Midwest Wedding Photography – Des Moines Destination of Urban Locations & Classic Winery

Destination weddings are always fun for us. Don’t get us wrong, we love Milwaukee, but it is a fun challenge to get out to new places. For this Des Moines, Iowa destination wedding we were pumped to capture some new Midwest Wedding Photography that wasn’t based in Wisconsin or Illinois.

Additionally, we had been excited for Gabbie & Kevin’s day for quite a while because they are an awesome couple. It’s not common for us to get to spend so much time with a destination wedding couple before the wedding day, but in this case Gabbie & Kevin live in Milwaukee! We had a chance to do their engagement session and see them at our seminar last spring too. It was special to be able to get to know them and we are so excited to share some of our favorite shots from their Wedding Collection!

Meet the Bride & Groom

We love that every couple we work with is unique. We adore that Gabbie and Kevin embrace their differences and call them out as a strength in their relationship. This is such an important part of not only planning a wedding, but having a healthy and lasting marriage. Check out how Gabbie describes their personalities and relationship – it’s beautiful!

“Kevin is my smart nerd.  He loves computer programming, which is also his profession.  He loves progressive and instrumental music that is creepy and not very user-friendly to most people. 🙂   Some more well-known favorites of his are Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson.  He also enjoys computer video games, geography, and taking long drives.

I am the more social half of our couple.  Read: I am in charge of our social calendar.  🙂  I love blues-soaked rock and pop, like The Black Keys and Lana Del Rey.  I love art and design, politics, and reading, especially science fiction.  I also love shoes, bags, and glitter.

We both love movies and tv shows, playing trivia/game nights, and wine and beer tasting.  I would say the 2 things that stand out the most about us are our love/addiction for and to food and the way we bicker.  We love to argue with each other and are hopeful that our challenging nature will be the key to a long and lively marriage. Not the least of our challenges is that we are of opposite political parties.  🙂  What I love most about Kevin is his huge heart.  I like to think of ourselves as that couple who loves all the good things in life but who hold their relationships as the most important aspect of all of the smallest and biggest moments.  We are very close to our friends and family and can’t wait to spend this day with all of them in one place!” – Gabbie

 

Love Story

So why Des Moines? They met in DesMoines so it was special for them to select reception locations that were in the city where their love began. Since visiting new wineries and breweries is a favorite pastime of the couple, Jasper Winery was a perfect selection for their reception!

“We have been to 16 wineries and breweries in the midwest since we met and look forward to trying them all. The Des Moines area is home to several of our favorite wineries/places to escape for the weekend. In addition to Jasper Winery, where we are getting married, well love Madison County winery, where Kevin proposed under the nearby Holliwell covered bridge.” – Gabbie

 

Favorite Moments

“One funny moment during the ceremony that I will never forget is when the wind blew my veil right over my face right before we were about to kiss.

Another of our favorite moments was walking into the reception room at the winery.  The candles and flowers were so beautiful and all of our friends and family gave us such a warm and touching welcome.  It was hard not to let the tears flow during the toasts because our bridal party had the most amazing things to say.  I have never felt more humbled and grateful for all of the amazing people we know and love.  We loved our s’mores bar on the patio of the winery and that so many people felt comfortable lounging around outside, relaxing, and talking throughout the night.  We wanted an intimate evening and we achieved it.” – Gabbie

Art

When we were first getting to know Gabbie and Kevin, she told us that she loves vibrant photos with interesting angles and shots that really emphasize the beauty of the location. So we knew that was something to look for when exploring Des Moines with the couple on wedding day. We were pumped about some beautiful public art we found to create interesting compositions of their very own art.

Details

The vision for wedding day for Gabbie and Kevin was classy and modern. Gabbie took her obsession for the color coral and used that as the main color of their wedding palette and rounded it out with silver and gray.

Those pops of color in the reception hall tied together perfectly with the neutral flower arrangements of roses, peonies, tulips, hydrangeas, and orchids. The arrangements were designed by Gabbie’s best friend and bridesmaid, Sheena Minnehan through her company, Gardner Minnehan Designs.

The cake from Bite Sized Bakery was something totally new that we haven’t seen before. These cake balls are delicious by the way. Check it out below!

 

The Proposal

“Every year we visit the bridges of Madison County in Iowa (where I have lived most of my life) and write our names on the Holliwell bridge.  On a totally random weeknight in April, Kevin surprised me by driving to Iowa from Wisconsin (where he has lived most of his life) and proposing under the bridge.  He plotted with one of my bridesmaids to trick me into ending up there so I wouldn’t see it coming (until the last minute).  He wrote “Will you marry me” on the bridge wall where we had written our names throughout the years.  It was a perfect night with a perfect sunset.” – Gabbie

This perfect golden sunset graced them on their wedding day too. We think it’s a sign for beautiful things to come for these two!

Advice from the Couple

“The early bird gets the worm! Book your most important vendors as early as possible. Work together to let each member of the couple put their own stamp on things. Don’t splurge on everything.

Make the effort try to prepare for everything so that on the actual day you can truly have time to have thousands of special moments with all of your guests. It goes by so fast that the more time you have for hugs and kisses and little moments with the people who are there to celebrate you the better. Pick a few big elements of your wedding to really go all out on and then make it all about the little details to show off your personalities and style.  We chose to take our time and put our personal touches on the tablescapes, including mini wine bottle table numbers, ivory flowers, candles, hand drawn place cards, wine cork place card holders, and grapefruit and strawberry gummy bear favors.   We used an amazing shot from our Front Room engagement session as a metal canvas that our guests signed as our “guest book.”

Thank you to Front Room Photography for making us so comfortable on our wedding day!  Carl fit in so well with our friends and family and was very flexible so that we could focus on celebrating.” – Gabbie & Kevin

1st Dance – “Dearest” by the Black Keys (cover of Buddy Holly)

Dad/Bride Dance – “The Way You Look Tonight” by Tony Bennett

Mom/Groom Dance – “How Deep is the Ocean” by Barbara Streisand

“Ultimately, we hope it will be the best party people go to all year.” – Gabbie & Kevin

 

Vendors:

Ceremony: Des Moines Social Club Theater Room

Reception: Jasper Winery

Hair & Makeup: Salon Spa W

Getting Ready: Marriott Hotel, Des Moines

Florist: Gardner Minnehan Designs

Brides Gown: Stella York

Bridesmaid Dresses: After Six

Entertainment: The Woodland String Quartet

Cake: Bite Sized Bakery

Catering: Occasions Made Right

Favors: Get Happy