Amanda & Matt's September Wedding at Bloom & Bower in Rising Sun, Ohio

It was September 5th, that stretch of early fall where summer hasn't quite let go yet. The goldenrod was golden-rodding. The corn was above our heads and just about ready for picking. And the roses along the garden’s edge at Bloom & Bower were still holding a few raindrops from earlier that day when rain blessed the earth with a kiss of life right before Amanda and Matt got married in front of everyone they love.

I have a soft spot for weddings where something doesn't go quite according to plan, because it's usually where you learn the most about the people running the show. As that quick sprinkle rolled through right before the ceremony. I watched Margaret — who owns Bloom & Bower and planned the entire day — send her team out to dry every single chair the second the rain passed, calm as anything, like she'd done it a hundred times. Nobody in that crowd would have guessed anything had happened at all.

Getting Ready in the Red Barn

Amanda and the girls got ready in the downstairs suite of the red barn, which Bloom & Bower has turned into an on-site bed and breakfast — genuinely one of my favorite details about this venue, since it means you can stay right there in the days surrounding your wedding. Matt got ready upstairs in the loft, where the afternoon light came in strong and cool through the windows, good for the kind of candid, slightly dramatic portraits that don't need much direction to look as meaningful as the moments it was lighting.

Amanda and Matt have the kind of energy that creates friends instantly, and I felt it myself within the first few minutes of meeting them at their engagement session last year. A few of their wedding party started out as strangers they met during weekly euchre night at Bier Stube, a local pub, and turned into close friends not long after. Honestly, it tracks. They're warm, enthusiastic, encouraging, hilarious, and real. The kind of people who make you want to pull up a chair and stay a while because they treat you like you belong.

A First Look in the Garden

Their first look happened in the garden, and it's still one of my favorite parts of any wedding day to witness, not just photograph. Matt spent most of the day wearing this look: somewhere between disbelief and pure joy, like he genuinely couldn't believe this was his life now. When he opened his eyes and Amanda, glowing bridal goddess, was standing in front of him, he couldn’t hold his emotions back, and she reached up and wiped the tears off his face like it was the most natural thing in the world. Neither of them wanted a big production out of it, they just wanted to be together, to take each other in, before they made the vows that would begin their married life together.

Rings, Ribbons, and a Little Rain

The ceremony was out on the lawn in front of a rustic gazebo, dressed in multi-colored streamers and rainbow-hued florals that moved every time the wind picked up. Hands down my favorite ceremony decor of the year. Amanda and Matt hid their rings under two seats in the audience before the ceremony started, and when it came time, the two guests sitting there stood up and carried the rings forward. I'd never seen that before, and the surprised look on both their faces mid-ceremony was worth it.

They also did a handfasting, an old tradition where the couple's tie their hands together with ribbon or cord as a way of marking the commitment they're makin; it's actually where the phrase "tying the knot" is thought to come from. Watching two hands get wrapped together in front of a hundred people, cord over cord, hits differently than watching a ring go on a finger. Slower. More physical. You can see the promise happening in real time.

Corn as High as the Occasion

After the ceremony, we did family photos in front of the gazebo, then headed straight for the corn field, because Amanda had exactly one photo request going into the day: get us to the corn. I was genuinely giddy to oblige. This is my favorite kind of request, the kind that isn't about looking a certain way but about wanting to remember something specific. Years from now, every time they drive past a field of corn that high in late summer, it's going to pull them right back to this day, surrounded by everyone they love. I think about that a lot, how an ordinary field on the side of the road can end up meaning something, just because two people decided it should.

There's a shift that happens in portraits taken after the ceremony versus before, and I notice it every single time. Before, there's anticipation, a little nervous energy underneath everything. After, there's relief, and this wondersous kind of disbelief that the waiting is actually over. Amanda and Matt had that look written all over them out in the corn — loose, laughing, elated. Once the ceremony is behind us, my only real job for the rest of the day is making sure the two of them have the time of their lives. And they definitely did.

The Reception: Tiramisu, Toasts, and a Swing by the Corn

They walked into a full group photo before heading into cocktail hour (love) everybody together, nobody posed too carefully. Toasts were heartfelt, dinner was excellent, and the cake was tiramisu, which might be the best cake I've ever had, period. (Once I find out which bakery made it, they will have a new fan.)

First dances opened up the floor and the night turned into a party. A couple of memories from the night? Amanda's brother had a little point-and-shoot camera going all night, and when he mentioned he was a Wes Anderson fan, we had to get a portrait of him holding it, the kind of small inside joke that ends up being one of my favorite frames from the whole day, mostly because nobody will remember why it's funny except the people who were there. Amanda let loose with her girls on the dance floor. Matt brought shots out to a group of friends with the joy of a child. At one point, we all ran out to the swing near the corn field, just to frolic for a few minutes before heading back in to dance the rest of the night away. I love a wedding that still has room for a swing by a corn field at 8 p.m.

Amanda and Matt, you are the real MVPs of this day. The joy and love you share is clearly evident. And very infectious. May it grow even great with each new day. <3

Vendor Credits

Venue + Florals: Bloom & Bower Events + Bed & Breakfast | Rising Sun, Ohio

Planner: Margaret from Bloom and Bower

Catering + Coffee Cart: Zane's Lebanese Grill

Cake / Bakery (tiramisu!): Eston's Bakery

Live Painter: Lauren Anne Art

DJ + Band: Danny Thomas Show

Hair: Delilah Foos

Makeup: Ivory Beauty Co

Officiant: Mary Jo Foos, one of Matt and Amanda’s shared high school teachers!

If a September wedding surrounded by goldenrod and cornfields sounds like your kind of day, I'd love to hear what you're dreaming up. I'm a Toledo-based wedding photographer working throughout Ohio, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and the rest of Southeast Michigan — let's talk about your wedding.