We didn’t meet Katie and Philip until their engagement session in December, but Katie made up for that by emailing us a wonderful short biography (and including pictures!) of her and Philip. Ever since that email, we both have felt so welcomed into their lives by them, their friends, and their family–whether over chicken tortilla soup at Panera before their engagement session or throughout the wedding that they both put so much thought into.  When we got to the salon, Katie stood up and, with a ginormous smile on her face, hugged both of us.  It set the tone for the rest of the day: lots of love!

Along with the joy that permeated the day, it was neat to witness the gravity both Katie and Philip afforded their wedding.

Katie’s mom pinned a piece of lace from her own wedding dress on Katie’s and told her: “You’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen”.

Katie, her sister, and her sister-in-law, along with other close friends from school, have a tradition of pinning the same handkerchief on their wedding dresses.  Katie will keep it until the next person in their group of friends gets married, and then she’ll pass it on.  Both Katie and Philip’s families and close group of friends provided so much love and support on the wedding day.

The first look.

We love the way Philip looked at Katie the whole day.

Philip serving his dad during communion.

As if Katie and Philip and their families weren’t nice enough, the staff at McFadden’s was so hospitable, the food was wonderful, and the atmosphere was so interesting!  We had so much fun throughout the reception using all of the mirrors and windows and taking in the view of downtown Grand Rapids.  If you’re having a smaller reception, we haven’t seen better so far.

Leandra’s favorite:

Katie’s parents (right) celebrated their anniversary on the wedding day.  Both Katie and Philip have such loving, in-love parents. Both couples danced with each other like it was their own wedding day.

One of the bridesmaids signing the engagement-photo guestbook.

There’s Nicole and Chris!

My favorite (on the left). We did some more portraits with Katie and Philip during the reception (for about 30 minutes), and we loved photographing them in the rich atmosphere at McFadden’s.  We’ve started taking most of our couples aside for a few more photographs during the reception recently, and love the results.  It’s after everything that needs to be done is done, everyone’s relaxed, and we usually can find some neat, romantic corner of wherever we are and provide just a little more time for each couple to spend near each other (which, for as much as the day is about the two people getting married, is hard to come by).

Katie and Philip’s wedding is a perfect example of why Leandra and I love what we do.  It might sound sentimental, but we really love witnessing two families come together and the love our couples share for each other.  And it’s an honor to be there to photograph it all.

Katie and Philip: hope you’re getting settled in Texas nicely.  We’ll see you in October for Nicole and Chris’ wedding!