Joannie & I had the pleasure of being Tony and Tessa’s wedding photographers at their very fun Hilton Minneapolis Bloomington Wedding!
A quite moment.
We began Tony & Tessa’s awesome Hilton Minneapolis Bloomington wedding day with everyone getting ready for the big day. The girls were in a suite and the boys hung out right next door.
Both Tessa’s dad and Tony had their first looks with Tessa in a nice quiet area near the lobby. Their 3-year-old son Sean also got his “first hug” with mom & dad right there too!
As you can see, Sean is a pretty cute little dude. I got to meet Sean last fall when I created Tony & Tessa’s engagement portraits at Aamodt’s Apple Farm near Stillwater.
Little Dude & mommy.
The Japanese Garden
After the first looks, it was time to head out to the nearby Japanese Garden at Normandale Community College. Saturday turned out to be a very hot and sunny day, so we took shelter in a shady corner of the garden. We created all of the family and wedding party formal photographs there as well as some fun wedding photos of just Tony & Tessa. We employed our special golf cart light stand, “Lightning McQueen” here and there when we needed it too.
Girls just wanna have fun!
On the way to the Japanese Garden, Joannie & I cut through the empty parking lot at Normandale Community College and then through the totally empty parking ramp. I told Joannie as we were driving through the ramp that it would be a great place for some photos. The original plan was to head somewhere for what I call “urban wedding photos” after the Japanese Garden photos, but due to the heat, we decided to use that empty parking ramp instead. I really love the images we captured there and it was kind of cool (literally) in there with all of the shade and concrete keeping the temperature down.
Pretty girls, their pretty dresses & pretty flowers.
The boys.
The wedding party.
After our little parking ramp photo session, we headed back to the hotel so that these two could get married! Their wedding ceremony was super nice. Pastor Dave McCarty shared the funny story about how these two met in Seoul, Korea on a vacation and have never been apart since (except accidentally on the subway in Seoul). Little Sean handed flowers to the parent and grandparents and before you knew it, Tony & Tessa were husband & wife! Nice!
During the social hour, Joannie & I took photos of the pretty ballroom, lots of guest candids, and an extended family photo in the lobby.
A Wedding Raffle
A wonderful wedding dinner was up next. During dinner, there were speeches, cake cutting and all of the usual wedding formalities but with one extra little twist; a raffle! Yes, for the first time in our nearly 30 years as wedding photographers, we had a raffle at a wedding. Every adult had a ticket (I actually thought that they were drink tickets) and Tony & the DJ drew names and gave away movie passes, Home Depot gift cards, bottles of wine and more. A truly unexpected wedding surprise and lots of fun too!
There were lots of kids in attendance and Tony & Tessa took good care of them too. Each child received a fun gift bag with lots of fun things inside. They also had a “balloon lady” there making fun animals and things out of balloons (another first for us at a wedding). All in all, this was a really fun family event and celebration!
Fisheye fun!
Tony & Tessa, Joannie & I are so happy for you two! Thank you so much for asking us to capture it all for you so you can relive it forever! We hope you love our blog post and the following highlight music video from your awesome Hilton Minneapolis Bloomington wedding day!
We’ll see you soon when we start to plan your wedding album with you! –M&J