jen and chad : omaha wedding photography : part 2

So you stuck around for part two of the fantabulous Jen & Chad wedding post, did you? I hope you find it was worth it. Who am I kidding? I know it was worth it. (Click here for part one if you missed it, in which case your life will not be complete until you've read it).

It seems I left you hanging about the second reason the location was so flipping awesome. I actually wrote "badass" first, but then decided that it probably wasn't professional to write that, and now have completely made it a moot point by sharing that fact with you.

So. Reason number two. ABANDONED FARMSTEAD. When scouting out the reception location, they saw some run-down buildings in a field next door. I have no idea how I have never seen this place before since I literally live two miles from the spot. After I saw it, I knew we had to shoot there. We checked it out and "didn't" "see" "any" no trespassing signs, so we went for it. The fearless wedding party braved itchy weeds and possible landowners with shotguns (or is that just in movies?) to get some truly rocking shots.






Hey! What are you doing???


We quickly cut the wedding party loose to get some shots with just Jen and Chad. (P.S. If that wasn't enough wedding party for you, click here for a couple more shots.)








Remember I said we didn't see any no trespassing signs? We may have seen a no trespassing tire. Maybe. Please don't arrest me.




Her wedding party was tons of fun.


Why yes, that was a bumper car chair war with dueling bridesmaid/flowergirl pairs. I know who won, but I'm not telling.

The heartfelt ceremony was performed by Jen's friend and mentor. I love that; the ceremonies are so much more personal when you know the officiant (I'm biased - Chris's uncle did ours).




Oh, did I mention the cupcake tower? Because there was one. With a delicious variety of flavors. I love cupcakes.


And with cupcakes come wedding-party-cupcake-eating pictures.


After dinner, we were ready for toasts...well, almost ready. The wine wasn't quite ready. They had Bricco Riella Moscato d'Asti, which is notoriously hard to open. But DELICIOUS. Can wine be delicious? I'm not sure. But I declare this wine DELICIOUS. (I didn't have it at the wedding, it's just my favorite, I swear.) They broke two wine openers trying to get the bottle open - also notice the bottle with a broken cork in the foreground.


Finally, it was ready. Don't worry, he kept his speech short.






I'm sorry, isn't she the prettiest maid of honor you've ever seen? And how cute is Chad?


And love this high-key version of Jen giving her emotional speech.


First dance. Always lovely.






And oh, my God, how cute are these pictures of Jen and her dad and stepdad? And how lucky is she to be incredibly loved by two (THREE with Chad!) wonderful guys?? Chad is, of course, adorable with his mom as well.


And then came dancing.










Earlier in the day I'd noticed that Jen had given each of her girls one of these.


Curious, I thought. What were those for???

Soon, my question was answered.




A true friend is someone who will stand up with you on your wedding day, and belt out "Living on a Prayer" with you into a wooden spoon at your wedding reception.

I'll leave you with this. Fun, a little silly, and makes you smile - pretty much the summary of Jen and Chad's entire day.