The weather didn’t cooperate, but that didn’t stop Nicole and John from having a fun and beautiful wedding day.  We were supposed to start the day taking pictures out on the farm, but with the wet and soggy weather, we had to “settle” for the backyard of one of John’s groomsmen.  This “backyard” just happened to be as big as a city block, landscaped like something out of Western Living, and included fountains, bridges, a pitch and putt golf green, and a fully loaded gazebo with a poker table.  As you can probably tell, it wasn’t really a disappointment having to shoot here!  Armed with umbrellas, golf clubs, a couple of bottles of bubbly, and Nicole and John’s happy-go-lucky bulldog, everyone was more than game for the pictures and it turned out to be quite the enjoyable photo shoot despite the occasional rain shower.

And though the rain also meant moving the ceremony from outside to inside, the St-Charles Country Club is blessed with a picturesque clubhouse and banquet hall.  With the help of a little extra lighting, everything looked great in there too.  Through it all, Nicole and John were all smiles and didn’t let the weatherman stop them from enjoying their day.  Congrats to the newlywed couple!  A few sneak peeks:

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Typically, one of the main bonding points between the bride and groom and their photographer is the weather: from the mutual fretting beforehand over a dicey forecast, to the shared, nervous upward glances at a big, dark storm front approaching.  But although we had all the ingredients for a dark, stormy, and oppressive day, Kristin and Kyle’s wedding remained one of the lightest and funnest weddings to shoot.  Not only was she unfazed by the weather, but Kristin also demonstrated this uncanny knack of timing our car rides between locations to coincide with the random downpours of the day.  And between the playfulness of Kristin’s nephew, who was the precocious and brilliantly red-haired ringbearer, and the antics of Kyle and his band of very merry groomsmen, there was never a dull moment in the shooting.  Lots and lots of fun pictures full of personality on this day!  Here’s just a few of my faves:

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