Rainy Wedding at Anderson Japanese Gardens

When Thorne first got in touch with us about shooting their wedding, it was very humbling. Gretchen and Thorne are great Chicago wedding photographers on their own, and we had indirectly met online on the photography forum fredmiranda.com (shout out to all of our FM peeps. Holler). We did not actually meet for the first time until we drove up for their Chicago engagement session…which was a great time. Their wedding was in Rockford, IL, and we drove up that morning for the festivities. What was waiting for us was something we had on the past two Saturdays. Rain!!! The wedding was to outside at the Anderson Japanese Gardens, but when we were outside doing some photos beforehand, the sky opened up and let us have it. Big time. It was not a sprinkling, but a massive amount of rain! Plans quickly had to be changed, and everything was moved inside the main building. The staff (and groomsmen!) ran around getting things set up, and only about 30 minutes, we were set up and ready go! And you probably will wonder about this based on the photos, but yes…we got DRENCHED. When moments like that happen, you just have to keep shooting and not worry about getting wet or dirty or whatever. Documenting what happens is a huge priority to us. (thankfully, even though our equipment also got very wet, there was no damage to it). Despite the rain, it was still a wonderful ceremony, though…Mother Nature could not stop this wedding from going forward! Thankfully the rain tailed off later, and we were still able to get some photos on the beautiful grounds. Since the rain had delayed things, we did not have as much time to explore around, but every since place you walked there was gorgeous. From there we went on to the Forest Hills Country Club for the reception…which was a wonderful place.