Rainy Maplelag Resort Wedding | Vanessa & Kellen | Kris Kandel Photographer

I knew when I photographed Vanessa and Kellen’s engagement session that their wedding was going to be something special! And boy was I right. They reserved the Maplelag Resort (about an hour and a half drive from Fargo) for the whole weekend so they could spend several days with their friends and family, truly enjoy celebrating together! What a  fun idea!

Vanessa’s dress has a really cool story, it was designed and made by her brother!! He’s starting his own designer label, and shared some of the incredible stats of this gown during the toasts. So I’ll wait till we get down to that section to share the details so you can see the pride in his face (and Vanessa’s) as he expressed his love to her through this dress.

Just as we were going outside it started to drizzle, but that didn’t stop Vanessa and Kellen!!

You could just see the nerves melt off of them as they saw each other. They find their peace and grounding in each other. Seriously, stop tugging my heart strings!!

So gorgeous!!

Such a stunning bride!!

By this time I was working as fast as I could to get a few wedding party photos before the rain really started!! Bridesmaids looking lovely in yellow! You may recognize the Matron of Honor as one of my bride’s from last year. Remember Jenna & Michael’s wedding with photos at NDSU and the Radisson hotel?

The full wedding party including ushers and personal attendant!

This group was seriously fun!

And here comes the rain!!! Oh no! Quick, strike a post! And RUN inside!!!

The Maplelag Resort has its walls covered in old signs of every kind. Everything from vintage wooden barn signs to modern day mileage signs. It was pretty cool. Lots of yellow and blue to compliment their wedding colors which was pretty serendipitous. : )

The full wedding party with ushers barely fit in the hallway! But we made it work. : ) Such good sports!

Lookin’ cool sporting the custom made sunglasses. They had buckets of these for their guests since the original plan was an outdoor summer wedding, but you know they worked pretty well for photos too.

Then the wedding party went to get a quick lunch or relax, while we did some more portraits of the special couple!

Add in some dramatic back lighting for more vibrant photos. Gotta love playing with light when you’re dealing with a rainy day. There’s always ways to make images amazing!!

And then back to my favorite corner. I just loved the softer blue/gray tones and all the lines that the signs created here! Isn’t she lovely?!

So many favorite photos!!!

You two are seriously too adorable!

Here’s Vanessa’s brother helping her get the dress looking perfect. It was so awesome having him there all day to make sure everything was just right!!

After family photos the couple took a break and I did detail shots of the rings and flowers etc. I found a rock with a little puddle of water in it which I thought was perfect to represent their lucky rainy day! I love how you can see the rain drop ripples in the water and on the rings themselves.

Then I went into the reception room to photograph more details! Aren’t her shoes amazing?! Those rhine studded bows were epic!

Maplelag Resort did a fantastic job with all the tables and everything. I’m not sure who did the decorating, if that was the family or the staff, but it looked amazing everywhere I turned!

A long table on one wall was full of vintage cake toppers. So cute!

By this time the rain was POURING so the staff at Maplelag quickly changed plans and set up the dance room for the ceremony. I couldn’t believe how quickly they turned it around!! Seriously their staff was amazing!

This was a first for me, but the wedding party danced, spun, and skipped down the aisle! Everyone was laughing, smiling and it really set the tone for a joyful ceremony and party!

Here comes the bride!

Congratulations MR & MRS!!

More dancing down the aisle.

Stolen kisses in the doorway, huge hugs, and champagne!!!

Grand entrance to the wedding reception!

Lots of laughs, tears and joy going around! Maybe a few kisses too.

The lovely lady waving was the drama teacher that cast Vanessa & Kellen as a couple in a play in high school. She started this whole thing. : )

And this is where her Brother took a bow for designing her awesome dress! He had the whole room laughing and crying in just a few minutes. You could totally tell how much he loved Vanessa and how much of that love was stitched into her dress.

It took 9 months to design and create.

They went through SIX versions to get the perfect fit!

Over 230 hours to construct, using 7 different kinds of beads, rhinestones, and pearls!
Over 70 appliqués sewn and beaded by hand to create the 12 foot veil and 8 foot train out of over 70 yards of fabric!!!

WOW.

Time for the first dance!!

Let’s get this wedding party started!!!

At one point in the evening Kellen with his voice almost gone, started singing to Vanessa, it was hilarious and wonderful.

Stop. Just stop being so amazingly in love! I can’t take it!! The way you look at each other, and hold each other. It’s magic.

As my time came to an end I stepped outside to the lake and noticed the rain clouds over the still water. It was so gorgeously peaceful.

I set up some dramatic lights and the groomsmen came out to smoke their cigars. Always a highlight (pun intended) of the evening for a photographer!!

Too cool!

Love these!!

A little sweaty from the dance floor. A little wet from the rain. But you guys looked perfect!!!

Thanks for an AWESOME wedding day you two! I hope you enjoyed this look at some of my personal favorites from your big day! I’ll be getting together a link for you to download all the photos soon. Until then feel free to share this blog post with friends and family!! 🙂

::::: VENDORS:::::

Wedding Dress: Justin Liming – JDLIMING79@gmail.com

Wedding Flowers: Designs by Donna – Fargo

Bridesmaid Dresses: Bridal Traditions – Omaha

Wedding Cake:  Quality Bakery – Fargo

DJ: Powerplay – Fargo

Tux: Men’s Wearhouse – Fargo

Wedding Reception and Catering: Maplelag Resort – Callaway MN

Wedding Photography: Me! Kris Kandel – Fargo wedding, engagement and senior portrait photographers – Facebook Page