Katie & Ben’s elegant rustic chic farm wedding ceremony and brand new sail cloth tent reception was so frikkin awesome.
Several things made this wedding special. Yes, all of the details were top notch by Rochester’s best wedding vendors, but…. more than that, this wedding was just spectacular in every possible way because of the authentic love of this couple.
The weather cleared just in time for the ceremony, giving us a perfect blue sky and whispy white clouds just like I dreamed of the night before. Everything went like clockwork and was on schedule, including the things I mentally prepared Katie & Ben to skip…. like the ‘first look’ and romantic sunset photos during dinner.
Katie and Ben are some of those people that I should have already known. They live a few blocks from me and frequent all the same watering holes. Ben is one of my new favorite people and Katie, as it turns out, handles her booze just like me… getting super duper LOVEY when passed a certain point. Ah, to be on the other side of the drunken love fest was amusing. Yes, Katie, I’ll be your new best friend!
* After 10 years, a first…. the Bride’s Dad asked me for a dance!
* Having a golf cart to get around the 200 acre farm was really efficient
* Ben told me on multiple occasions that they were all there at my command… He dumped hay bales all over the property for little benches for photo ops, for example. I felt like a movie director on a movie set or Norman Rockwell…
* Ben is so cool that he made all of the benches for the ceremony AND he made the spiced blueberry jam for favors!
* Ben’s brother shuttled guests from the parking area to the ceremony via a hayride. He made a mad dash into the woods to change just before the ceremony and when he came out, dressed in a suit, he reminded me of Superman!
* The families and friends were all ridiculously friendly. Katie and Ben invited me to stay and enjoy the end of the reception as a guest and I sat around the campfire meeting people. Awesome.
* The band, Auld Lang Syne & Walri, was just too fun and kept people hopping all night long.
* This wedding had ME written all over it. Seriously, if I ever get married and don’t get married at Hurd Orchards, this is exactly what I’d want my wedding to be. Not to devalue anyone else’s wedding… especially the awesome weddings I have photographed… there is a wedding to fit every personality and this one just happens to fit mine. Anyone who’s known me for years knows that rustic weddings are totally me. I’ve been photographing them for 8 years and never tire of their charm.
* Unfortunately, Katie now has something new that is also blue…. a CAST! She broke her finger on the dance floor very late in the evening. At least she has a sense of humor about it and also a great story…
What an honor to be the Photographer for this rustic chic farm wedding and to make so many new friends. Special thanks to Pat Luke for again being my second Photographer and lighting genius! I loved seeing Ben high five you at the end of the ceremony aisle!
