“We’ve come full circle.” No truer words have ever been uttered, especially when it comes to Amanda and Aaron’s journey to this day. Amanda and Aaron met over 3 years ago while they were working at Tippecanoe Place. Somewhere between the busy lunch rush and ghost stories, a romance started to bloom.

Fast forward a few years to their engagement at Tippecanoe Place. You can read all about it here. We had the place to ourselves and despite the many mosquitos bites, the day was a blast! With all of this history, many of Amanda and Aaron’s friends said they should get married at Tippecanoe as well. Amanda swore they wouldn’t though. Her dream wedding was at Morris Park Country Club with the golf course covered in that perfect Christmas snow. ☃️

Fate, and the weather man, had different plans. Thanks to the new restrictions, Amanda and Aaron’s guest list was cut in half. With the impossible decision of who to invite or not to invite, they decided to wait till next year for their large wedding and get married, you guested it, at Tippecanoe Place with their immediate families.

Even though it wasn’t what they originally planned, Amanda and Aaron where so incredibly happy with how it all turned out and of course, getting to marry one another on their actual wedding day. From coworkers, to engagement, to now their wedding… they really did come full circle!

Now that you know how we got here, let’s dive in to the day itself! I arrived at Tippecanoe Place and was greeted with a huge hug from Amanda! Leah of LB Floristry brought up Amanda’s bouquet so I started on the details. I LOVE the darker tones in her flowers and the wedding colors! Makes me think of an elegant Christmas affair! 🎄

Their rings… WOW! Never have I had such well behaved rings before. I know that sounds weird but it’s not always easy to balance wedding rings on each other. I put the rings on a deep burgundy flower and the diamonds just jumped off the page. 💍

Little Brooks may have changed the wedding dress Amanda was going to wear but that didn’t make this one any less special. ☺️

The dog tags in this photo belonged to Aaron’s dad. After I photographed them, Aaron placed them in his pocket so that his dad was with him on his wedding day.

Aaron’s mom was holding back tears all day. You can tell she loves her son so much and couldn’t be happier for him.

Portrait time! Sorry ladies, this one’s taken! 😍

Now it was time for Amanda to get dressed. Her mom and sister in law helped her with her jewelry. Aaron’s mom surprised Amanda with a bracelet that became her something new and blue. Shortly after that, Amanda’s mom placed her grandmother’s ring on Amanda’s finger. This priceless momento was Amanda’s something old and borrowed.

Our gorgeous bride and future momma! The bouquet was so large that it actually covered baby Brooks sometimes. 🥰

Amanda wanted to help get her niece, Charlie, get into her flower girl dress. Prettiest flower girl ever! 🌷

Ceremony time! Charlie did a fantastic job throwing those pedals.

They waited so long for this moment. ❤️

One of Amanda’s brothers was the officiant. Needless to say, there was a plenty of commentary. 😁

They wrote their own vows, both of which started with the irony of their wedding location. 😉 Then they exchanged rings… once Amanda’s brother gave them the correct ones. 😆

First kiss as husband and wife! 😘

Mr and Mrs Aaron Smith! 🥳

The Mentz’s and the Smith’s!

Large group photo of all their guests!

Time for creatives! These portraits are truly one of kind and couldn’t be more perfect! Tippecanoe always goes all out for Christmas so the grand staircase was overflowing with candles, Christmas lights and florals. But to capture this beautiful background, we needed to use a little lighting magic. I needed to light Amanda and Aaron separately or else the beautiful Christmas decor would have been washed out. I had my assistant hold a light just above their heads and off to the right to achieve these gorgeous portraits. I am thrilled with how they turned out! 😍

My fav!!!

We walked up to the next landing on the stairs and that’s when I had the idea to shoot through the staircase.

Our moment celebrating Brooks! 👶🏻

Mrs. Smith! 🥰

Mr. Smith! 😍

Amanda and Aaron joined their guests for cocktail hour while I photographed the stunning details of their reception.

Everything was gorgeous! Just goes to show ya… micro weddings can be just as stunning and special as 100+ people weddings.

Time to party with the Smith’s! 🥳

Caking cutting! 🍰

My favorite photo of the day… 🤣

Their first dance as husband and wife. 💃🏻

Parent dances.

Amanda’s dad gave a pretty hilarious welcome toast. Followed by Alyssa’s heartfelt speech.

With the speeches over, everyone ordered dinner and spent the evening celebrating Amanda and Aaron. Even though I wasn’t there to the end, I know that Amanda and Aaron had an incredible night.

To Amanda and Aaron – It has been an absolute joy getting to know you both and following you on this journey. We immediately clicked and I feel like I’ve known you forever! I’ve been looking forward to this day since we met at my studio back in January. Things may have turned out differently than what we discussed that day but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! And the cherry on top… we get to see each other, not only for your wedding next year but for years to come as your family and lives grow in amazing ways! Plus I’ll see you, Amanda, from time to time as a fellow wedding pro! I’m so unbelievably happy for you both and I can’t wait to meet baby Brooks! All my love – S

To see their full day, click here.

Vendors:

Photography: Sarah Sage Photography LLC

Venue & catering: Tippecanoe Place Restaurant

Floral: LB Floristry

Cake: Macri’s Bakery

HMU: Nicholas J Salon

Suit: Men’s Wearhouse

Dress: Amazon