Outdoor Wedding in Brown County State Park

forest_wedding_506

this couple. so many thoughts. in case you missed it, i blogged the day before the wedding a few months ago >> beer, pizza, and a weenie roast rehearsal dinner << and i talked about how i met and booked emily and dan. these two are incredible. i’ve been dying to come back to this state park wedding so i could blog it.

the day began a little bumpy (for me). as i arrived to the house where emily was getting ready, someone didn’t see me coming down the narrow tree-lined drive and backed into the front bumper of my rental car. any other day and i may have been shaken by this but not this day. i knew we would figure it out and i didn’t want to worry about it because i had a whole bunch of beautiful to document. in between photographing the details and emily getting ready i was on the phone with my rental car company. i only mention this because it pertains to the day after the wedding.

dan and emily exchanged vows on an overlook surrounded by trees. immediately following their ceremony, guests grabbed their streamers and caramel apples and hopped on a hayride that drove us around the Brown County State Park. then we all met near the entrance of the park in a wood and rock pavilion. during the cocktail hour, fried biscuits with apple butter were served. yeah you heard that southerners, in indiana they fry their biscuits. it’s as good as it sounds. later there was a hog roast from Holy Smoke Hog Roast and the evening was capped off with donuts driven down from a favorite of emily and dan’s in chicago called Do-Rite Donuts.

everyone came together to make this wedding not just possible but absolutely perfect. it was intimate. it was intentional. it was moving. i felt like one of the guests a lot of the time because of how wonderful everyone was toward me. there is a LONG list of awesome people who helped dan and emily realize their dream wedding below this post and i encourage you to check it out! this includes but is definitely not limited to the best man and maid of honor who did double duty by standing along side their best friends but also majorly contributing to their day. and to top it off, they both had two of the best speeches i have ever heard at a wedding. like seriously incredible. i laughed and cried and laughed some more.

there were also frogs and bats. for real. and when we were all on the dance floor and the bats swooped in, instead of fearing them and screaming out of terror, everyone cheered. i had to do a double take and ask a few questions before finding out that emily loves bats. i’ve never been present when a bat crashed a wedding and somehow at the wedding of a girl who loves bats, two or three bats stopped in to say hello. it was kind of surreal. but also amazing.

the next day, as i waited for my tow truck to come exchange my rental car, i sat with dan and emily and their friends in the cabin where emily got ready. we drank coffee, ate mcdonalds breakfast and leftover donuts. as the crowd dispersed throughout the morning, things got quiet. i retrieved my laptop from my car and did something i’ve never done with a couple… i showed them my lightroom catalog and sifted through some of the best parts of their day. i felt completely naked because for the most part these were unculled and unedited. as we scrolled through their first look they got emotional again and i just wanted to squeeze both of them. it was the perfect way to cap off my experience in nashville, indiana with these lovely humans.

dan and emily, you know i love you. i relive your day every time i see a picture from that weekend. it revives a part of me that gets discouraged sometimes and doubts myself. i can only hope that 2017 brings only intentional, soulful, and incredibly in love couples like you. thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me into your lives to document your wedding day. you’ll always been in my heart. cheers! kasey

forest_wedding_100

forest_wedding_101forest_wedding_102

forest_wedding_402

forest_wedding_103forest_wedding_104forest_wedding_105forest_wedding_107forest_wedding_106forest_wedding_108forest_wedding_109

forest_wedding_401

forest_wedding_400

forest_wedding_110forest_wedding_111forest_wedding_112forest_wedding_113forest_wedding_114forest_wedding_115forest_wedding_116forest_wedding_117forest_wedding_118forest_wedding_119forest_wedding_120forest_wedding_121

forest_wedding_403

forest_wedding_122forest_wedding_123forest_wedding_124forest_wedding_125forest_wedding_126forest_wedding_127forest_wedding_128forest_wedding_129forest_wedding_130forest_wedding_131forest_wedding_132forest_wedding_133forest_wedding_134forest_wedding_135forest_wedding_136forest_wedding_137forest_wedding_138forest_wedding_139forest_wedding_140forest_wedding_141forest_wedding_304forest_wedding_143forest_wedding_144

forest_wedding_405

forest_wedding_145forest_wedding_146forest_wedding_147forest_wedding_142forest_wedding_148forest_wedding_149

