Union, Illinois Backyard Fall Wedding Feature: Megan and Kenny

Written By Rachel MacQueen

This fall wedding in October in Union Illinois was quite a unique, beautiful day. Megan is actually a wedding photographer, so the pressure was definitely on to deliver amazing service! Megan and Kenny wanted to have their ceremony and reception with their family and friends at their beautiful, A-frame home. The space was large and unique and it fit the moody, cool vibe that Megan and Kenny gave off perfectly. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold and there was a full day of fun planned ahead!

The details shots were so gorgeous in with the fall background featured. Alicia’s Infinity did an amazing job with the art - having their home featured in such a beautiful way was really cool to see!

Megan and Kenny opted for a first look to really take advantage of all of the time that provided for some portraits together. I thought it was really funny that the bride was pinning on the boutonniere - as a photographer, she has so much experience and I thought it was such a sweet moment for the two of them.

Megan and Kenny are animal lovers at heart and have a home filled with cats and dogs, so many of the getting ready photos featured their furry friends. Having the getting ready space inside of their home really created a cozy vibe for the morning and for the photos. I personally really loved the role that their pets and foster animals played in their wedding day. More on that soon!

Kenny had some cufflinks that were custom-made with their dogs faces on each of them. On top of that, they also had two of their dogs walk down the aisle and serve as ring bearers! I love when dogs are able to play such a fun role in a wedding day. When there is an opportunity to have your pets attend a portion of your wedding, make sure you take it for some really sweet photos!

The ceremony was extremely personalized to fit them - Megan’s aunt was officiating, one of their dogs, Teddy, gave the rings, and they played rock paper scissors for who was going to read their personalized vows first. It was so sweet and fun how it fit their personalities so well!

When the guests arrived for the ceremony, they were provided a cone to fill with flower petals to toss at the end of the ceremony when Megan and Kenny walked down the aisle. I personally LOVE exits that have something fun like this! The photos were so much fun and filled with so much joy! It’s also nice that there wasn’t any cleanup required for this too.

After the ceremony, we opened up for an extended cocktail hour for people to have a chance to mingle and take photos. One of my favorite details was seeing this table with the signature cocktails named after their dogs! Alicia’s Infinity did a great job on creating this masterpiece, in my opinion!

The cocktail hour featured pop punk music which was very fun to have their personality intertwined in so many elements of the day. Megan and Kenny have a beautiful yard that was filled with with yard games, a beer canoe with ice and drinks, and this beautiful yurt with some other picnic spaces to hang out and relax!

As a wedding photographer herself, she had ample photo ops. There was a Polaroid camera guestbook, a handful of disposable cameras, and photo booth in the evening.

She also had many photographer friends that attended the wedding. It was really cool to see all of the cameras with everyone giving the “main stage” to Jess. Jess did an amazing job and I’m sure her other friends had some lovely photos too!

Megan couldn’t help but take advantage of photographing on her wedding day too!

One of the biggest hits of the day was this INCREDIBLE arrangement by KScott Charcuterie. The table was so long and full of so many cool ways to set out charcuterie! It didn’t take long before the whole table was empty.

The dinner took place in the back of the house in this incredible tent. The setup with the long tables really turned me to like this aesthetic more than I have before! It was nice to see everyone gathering together truly like a family.

The place settings were personalized with each guest having an engraved rock with their name. The place settings as a whole really brought a moody, vintage vibe to the evening!

Once that charcuterie was gone, it was replaced by a large dessert table. We saved a little for Megan and Kenny to hold onto later because it got swept up so quickly! However, they had this AMAZING cake that was so cool. They really got that moody vibe going here!

Once it got dark, the lights on the trees and the house were so perfect! They all spent the evening rocking out.

Then they set a bonfire with some s’mores and it was iconic! Megan had this really cool, leather jacket that made the look so much more epic. It really looked like they could conquer the world together in this photo! They also had hot dogs in a cart for their late night snack too.

Megan opted to do a maypole bouquet instead of the traditional toss. Everyone grabbed a ribbon and walked in a circle while Megan used scissors to cut them until it was down to one person. It was such a unique thing that she says she sees at a lot of weddings she’s photographed in other countries!

And when I say that they were rocking out for the night… it’s no lie! There were some incredible photos that really looked like they were from a concert. It looked like it was so much fun for sure!

This wedding was such a crazy, cool one to be a part of. I truly enjoyed all of the personalized elements that Megan and Kenny brought into their wedding day to make sure it was really true to them. Having a wedding like this was so moody and cool, but Megan and Kenny still were so sweet and loving to each other and it was so sweet to watch everything unfold.

If you’d like some help to plan your wedding, you can go here to contact me!

Rachel MacQueen https://firmlyrootedevents.com
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