A wedding
festival.
Jeanne Ellen Hoffman and Brian Thomas Pitsch were married at Ashery Lane Farm in Mayer, Minnesota. Their welcome sign called the day a wedding festival, and the photographs tell that story: lawn games, an outdoor ceremony, an orchard at sunset, and a barn filled with music.
I like a wedding story to hold the whole day—the place, the details, the people, and the little moments between them.
Blue flowers, a summer date.
The blue floral stationery introduces Jeanne Ellen Hoffman and Brian Thomas Pitsch, and their August wedding at Ashery Lane Farm in Mayer, Minnesota. Those colors carry through the flowers and the reception.
Among the orchard rows.
The program belongs here among the orchard rows. A little piece of the celebration, with the green landscape stretching behind it.
The beginning, on paper.
The invitation gives the date: August 21, 2021. Jeanne and Brian invited their guests to Ashery Lane Farm for lawn games and refreshments before the ceremony, with dinner and dancing afterward.
The ring.
A wedding story has room for the smallest details, too. Here, the ring and the hands fill the photograph.
A little August color.
The apples bring a little of the season into the story. Green leaves, pink fruit, and an August afternoon in Minnesota.
A wedding festival.
The welcome sign called it Jeanne and Brian’s Wedding Festival. Outside the white barn, the red doors, flowers, and open grounds made a lovely introduction to the day.
A little friendly competition.
There was time to play before the ceremony. A giant lawn game gave the younger guests something to aim for—and a small story of their own.
Something to share.
Refreshments came out while guests gathered outside. I like having these quieter details alongside the portraits and the ceremony.
Room to wander.
The grounds gave everyone space to move around. This view keeps a little of that feeling: the open lawn, the fields beyond, and a guest crossing the sunshine.
A different little gathering place.
Some guests found a place to sit in the garden gazebo. The shape of it makes a frame around a small gathering within the larger celebration.
Before the vows.
Another game, another corner of the grounds. These are the photographs that show how people spent the afternoon together before the wedding ceremony.
Blue flowers down the table.
Inside the barn, blue and white flowers ran down the table beneath the chandeliers. The color from the invitations had found its way into the room.
A view of the whole room.
From above, you can see how the tables fit into the barn. I like a view that keeps the scale of the room along with its smaller details.
Ready for their guests.
The exposed beams and chandeliers gave the reception room its character. Before the tables filled, there was a chance to keep the room just as it had been prepared.
The details at the table.
Closer to the table, the flowers become the focus. Blue, purple, white, and green against the warm wood.
Under a summer sky.
For the ceremony, the story moved outdoors. White blossom trees lined the aisle, blue flowers marked the rows, and the wooden arbor waited at the far end.
Jeanne and Brian, together.
Jeanne and Brian exchanged their vows beneath the flowering arbor. The white blossoms frame the two of them against the open landscape.
The people around them.
A wider view holds the ceremony and the people who came to share it. The sky and the long aisle are part of the photograph, too.
Just married.
Then the walk back down the aisle. Jeanne and Brian came toward their guests together, with smiles all around them.
The place around the celebration.
The gardens connect the buildings and the gathering places. I want a wedding story to remember the setting as well as the people in it.
A softer light on the barn.
Later, the same barn had a different feeling. The softer light brought out the white siding, the red doors, and the flowers around the entrance.
Along the porch.
Along the porch, the long lines of the barn lead back toward the celebration. A different angle adds another piece of the place.
A little time away.
Jeanne and Brian had a red convertible for a few photographs. Against the barns, it brought another bright piece of color into their day.
Just the two of them.
Out in the orchard, the red car, the green rows, and the setting sun came together. A kiss, and a little time for just the two of them.
The last of the sunlight.
Then a walk between the trees. I like the ease in this photograph—the two of them together, with the car and the orchard becoming part of the background.
When the light changes.
By night, the barn had become another photograph entirely. A bright doorway, a deep blue sky, and a little moonlight above the roof.
Time for the band.
Inside, the band brought a different kind of energy. The soft colors of the afternoon gave way to the bright lights around the musicians.
From above the party.
From above, the room is full of people and color. It is a very different view from the quiet tables earlier in the day.
A story to keep.
From the orchard and the lawn games to the vows and the music, this was their wedding festival. One more kiss on the dance floor makes a lovely place to leave the story.