June 14, 2008 – Saturday’s wedding was held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in La Crosse, WI. This was another great wedding to be a part of and to photograph! This couple was great, as was their bridal party, the church had some neat locations for photos (which you’ll see soon!) and the weather was perfect. We had plenty of time for photos before & after the ceremony as Maria & Francis decided not to see each other before the ceremony. And on that note…
…here we have the lucky groom, Francis, and his groomsmen…
After that, Francis was sent downstairs so he didn’t see Maria as I photographed her and the bridesmaids. Here’s a photo I like which was caught at just the right moment…
I started with Maria to get some beautiful bridal portraits of her. Remember I mentioned that there was some cool locations at the church? Well, there was this wall, made of completely glass block, that I had to get some photos by. Here are some of my favorites from there with a little post processing done…
And here we have Maria and her wonderful bridesmaids…
If you’ve checked out some of my wedding photography from past weddings, you’ll know that I’ve had pets (basically just dogs – never had any cats, etc…) that were incorporated into the wedding. Maria & Francis have a Bullmastiff, Cody (hope I spelled it right, but he makes my Boxer look puny!) bring the rings down the aisle during the ceremony. Here’s when he showed up prior to the ceremony as Francis looks on…
And then it was time for the ceremony and when Maria walked down the aisle, the stained glass windows on the side of the church created an awesome effect on her & her veil. She was most definitely in the spotlight…
Their wedding ceremony was nice, with live acoustic guitar music solos, personalized poems and their dog bringing the rings as he did when Francis proposed, it made the ceremony even more special for them. After the ceremony we got through the family portraits & wedding party photos and then it was time for some photos of just the two of them.
The wedding reception was being held at the La Crosse Center Ballroom and before going there, we headed to Riverside Park and created some awesome outdoor photos. These next two photos have been post processed, but they make use of Maria’s beautiful veil…
…that last one’s smokin hot!!
Then we were off to the La Crosse Center Ballroom for the reception and here’s a photo I have to share of the Best Man’s speech that he wrote prior to the ceremony. He said he worked real hard on it and showed it to the crowd. He was cracking everyone up…
After the dinner, there was a slideshow and then it was time for the first dance. Another special moment as well…
Then the party got started with a little help from Maria and her friends…
…even the little ones were gettin’ down…
A little later, they had the Grand March, which led to the bouquet & garter toss. Francis had to shake his stuff to the song “The Stripper”, by David Rose, before being allowed to attempt to remove the garter. Made for some fun photos too…
Maria had a surprise in store for Francis (which I knew about – sorry Francis!) for when he did the traditional removal of her garter. Apparently, he has some cowboy boots which she don’t like, so she was going to pay him back by surprising him with some boots of her own. His expression was priceless and the guests loved every second of it…
It was a long day of wedding photography, but it was well worth it. I was glad I was able to be of service to you both as your wedding photographer and wish you both safe trip to Mexico along with a long, happy, healthy future together!
Congrats to you both Maria & Francis!
See more of their wedding photography here
