Sometimes it’s nice to get away from it all and spend some time with the people you love, especially on your wedding day! We love the idea of having your wedding at a lodge, complete with cabins, beautiful scenery and all of the people you love the most.
Fall is a wonderful time to be outdoors, and this beautiful wedding is proof. Take a closer look at this lodge wedding in Fall in the full gallery here, photographed by Rebekah Molloy.
Iowa In The Fall
We always wanted a fall wedding (Iowa is gorgeous in the fall!), and it was definitely worth the wait. Max and I picked our photographer first, Rebekah Molloy, because it was important to us to have someone that could capture us as we really are and no one can do that better than Bekah! As for the venue, we knew we wanted an outdoor wedding, so after checking out a few different places around Des Moines, we finally decided on Jester Park Lodge.
Prep In The Cabins
One of the many things that drew us to Jester Park was their cabins. They have brand-new cabins in the park that our bridal party stayed at the night before the wedding. We had a bonfire Friday night after the rehearsal and were able to just relax and get ready at the cabins the following day as people arrived. The fellas huddled around a little phone to watch the football game while getting ready, while the girls had the hair and makeup teams come to their cabin. The ceremony was out on the deck overlooking a big lake, and we held the dancing out under the stars with crisscrossed lights and heaters to keep everyone warm.
Everything In One Place
We wanted a laid-back, casual feel to our wedding, so I ordered in bulk flowers and we used growlers from some of our favorite local breweries to scatter the flowers on the tables. And, of course, our florist created the most GORGEOUS bouquets and a stunning arrangement for the ceremony. One of my favorite parts of the wedding was choosing to say our own vows–as hard as it was to not be a complete mess during them, it made the ceremony so much more personal and meaningful. It was also great having everything in one place to cut down on all of the craziness that is bound to happen throughout the day. And, of course, being surrounded by all the people we care about the most wasn’t too bad either!
Be OK With Change
Some advice I would give to future brides, be okay with changing something or removing it if you no longer think it works! We had planned to light off lanterns right before our first dance and to guest bar tend for 15 minutes instead of doing a dollar dance, but once the reception got going, we didn’t want to disrupt the dancing with more announcements, so we chose to just leave them out–and neither the two of us or any of our guests missed it!See the day play out below in the video filmed by Phil McLean & Matt Clark.
