portergraph.com - Shannon Porter Photography

July 26th, 2008 - This past wedding was close to home - right here in Winona, Minnesota. Natalie & Micah’s wedding ceremony was held at the Chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels, which is definitely a place to visit if you’re ever in Winona, MN and like to check out architecture. I shot the engagement photos for Natalie & Micah here at Chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels as well. The church is beautiful and this wedding was a perfect fit. Natalie was lovely in her lace wedding dress & long veil trimmed with lace. The colors for the wedding were a light green & dark brown with light blue highlights from the hydrangea flowers.

They kept it traditional and decided not to see each other prior to the wedding ceremony. I started with Natalie and the bridesmaids. But enough of my rambling, I’ll let the wedding photography do the talking!

Here’s a photo of Natalie’s veil I got while she and the bridesmaids were getting ready…

and as I mentioned in my previous post about their wedding, the church is a sight to see - inside and out. Here we have the lovely Natalie posing for a few shots around the inside of the church…

Micah was looking sharp as well…

So after getting through all the formal wedding photos, the room where Natalie got ready, in Alverna Hall, was a perfect place for some more casual & unique bridal portraits. This is one of my favorites…

This one shows you the detail of her dress…

After some last minute preparations, it was time for the ceremony to begin. It was a beautiful ceremony…

I love this shot between the two of them stating their vows to each other…

Rings were exchanged and after the kiss they had a receiving line to meet all of their guests. Waiting outside were those guests waiting with bubbles as they made their exit!

We finished up with the family & bridal party photos and finished with Natalie & Micah’s portraits. I figured since we took the engagement photos here, we may as well update some of the poses used with wedding photos! Here’s a cute one…

and we had a little fun re-creating an older style of wedding portrait, with a little “American Gothic” feel to it without the pitchfork, enhanced to fit the mood… of course we had a few laughs making it though : )

and the nice looking shoes that were literally becoming a pain for Natalie, since they were coming off as soon as they could, I had to shot those too!

After getting those shoes off and the dress bustled, we were off to Signatures Restaurant & Visions Event Center located on the Bridges Golf Club on the outskirts of Winona. Their wedding cake was very unique!

Cocktail hour & hor D’oeuvres were served first, then dinner with speeches & toasts and the cake cutting. Then Micah & Natalie had some cigars to share outside with anyone who wanted them. There was quite the group outside the bar…

After that, it was time for the dance to start, of course with a very tender first dance between Natalie & Micah…

then came the father/daughter & mother/son dance and then the dance floor opened up to everyone!

Once again, as usual, this was another great wedding to be a part of as the wedding photographer. Thank you Natalie & Micah and if there’s one thing that everyone could come away with from your wedding, it would be “All You Need Is Love”…

Congratulations again to you both! I wish you both the best!!

See more of their wedding photography here!!!