Emma and Andy’s happy, relaxed summer wedding

Emma and Andy had such a lovely, summer wedding filled with laughter, sunlight, and happy celebration with their community. Emma and Andy are both incredibly sweet, down to earth people, and they envisioned their wedding day feeling relaxed, joyful, and focused on their connection with one another and with their friends and family. During one of our first meetings, Andy said that “the most important part of the day is that Emma and I are married,” which was such a beautiful sentiment that really captured how excited Emma and Andy felt to get married. 

Getting ready portraits 

On their wedding day, Emma and Andy rented a big house and gathered with their wedding parties on separate floors to get ready. Tyler (my partner and second-shooter) and I spent time with each group, capturing Emma and her people getting their hair and make up done, and documenting Andy and his friends hanging out and teaching each other how to tie ties (one of my favorite candid wedding moments to witness!). I also took photos of some special wedding details, like Emma’s jewelry and shoes (which her grandmother wore on her wedding day!). Emma’s mom had lovingly mended the shoes and given them to Emma to wear during the ceremony. 

Emma and Andy’s first look

After Emma’s mom helped her into her dress and Emma had a tender moment with her dad, Emma and Andy met up outside to see each other for the first time. They both were glowing with happiness as they took each other in. With gorgeous sunlight streaming in through the trees behind them, the moment overflowed with warmth. 

Emma and Andy’s wedding parties then joined them for a few group portraits. At one moment, Emma and Andy’s dads popped into the picture and whipped out sunglasses for everyone– a sweet surprise that got all of us laughing. 

The wedding ceremony 

As we transitioned to the church for the wedding ceremony, Tyler and I went into full documentary mode to capture all the important, iconic moments throughout their wedding. The church sanctuary had a lot of natural light, and it was a hot day, so everyone was grateful to be inside with the air conditioning! In the late afternoon when the ceremony began, incredible sunlight was streaming in from the big, gorgeous windows, illuminating Emma, Andy, and their guests’ sweet expressions.

Some churches have guidelines about where photographers can or cannot be during the ceremony, so I kept mostly to the back of the church and stayed out of the center aisle during the ceremony.  I always like to normalize that navigating these kinds of guidelines are a common part of my job, and they are easy to work with. I captured some lovely long distance portraits documenting Emma and Andy and all their important people gathered to witness them become officially married, and I used my zoom lenses to get closer-in views without physically getting close to them. 

It was such a happy, meaningful ceremony, and they had the biggest smiles as they recessed out! 

Emma and Andy’s reception at the Chaska Event Center

After the ceremony, we all gathered at the Chaska Event Center for the reception. The reception was beautiful - a lovely, spacious room filled with gorgeous floral arrangements. I captured candid moments from the cocktail hour as well as some detail portraits documenting the decorations and setting. The room felt so lively as Emma and Andy’s friends and families munched and mingled. Meanwhile Emma and Andy took some quiet moments to just be together before entering the reception. Emma and Andy had a grand entrance into the reception space alongside their wedding parties, and then the dinner began.

Emma and Andy spent much of the dinner time visiting all of the guest tables, intentionally connecting with their people. They did sneak outside for a few sunset pictures, which turned out so beautiful. It was a quintessential hot, summer night in Minnesota, and the sun shone brightly as it set. 

Emma and Andy chose to serve pies for their dessert. The caterer who was supposed to make their pies unfortunately had a health emergency and was unable to do so, so Emma’s mom stepped up last minute and made all of the mini pies for the guests! She got a special shout out during the round of toasts for achieving this major baking feat.  

A creative twist on the bouquet give away

The night wrapped up with a huge, happy dance party. During the dance party, in lieu of throwing her bouquet, Emma decided to auction it off to the couple in attendance who had been married the longest. Emma’s dad has experience as an auctioneer, so he led the auction with his impressively fast auctioneer voice, and a couple that had been married 65yrs won the bouquet! It was such a special moment and creative way to celebrate their community. The dance party then stretched on, and Emma and Andy kept glowing with joy to be married. 

WeddingKiki Burgdorf