forest_wedding_406

forest_wedding_150

forest_wedding_407

forest_wedding_151forest_wedding_152forest_wedding_153forest_wedding_154forest_wedding_155forest_wedding_156forest_wedding_157

forest_wedding_4092

forest_wedding_412

forest_wedding_158forest_wedding_159forest_wedding_160forest_wedding_161forest_wedding_162forest_wedding_163forest_wedding_164forest_wedding_165forest_wedding_166forest_wedding_177forest_wedding_301forest_wedding_167forest_wedding_300forest_wedding_302forest_wedding_168forest_wedding_169forest_wedding_170forest_wedding_303forest_wedding_171forest_wedding_305forest_wedding_182forest_wedding_189forest_wedding_183forest_wedding_192forest_wedding_187forest_wedding_186forest_wedding_185forest_wedding_184forest_wedding_191

forest_wedding_306

forest_wedding_188forest_wedding_190

forest_wedding_1932

forest_wedding_198forest_wedding_197forest_wedding_195forest_wedding_196forest_wedding_180forest_wedding_199forest_wedding_172

forest_wedding_4152

forest_wedding_509

forest_wedding_508

forest_wedding_510

forest_wedding_511

forest_wedding_181forest_wedding_208

forest_wedding_513

forest_wedding_512

forest_wedding_210forest_wedding_209forest_wedding_200forest_wedding_201forest_wedding_202forest_wedding_203forest_wedding_204forest_wedding_205forest_wedding_223forest_wedding_173forest_wedding_174forest_wedding_175forest_wedding_176forest_wedding_179forest_wedding_178

forest_wedding_507

forest_wedding_211

forest_wedding_213forest_wedding_219forest_wedding_217forest_wedding_218forest_wedding_225

forest_wedding_501

forest_wedding_505

forest_wedding_502

forest_wedding_504

forest_wedding_221forest_wedding_224

forest_wedding_500

forest_wedding_220forest_wedding_222

forest_wedding_216

forest_wedding_215forest_wedding_212forest_wedding_214forest_wedding_227

forest_wedding_226
the wedding of dan and emily was made possible by:
Table centerpieces: (from the bride) “My mom, Lindy Schwartz, put these together. She’s a collector and creates displays at the Public Library every week so she’s used to throwing together amazing little shadow boxes. Usually she does displays for silent auctions, the Christmas shop etc. The books sometimes came from various garage sales as did a lot of the additional decor. She hand-made all the pennants as well! My dad hand-painted that little ‘just married’ sign Dan and I held on the hayride. They are both so imaginative and crafty!”
Ephemera: (from the bride) “Some of the ephemera came from running a theater company in Chicago for the past 10 years (the strange tree group), but most came from my parent’s constant collecting. We pulled the chairs for our sweetheart table right off the front porch.”
Wall hanging & Screen: the maid of honor, Liesl Downey, painted the camp-fire backdrop and the ceremony backdrop. they used paint from the first apartment Dan and Emily shared together for the colors.
Chalkboards: Liesl Downey, Elizabeth Bagby, Emily Schwartz and Brittany Danko
Flowers:
some of the flowers came from FiftyFlowers.com but ended up not being enough so Emily’s parents drove an hour and a half back to brownsburg the morning before the wedding to get more. they were all pulled together by the bridesmaids at the last minute and a friend of the bride, Carol Enoch did the table arrangements on the fly.
Catering: Hog Roast – Holy Smoke Hog Roast, Donuts – Do-Rite Donuts in Chicago, Cocktails – Cardinal Spirits, Caramel Apples – Beasley’s Orchard, Plates – Let’s Go Green, Enamel Cups – REI and Gr8tgear.com
Bridal Party: Wedding dress- Bhldn Dulcinea Dress, Hair & Makeup- Leslie White Hair and Makeup, Bridesmaids dresses – Modcloth, Groomsmen suits/ties/record cufflinks – Black Tux, Groom’s suit – Hugo Boss/Macy’s
DJ: Best Man, Carlo Garcia
Day of Coordination: Lucee Blue Events
Rehearsal Weenie Roast: Rawhide Ranch
Wedding Ceremony: Nature Center Amphitheater, Brown County State Park
Wedding Reception: Lower Shelter, Brown County State Park