Joannie & I would like to share Charlie & Colleen’s beautiful Mississippi Gardens wedding photographs with you!
Charlie dipping Colleen with the Mississippi River in the background.
The day after Aaron & Christina’s very pretty, but cold and windy Vadnais Heights Commons wedding, Charlie & Colleen got a wonderful reprieve from Mother Nature. The strong winds that made Aaron & Christina’s wedding day so challenging were gone the next morning (thank goodness). It was a perfect fall day for a wedding!
This was our first Mississippi Gardens wedding and I knew from scouting it out ahead of time with Colleen that this was going to be a fun venue for wedding photography.
The Wedding Day Begins
Their Mississippi Gardens wedding day began at the beautiful Mississippi Gardens. This was where Colleen and the girls got ready in the beautiful bridal suite there. The ladies had a lot of fun together and Joannie & I captured many of the fun details.
Colleen and the ladies at Mississippi Gardens.
Colleen had her first look with her father in the stunning ballroom at Mississippi Gardens. She and her dad had a fun first look exchanging hugs and laughing together about the bug that Colleen discovered in her bouquet just seconds before her dad came into the ballroom.
Colleen and Charlie then exchanged letters to each other. She opened Charlie’s letter right after she saw her dad and Charlie opened hers just a few moments later on the deck outside. Charlie would see Colleen for the first time a couple of minutes later.
Charlie and the boys at Mississippi Gardens.
You’ll get to see a unique way of getting Charlie to turn around that we captured very nicely in Part One of their Mississippi Gardens wedding highlight music videos. I can honestly say that it’s the first time in our 30 years of wedding photography that we’ve seen that method used. It was pretty cute!
A Pretty Fall Day On The Mississippi River
Wedding portraits were up next and we took full advantage of the wonderful October day and stayed outside the whole time. There were lots of family portrait combinations followed by many pretty wedding party photos, including several down by the Mississippi River too.
The wedding party panoramic photo was taken on the banks of the Mississippi River.
One of Charlie & Colleen’s “Signature Images” was captured along the river in the beautifully backlit fall colors with our two high powered WITSTRO AD360II-C strobes used for fill light. I love using backlighted trees in my photography whenever I can. Backlight, especially in the fall, adds such beautiful look to any portrait.
Beautiful fall wedding photograph of Charlie & Colleen.
Church of the Assumption Wedding Ceremony
After the wedding portraits by the river concluded, it was time to get these two married! Their pretty wedding ceremony was held at the beautiful Church of the Assumption in downtown St. Paul, MN. One of the prettiest churches you’ll find anywhere, Church of the Assumption is one of my Twin Cities wedding photography favorites. They don’t make ’em like that anymore!
Colleen and her dad walking down the aisle together.
Charlie & Colleen on the steps of Church of the Assumption.
Charlie & Colleen were now newlyweds! After the ceremony, we took a short trip with the wedding party to nearby Indian Mounds Regional Park for some great wedding photos with the St. Paul skyline in the distance.
The wedding party with downtown St. Paul, MN as the background.
It was a quick (but very productive) photo stop, and then it was back into the limo and off to their Mississippi Gardens wedding reception for dinner and dancing with Rock It Man dueling pianos supplying the great entertainment for the evening.
The view from above downtown St. Paul.
As you can see, the ballroom was spectacular! But perhaps the most stunning room was to be revealed later on.
The beautiful ballroom at Mississippi Gardens.
After dinner and the first dances, the “Desert Room” was opened for everyone’s delicious enjoyment!
Charlie & Colleen’s “Dessert Room” at Mississippi Gardens.
In all of our 30 years as wedding photographers, we can honestly say there’s been nothing like this at any of our weddings before, and with good reason. You see, Colleen’s family owns and operates Dorothy Ann’s Bakery in Woodbury, MN! Colleen even made her own wedding cake!
“Love Is Sweet!”
Here’s a beautiful image of the stunning “little” wedding cake taken before their Mississippi Gardens wedding reception.
Charlie & Colleen’s “little” wedding cake!
The “Dessert Room” – Yes, A Whole Room!
The “Dessert Room” was opened for everyone’s enjoyment after Joannie & I had a few minutes to photograph it. Colleen asked us to get a photo of each dessert, which sounds like an easy request. But once we got into the closed room, we discovered that there were 50 different varieties! We also found out later that there were 3000 desserts made! WOW! Everyone had the opportunity to enjoy them there and take some home too! Yummy!
Dancing and lots of fun were on tap for the rest of the evening. With Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” closing out the night.
To Charlie & Colleen, thank you for the opportunity to photograph your beautiful Mississippi Gardens wedding day with you! Joannie and I had such a fun day with you guys and your families and friends. It was so much fun that we had to make two highlight music videos to fit it all in! We know you’ll enjoy them and we look forward to creating a wonderful wedding album once you’re ready. –M&J