Wedding Photography Coverage at Sugar Grove Vineyards – Des Moines, Iowa.
‘Real Wedding’ Feature on Clover and Bee

Post by David.

“Dear Cathy and David — I am writing to learn a little bit more about your wedding photography. My fiance and I live in Richmond, VA but are planning a small wedding at a vineyard outside of my home town (Newton, IA) for September 5, 2009. We are a little bit of an untraditional couple (vegetarian, artsy, green striving, outdoor lovers) and would love to be able to hire someone to photograph our wedding in a photojournalistic/artistic way. I guess my first question is are you currently available for our date? — Thanks! I look foward to learning more, and your online portfolio is beautiful.”

This couple sounded exactly like the type we shoot for (no pun intended ). We love hearing words like non-traditional, artsy, outdoors, and photojournalistic, so of course we jumped at the opportunity to photograph their amazing vineyard wedding. To say that we’ve been waiting (for a year) for this wedding to happen with baited anticipation would be one heck of an understatement. This wedding was so beautiful, so natural, laid back, and full of happiness, but the awesomeness of their wedding was nothing in comparison to how awesome Kate and Nathan are as people and as a couple. These two are I guess what you’d call… crazy-madly-in-love-with-each other! Their personalities are perfect and it almost felt like the two families at the wedding already knew one another.

Fast forward to the conversation Cathy had with Kate’s mom near the end of the wedding day. I guess everyone (including Kate’s mom) thought Kate was crazy, being a bride living in Richmond, Virginia hiring wedding photographers from Bloomington, Indiana, to shoot a wedding outside of Des Moines, Iowa. That was until Kate’s mom saw some of the photos we took, and then she understood. Even though we’re always eager to please the Bride and Groom, it always so awesome when parents love our work too!

So where do I begin with this wedding? How about the sun setting over the rolling hills, the beautiful perfect shade from the giant tree, the gorgeous grounds of the Sugar Grove Vineyards, the amazing smell of fresh (cooked on site!!) seafood paella wafting through the air, the variety of cakes, the multiple jars of cookies, the smell of fresh grapes, and open fields. Well, first I have to say that the food and location were amazing. If you’re in Iowa I can’t say enough about how good their food was (caterer below). They had fresh seafood cooked on site, with a Spanish theme, and four different food stations of different things to try. As well, Sugar Grove is an amazingly gorgeous location, and the owner, Colette, was so kind and helpful to us the entire time. It also helped that Kate is a hard-core DIYer. From the white chandelier she had hung from the huge tree, to her handmade veil, to the invites her dad made, to the cookie station filled with fresh baked cookies from all the grand parents. Everything was perfect. We honestly couldn’t think of a single thing that went wrong the entire day. The weather was fabulous, the food was amazing, and the people’s hearts were full to bursting. Thank you SO SO much to Kate and Nathan and their entire family for making us feel so welcome!

On a side note, we also brought a third shooter / assistant along to the ceremony and reception. Cathy and I love helping out new photographers and showing them a little bit of what we do to give them some experience as long as they mesh well with our brand/style (and have special ninja skills to avoid getting in our shots). So a very special thanks to Christine Elizabeth Pagan, from Nebraska, for being such an awesome help all day and working so hard. We loved working with you and we are so excited to see how your business grows!

Enough with my babbling. On with the photos!

Hair: Natalie Caldwell at Muse Beauty Bar
Ceremony & Reception: Sugar Grove Vineyards
Flowers: Courtyard Floral
Catering: Taste to Go!
Cake: Heather Friedrichsen – Cake Me I’m Yours

Meet Kate and Nathan!

Cathy was extremely excited about this ‘shoe portrait’. It might be her favorite one, ever.

Did I mention that Kate made her birdcage veil? The flowers were from Etsy.

This might be my favorite picture of a groom during a ceremony.

I love it when the parents are involved in the wedding. This is Kate’s mom reading a passage. I love the looks on all the grandparents faces, watching her.

“Way to go!”

So yah, Nathan thought it’d be funny to pop a cork at me when I wasn’t looking. Glad I got his reaction.

Our super-awesome-assistant-for-the-day, Christine, took this one. Love it.

Could the light be any more beautiful? I love the tent in the background.

Seriously.. does this guy look like the old man in the movie UP! or what??

These two were getting every chance they could to sneak a kiss.

Lastly, this is me and Christine. I was showing her how to mature I am. When a camera points at me, it’s what I do, and might be my only ‘silly pose’. I think I need to get some new ones for WPPI 2010.

Seriously, Kate and Nathan. Thank you so much for such an awesome time. We had an absolute blast shooting your wedding and we hope to be able to work with your family again at another wedding someday in the future.

Thanks for reading! -David.

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Sugar Grove Vineyard Wedding Photography | Kate and Nathan originally appeared on Chicago Wedding Photographers | Cathy and David (www.cathydavidphoto.com) on September 11, 2009.