Welcome to Jodi & Aaron’s wedding blog post! You may recall from their engagement photo post, that they live in Chicago but Jodi is originally from the Spring Green, WI area and we went to high school together. We photographed their wedding over Memorial Day weekend and it couldn’t have been more perfect! This was seriously an awesome group of people to work with! The wedding was at Jodi’s parents house just outside of Arena, WI in the country. They transformed their barn into a magical wedding location the week before the wedding—the work they put in to making that place shine was amazing!
When we got to Jodi’s parent’s house the day of the wedding, Jodi was putting the finishing touches on her vows (which were awesome, by the way! Made me cry!) and was still a little ways away from getting ready to put her dress on, so I headed out to photograph some of the details.
The centerpieces were these awesome planters filled with summery annuals, which I loved because they can be reused and enjoyed all summer long! The table settings were all various vintage plate patterns from different family members. Such a cool idea!
Aaron’s grandmother arrived, and we caught this hug from afar with our super stealthy telephoto lens 🙂
The place cards were set in wine corks, and all of them had unique quotes on the back of them. I wanted to read them all!
Soon it was time for the ceremony! It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day, for real. Upper 60’s, not too sunny, not too cloudy. Pretty much perfect.
After the ceremony it was time for portraits. I could’ve blogged Every. Single. Photo from this set. Jodi had pointed out a wildflower patch on the hillside that she wanted to use for photos. Unfortunately, it was in full sun at the time of the portrait session. Luckily, just around the corner there was another beautiful patch of forest in the most perfect light! It made us SO happy!
Then the happy couple jumped in a 1926 Model T ford to head off for more photos across the street.
Where there was a great stone house.
And then we went to the Chapel in the Pines for five more minutes of photos.
Then it was time to party! I love this photo of Jodi with all of Aaron’s friends!
I normally don’t take photos of people eating, but the backlighting was too hard to resist!
Now comes the fun part, the dance!! This was hands down one of the best receptions we’ve been to! Jodi Jean is the lead singer in the Jodi Jean Band, (check them out, they are awesome!) so many of her band mates and friends were up on stage throughout the night with various types of live music.
And after the first dance, Jodi joined them up on stage for lots of great songs.
While many of the guests enjoyed the music from the fire pit. Jodi’s dad owns his own landscaping company so everything was just perfect!
Towards the end of the night, Jodi dedicated the Sade song “Smooth Operator” to her groom. One of my favorite songs! They played lots of Bossa Nova too, which I adore. So all in all every song was awesome. Such a talented group of folks at this wedding!
Jodi & Aaron, you two are amazing! I’m so happy we reconnected, Jodi, and I’m glad to have Aaron as a new friend! You two always have a place to stay if you’re in the Twin Cities!!
