tyler!!!

Here are some behind the scenes shots of me shooting… yah those are my feet sticking out on the left …

My famous stool… hey i’m short.. it prevents me from looking up everyone’s noses all the time

This last one was during the ceremony… I think it was around 98 degrees. I was so disgustingly sweaty …. seriously should not have been in public at this point…. yikes…