Perry Community Center & Lakeshore Reservation: Tessa & Andrew

July 19, 2021 • Leave a Comment

June 19, 2021

Perry Community Center & Lakeshore Reservation: Tessa & Andrew

I met Tessa early last year when she booked me to photograph her wedding. The wedding was originally supposed to happen in July 2020 but due to the pandemic it was pushed back a year. Due to this they were able to have their engagement session last Halloween at Veterans Park where they got to take advantage of the last of the beautiful fall leaves! It was a great session... they were so fun to photograph (their son was included in a few pictures too)!

Once they rescheduled the wedding, they decided to have it at the Perry Community Center (one of my favorite venues!). I started the day by meeting the guys to get some of their getting ready shots... then met up with the girls for some of theirs! They decided not to do a first look but rather see each other for the first time at the ceremony. A twist they did was to have Andrew turn around until Tessa was at the end of the aisle. The look on his face when he turned back around and saw her looking gorgeous in her beautiful wedding gown was priceless!

After the ceremony, the bridal party went over to Lakeshore Reservation to take the bridal party and bride & groom photos. They had some fun ideas for pictures... bride & bridesmaids in sneakers and sunglasses and groom & groomsmen in their work boots and ball caps! Then it was back to the venue for the reception. Toasts were done by the best man (their son, with a bit of help from Tessa), the maid of honor, and one of Tessa's brothers. After dinner, they had the first dance and bridal party dance. They got lucky by having a gorgeous sunset that night so we had to get a few pictures of that! Later on they did the cake cutting, bridal bouquet toss, garter removal & toss, and mother/son dance. The last special dance was a siblings dance (Tessa took turns dancing with her 2 brothers and Andrew danced with his sister). After that, they all went to the memorial table they had set up in memory of their fathers and toasted a beer in their honor. It was a very touching moment! Then it was back to all the fun reception dancing!

They have been together for 11 years and were very excited to get married! Tessa & Andrew, I hope your wedding was a dream come true! Here are a few of my favorites from your day! Enjoy!