Melissa & Eliot - World's Fair Pavilion, Forest Park

This is going to be a long one. This wedding was incredibly lovely though, so you will have to bear with our inability to skip any of these images. Melissa and Eliot are a simply wonderful couple. They make a beautiful pair, they have impeccable taste, and they are a complete pleasure to be around. What a wild wedding - theirs was one for the record books. As you can see, Melissa was a stunning bride, and I truly cannot image a more perfect dress for her. Her gown was a lace and satin dream designed by Lazaro. Her bridesmaids wore classically chic black dresses from J. Crew. Throughout their day, Melissa and Eliot incorporated elements of black and white, calligraphy, and gold accents. The combination was stunning - subtle, classic, and quintessentially elegant. The World's Fair Pavilion is a beautiful venue, with views of the park and incredible evening light. There were a few glitches, like the brutal heat and a freak thunderstorm that whipped through their reception, but their wedding was beautiful and we were so happy to see these two get hitched. Some couples just seem completely right together, and Melissa and Eliot are absolutely one of them. Here are some of our favorite photos from their wedding day!

Ceremony & Reception Location: World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park

Floral Design: The Rebel Florist

Wedding Coordinator: Absolutely In Events

Caterer: Butler's Pantry

Hair: Kate Seminerio

Cake Artist: Sugaree Baking

DJ: Elite Pro DJ

Ceremony Musicians: Heritage String Quartet

Draping, Uplighting, Chairs: Exclusive Events

Printed Materials: Prints by Brooke (NYC)

Bride's Gown: Low's Bridal, Designed by Lazaro

Gentlemen's Attire: Black by Very Wang

Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew

Ashley & Tim's St. Louis Botanical Gardens Wedding

Ashley and Timothy had a beautiful ceremony at the Botanical Gardens and then their reception at the Norman K. Probstein golf course. What perfect locations for a beautiful summer wedding! Ashley was a stunning bride in a gorgeous ivory lace gown, carrying a stunning bouquet of pink roses, and for her bridesmaids, she chose navy dresses with hot pink flowers. The groomsmen wore grey suits, with navy and pink striped ties. The modern color palette was perfect for the bright summer day, and each location really highlights the color and personality of this wedding. It's awesome to see a couple like Tim and Ashley get married - the two are so happy and their love for each other is obvious to everyone. We had an amazing time watching them tie the knot and celebrate with their nearest and dearest. Congratulations, Tim and Ashley!

Keri & Ryan's Graham Chapel Wedding

When you make plans for a July 27 wedding in St. Louis, you pretty much expect the day to be hot - the sweltering, humid, 100+ degree kind of heat. Keri and Ryan are one lucky couple, and their wedding day was temperate, sunny, and all-together gorgeous. A perfect day for a wonderful couple. For Keri and Ryan's Graham Chapel wedding, we were blessed with amazing weather, beautiful locations, a blissfully happy couple, and one extremely fun wedding party. Keri and Ryan are simply incredible together. They are so happy, so in love, and so good to each other. I love photographing weddings:  it is an incredible thing to see a couple say their vows and then celebrate with those they love. Keri and Ryan's wedding was an awesome example of that. From their wonderfully personal ceremony to watching Keri's grandmother jam to her favorite song (Celebrate!), this was an incredible day. We had such a hard time narrowing down our favorites to post on the blog - I think you'll see why. Our most sincere congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Horn! We were honored to be a part of your wedding day!

A Trip to the Canadian Rockies

  This July, Andy and I took a long awaited vacation to the Canadian Rockies. We carved out 10 days in our schedules and jetted off, just in time to land in Calgary for Canada Day (we were given maple shaped chocolates upon our arrival - go Canada!). As we traveled through Banff, Golden, and Jasper in our shiny rental Dodge Journey, we stayed in B&B's, stopped at almost every overlook, and pulled over with the rest of the tourists to see bears, elk, and mountain goats on the side of the roads. Super fun. Canada was awesome and almost surreal - huge mountains surrounded by aquamarine lakes with glaciers topping surrounding peaks. A friend asked if we had photoshopped the water in a pic we posted to facebook, but nope - all the colors are real. In fact, some locals told us that they wished we had gotten to see the color of the water in its full glory (as some recent rain apparently made it less vibrant....how is that even possible??). We went canoeing on Moraine Lake, hiked 10 miles at Lake Louise, stood in the spray of Takkakaw Falls, grabbed drinks at the Banff Springs Hotel, chilled in hot springs, traveled by horse, and saw some pretty cool wildlife that I previously had only seen in Nat Geo. Here are some of our favorite photos: