Wendi Riggens Riggens Photography

I know I have a ton of other weddings to blog about, but wanted to get this one up! I thought I would take a moment to give you all an idea of how I work. :)

When someone calls me to talk about booking, I provide package information and set a time to meet in person so that they can see several complete weddings. When choosing a wedding photographer, it is important to see more than just a few shots from one or two weddings. Seeing how a photographer covers an entire day, and many different situations, is an important factor in the quality they produce.

Once a wedding is booked with me, we schedule an engagement session, which is a great way for me to get to know my clients, and for them to get comfortable with my shooting style. I don’t like to ask my clients to post perfectly and stand up straight and smile, and by seeing Amy & Josh’s engagement session in St. Louis a few posts back, you can see this. I love shooting destination engagement sessions and traveling to where my clients live. I’ve shot several of these now, and love getting out of Burlington once in a while!

Throughout the months leading up to the wedding, I keep in touch with my clients, providing recommendations and answering questions. A month or two before the wedding, we get together again to talk about a timeline for the day, shooting ideas, and locations. This goes a long way in making the day of the wedding run smoothly, and to make the most of the photography experience!

The day of the wedding, I don’t just photograph the wedding. I have helped brides into dresses, bustled trains, cut cakes, and given the bride a ride when she forgot to arrange transportation to see her groom for the first time (on more than one occassion). I’ve pinned flowers on groomsmen, fixed bouquets for bridesmaids, fixed viels, and assured the bride that it doesn’t matter which leg the garter goes on. I know which goes on first, the engagement ring or wedding band, show people how to cut a cake (you would be surprised how often couples ask me this!), and help figure out how to transport a 12 person wedding party when the limo doesn’t show. I fluff the train before Dad walks his daughter down the aisle, and get the guests ready to blow bubbles or throw petals before the new couple makes their exit. I’ve paddled around a pond in a paddle boat (pictures to come), climbed trees, laid on the hot pavement in full sun, and braved traffic to get “the shot”. I love what I do, and do whatever I can to make the day as carefree and fun for my couples, because when it all comes down to it, they are what it is all about.

After the wedding, I take a day or two to clear my head and bask in the post-wedding love that always pours out of my clients and their family and friends. I am always so happy after weddings! Once I come down out of the clouds, I download my cards and those of my second shooter and start sorting and culling. I look at every single image I shoot and process them all myself. While I tell my clients 3 to 4 weeks, I usually have them up in just a couple. The last three weddings I photographed, I had posted in their online gallery in just about a week from the wedding, just in time to surprise the newlyweds as they return from their honeymoon.

Over the weeks following the wedding, my graphic designer posts the album pre-design, and we meet again to create a custom album that is perfect for each couple. I can go into my client’s homes and assist them in creating a beautiful portrait wall with images from their day, and once in a while we’ll do a trash the dress session or bridal session.

Once everything is all said and done, my clients often keep in touch as their lives progress, and I find myself shooting their pets, their first born, their families. It is always so amazing seeing these young couples in love grow and start families, and I love that I become a part of their new life together!

I truly love what I do, and love creating images for my couples that they will have for the rest of their lives. Here are a few from Amy & Josh’s wedding, and I hope that 20 years from now, they will see these and remember their love for each other and how it felt to be newlyweds all over again!

This post is extra special to me, and these images will always hold a very special place in my heart.  For the last 24 years, I have been able to call this beautiful bride one of my best friends in the world.  We’ve known each other since we were toddlers, and lived just a mile from each other.  We could see each other’s houses across the cornfield that we rode our bikes through every summer, and considered each other’s families our own.  We shared some of our biggest life moments together, and I couldn’t have been more honored to photograph her wedding.

Chelsie and Joel are two of the most honest, down-to-earth people you will ever meet.  They are both chefs (well, Chels is a chef, Joel is a pastry chef), and they catered their own reception.  It was some of the best food I have ever tasted!  I hadn’t met Joel before the wedding since we live so far apart, and I knew instantly that he was perfect for her.

