Dan & Brandi’s beautiful Carlson Towers wedding!
Dan & Brandi kissing with the pretty water fountain in the distance.
Joannie and I had the pleasure of spending the day with Dan and Brandi for their pretty June 12th wedding. These two newlyweds were married in front of lots of their family and friends in a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Carlson Towers Amphitheater on a wonderful Friday evening here in Minnesota.
As Minneapolis wedding photographers, we think the Carlson Towers is a spectacular location for wedding photography. It is probably in my top three wedding locations in all of Minneapolis.
Our most recent wedding there was for Kenny & Yana a year or so ago. Their wedding day was pretty awesome too and we’ve even got their wedding album on our blog right here.
We begin Dan & Brandi’s wedding story at a nearby hotel where everyone was getting ready for the wedding day. This was a pretty big wedding party, including their five cute children! So the bridal suite where Brandi was getting ready was just a little bit crazy and also slightly on the crowded side. So Joannie and I took Brandi’s wedding dress and accessories down to grandpa’s room to photograph. Grandpa’s room looked like the maid just left, nice and clean (and empty)!
First Look at Carlson Towers
As the wedding party started to take the shuttle to the Carlson Towers we set up for Dan’s first look in a nice little-wooded area right by the hotel parking lot. A sweet, memorable moment for just the two of them to be alone.
Then we were off to their Carlson Towers wedding site for the wedding party, family photos and much more.
Dan, Brandi and their crazy “little” wedding party!
This particular Friday was kind of a weird one weather wise. It started out just about perfect; a few clouds and a light breeze. By the time we arrived at the Carlson Towers the wind was starting to crank it up a few notches. By the time we started taking the wedding party photographs it was quite a few notches! At one point, Brandi’s veil actually blew off her head and into a nearby shrub!
Everyone Knows It’s Windy!
After that, we surrendered the outdoors back to Mother Nature for a while so that everyone could “keep their hair on.” The family photos were all done inside. At a Carlson Towers wedding that’s not really a bad thing as the place is really beautiful both inside and out!
We managed to get the family photos all completed just before their wedding guests started to arrive. And thankfully, by that time the wind started to die down a bit too as this was an outdoor wedding ceremony by the lake. It was still a little on the breezy side, but not the gale force wind like it was about an hour earlier.
Dan & Brandi’s wedding ceremony was really sweet and wonderful with Dan’s sister actually marrying them! Very nice.
During their receiving line, Joannie and I thought it would be a great idea to try a new spin on a wedding photo that we’ve been doing for many, many years. All of their guests in one of their wedding photos!
So while they were greeting everyone during the receiving line, I spread the word about what we had in mind. Upon the conclusion of the receiving line, we took our newlyweds down by the lake for this fun wedding photo with all of their guests in the background toasting them!
Dan & Brandi and all of their wedding guests.
Down By The Lake
After that fun wedding photo, we spent a few minutes with just Dan & Brandi down by the pretty lake at the Carlson Towers. Dan and Brandi had the unknown pleasure of “breaking in” a new piece of wedding photography equipment for us. A new “big boy” lens that we brought to a wedding for the first time. The new Tamron SP 150-600MM F/5-6.3 Di VC USD.
This IS a real “BIG BOY” lens! Measuring just over 18 inches long at 600mm and at just over four pounds! While a little bit on the heavy side, it really delivers very sweet wedding photos. I’m pretty certain that none of their wedding guests had any idea that I was taking candid images of them before the ceremony! I’m excited to use it for our upcoming North Shore Portrait Weekend in August.
For many years, we’ve loved using the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L at weddings and at pretty much any other kind of portrait we produce. It’s such a good and versatile lens that for a while I had to pry it out of Joannie’s hands at weddings so I could use it! Finally several years ago we got Joannie the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM so that both of us could use one at the same time.
Well now in 2015, we’ve got this bad boy! I look forward to giving it some more use for future weddings! I just love the beautiful soft background bokeh this lens gives us!
Dan & Brandi kissing along a beautiful walkway at the Carlson Towers.
Carlson Towers Wedding Reception
Well, now it was time for the Grand March, dinner and toasts followed by the wedding dance! This was a really fun wedding reception and we closed our part of it out with a few wedding photos taken at night with the pretty Carlson Towers water fountain off in the distance.
A little fun at night with Dan & Brandi
A big thank you to Dan & Brandi for a fun wedding day. Joannie and I also want to thank you for asking us to be your Carlson Towers wedding photographers. You’re wedding party, family (especially your cute kids) and friends are just awesome!
Enjoy your highlight music video and the rest of your wonderful Carlson Towers wedding photographs will be coming your way very soon!