Kayla first met Madison and Joseph back in 2022 when Madison graduated from Purdue. She hired us to take graduation photos of her and her family. We had a great time, but a few months after the shoot, Madison broke our hearts. Her dad had passed, and the photos from that shoot were the last good photos she had of her with her dad. 

Photos are fun. They're fun to take. They're fun to edit. They're fun to post and share and print. But they're not important because they're fun. They're important because, in a way, they act like little miniature time machines. They teleport us back to moments and events and allow us to refeel how we felt. They allow us to re-experience what we experienced. And in some cases, they allow us to reconvene with those who are no longer with us.

Madison tied a pendant around her bouquet with a picture of her and her dad from that shoot we did with her when she graduated from Purdue as a little reminder that just because somebody isn't with us, doesn't mean they're gone.

Joseph and Madison started watching the 10 day forecast the minute it became available and boy did it look ROUGH. The 100% chance of thunderstorms for days on end kind of rough. 

We woke up on wedding morning in West Lafayette to the thrumming of rain on our windows. As we made our way south, we drove through pockets of torrential, can’t-go-the-speed-limit rain. We didn’t have high hopes Madison and Joseph were going to get their gorgeous outdoor wedding, but that didn't mean we weren't going to have a killer time. 

And then we arrived at the Ironworks Hotel and things. Well. Things just kind of stopped. 

The clouds continued to roil overhead, but that was the end of the water. Which couldn't have worked out better, because few things are better for photographers than storm light. It’s beautiful, even, and dramatic in ways that just make pictures pop. And we were STOKED to take advantage in a gorgeous location with wonderful human beings.