Laura & Nathan’s Temple for Performing Arts Wedding

This gorgeous wedding at the Temple of Performing Arts was full of class, charm, and emotion! I still remember when I arrived to photograph details and all I had was Laura’s shoes (she was meeting us down the street at a hotel a little while later) and I said to myself, “Yes, these are SO her!” Her perfectly classy flats had an ivory bow – just the right touch of timeless elegance, which describes Laura for sure! And Nathan’s monogrammed cufflinks equally suited him (no pun intended!)

If ever there was a wedding that could be described as classic, this was it! From the elegant bridal preparation suite at the Des Lux hotel in downtown Des Moines, to the regal setting of the recital hall at the Temple for Performing Arts for their ceremony. Laura wanted a classy day, and everything about it was exactly that!

My favorite moment from the day, though, was during the toasts. Nathan looked over at his new wife, and shared the sweetest words with her. In front of all their guests, he reaffirmed how excited and happy he was for Laura to be his wife, and in that split second, you could see two people who were genuinely excited and gleeful to be married to each another. Those are the moments I live for as a photographer. Thank you Laura and Nathan for sharing your day with all of us – it was beautiful, classy, and full of love! Congratulations!

We started off the day splitting time between getting ready locations. My absolute new favorite getting ready room in all of Des Moines is THIS hotel room – it’s stunning and perfect in every way for photography. Brides, get ready here! Des Lux Hotel is where it’s at! I’m so SO thankful Laura introduced me to it!

Beautiful invitation and paper goods from Oh Hey Magpie.

Bella Flora provided the perfect bouquet and florals throughout the day.

The perfect elegant shoes, right?

The coordinating money clip, tie clip, and cufflinks were so dapper.

Remember how I said this is my new favorite getting ready room? I think it made Laura smile even more!

Seeing as this was a December wedding, and an abnormally cold one at that, we kept all of our portrait time inside. We started with Laura and Nathan’s first look inside the Des Lux lobby, which is so swanky!

Love this one!

We had to get a classy portrait of Laura on the black velvet sofa!

So one of the things I really REALLY wanted to do with the bridal party was a take a Kardashian family portrait. If you’re not familiar, the Kardashians have been known to have epic swanky family portraits for their annual Christmas cards that are reminiscent of a Vogue editorial photo. Since we had the space and those amazing chairs, I figured, let’s go for it! This group was totally game! The only bummer is that a few of the shots I took, my focus on my camera wasn’t quite working right – but we did get a few that were actually a bit more true to form for this bridal party, including the smiles, and the beer! Lol!

Because it was fairly cold outside, we didn’t want to risk damaging the gorgeous florals from Bella Flora, so we photographed all of the group portraits inside the recital hall at the Temple.

We snuck outside for a few last minute portraits right before their ceremony. It was the perfect time for them to have a moment alone and prepare for their wedding!

It’s been a year of memorable wedding ceremonies, and this one did not disappoint!

Married!

The grand hall of the Temple for Performing Arts is exquisite, but it’s even better when the cake is front and center!

The globe centerpieces, below right, were SO UNIQUE! I’ve never seen anything like it. They had a hole on either end, and then copper pipes (at least, that’s what they looked like!) and beautiful vibrant florals tucked inside. It was incredible!