Here are just a few of my favorites from the day. The ceremony was held at Chelsie’s parents’ house in Hedrick, Iowa. Her older sister, Alexie, was married at their house back in Carthage before they moved several years ago. I love this tradition! Tom, their dad, built a little barn to serve as a backdrop for the day.

This is the beautiful family that I will always consider my own!

And finally, a little OCF action at the reception. I love the way Joel is holding her.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I took a day trip to Des Moines to meet up with Matt & Brandy for their engagement session. It was my mom’s first time watching me shoot anyone outside of our family, and she helped keep the energy level up with her goofiness and intent to embarass her oldest daughter. Matt and Brandy were so much fun in their own right, and introduced me to parts of Des Moines that I never even knew existed! I can’t even tell you all the things we did, but I did want to share a few of my favorite shots.

We started out the day at Sec Taylor Stadium in Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs. I didn’t even know that Iowa had Cubs! I am an Illinois native, and in my house, the Chicago Cubs are the only ones we ever talked about! :) It was a beautiful day, and we got to see how a stadium is cleaned up for games. A big thank you to Steve for the quick tour and access! Even though it was a little hazy out, we had a beautiful skyline view of Des Moines.

Downtown Des Moines has so many beautiful areas to shoot in. We found the ugliest, coolest black wall, so I had them hang out by my favorite number for a bit.

I absolutely love their smiles in this one, so happy and so genuine! Matt had just finished spinning Brandy around in the street and you can see in their faces how much they love each other and how much fun they have together.

There is something about this that speaks to me.

We played in the gardens at the Salisbury House. I have to shoot a wedding out there some day; it was absolutely gorgeous!

Matt & Brandy, I am really looking forward to the wedding in a few weeks! If your wedding day is half as much fun as your engagement session, I know we will have a blast!

Last fall, I met Michelle & Ian, and we had a great time downtown Burlington shooting their engagement session.  Two days ago, I photographed their wedding in Keokuk, and it was so beautiful!  Here are a few of their engagement images…they were up for just about anything!

Time stood still…

These two are die-hard Cubs fans, but unfortunately a trip to Wrigely Field wasn’t viable.  So instead, Ian got us into Community Field (he used ot work there).  We had a lot of fun, playing catch in the infield and hanging out in the dugout (did I get those terms right?  I am not very good with sports!)

This Saturday, just like my previous wedding, started out with rain.  By the time we left the salon, though, the sun was out and the skies were bright!  It made for some beautiful images in Rand Park after the ceremony.  I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to share, to get ready for image overload!

Michelle was a beautiful bride!

This was one of the prettiest cakes I’ve seen!

The reception was a blast!  I love Michelle’s brother’s face in this one, and how much fun the guests were having doing the chicken dance! 

They say that rain on your wedding day is good luck. On Savanna and Mike’s wedding day, it poured for two hours before and through the ceremony, before the sun finally broke through as we arrived at the reception! With that kind of rain, they should have lots of luck for years to come!

Goin’ to the chapel and we’re – gonna get maaaaarried!

Savanna wore one of the most beautiful wedding dresses, and had the prettiest shoes to match. Their reception was held at the Pzazz!, and the halls have some beautiful spots to shoot in. The hanging lights and simple couches were too perfect to pass up.

This little cutie-pie danced the night away! He started out with some toddler break-dancing (i.e. sitting on the dancefloor and wiggling around!)

I turned around just in time to capture this adorable little sight! Too cute!

They had the coolest favors – custom golf balls! I love a little ring action, and this seemed just too perfect.

Better late than never, right?  Jenna and Jeramy were married in Keokuk back at the end of January, and we had a great time with them.  I’m short on time this morning, but here are a few of my favorites!

Seeing each other for the first time – they look so happy!

When groomsmen are left to play…

Such a beautiful church!

Jenna’s warning glance…

Oh, that wasn’t nice!

But this was!

I got it!!! And a shoe, too!!!!!