Lindsay & Brian | An Intimate Friday Wedding at Lauritzen Gardens

There is something incredibly special about an intimate wedding day.

Fewer people. A little more breathing room. More opportunity to slow down and actually take in what is happening around you.

Lindsay and Brian's Friday wedding at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska was a beautiful example of just how much you can fit into an intimate wedding day — a first look, gorgeous portraits throughout the gardens, a beautiful outdoor ceremony, an incredible reception, emotional family moments, a packed dance floor and, of course, sunset portraits to finish the evening.

It was elegant, personal and completely worth taking the time to photograph well.

Starting the Day with a First Look

We started inside Lauritzen Gardens with Lindsay and Brian's first look and portraits.

I always love a first look for so many reasons, but one of my favorites is that it gives a couple a few quiet moments together before the rest of the day gets underway.

It also gave us time to create some beautiful portraits inside the main building before heading outside.

And then it was time to explore the gardens.

A Rose Garden Ceremony

For their ceremony, we headed outside to the beautiful Rose Garden at Lauritzen Gardens.

Surrounded by flowers and greenery, it was such a beautiful setting for an intimate Friday wedding ceremony.

One of the things I love about Lauritzen Gardens is that you can get so much variety without having to leave the property. We were able to photograph indoors, have their ceremony in the Rose Garden, explore some of the gardens for portraits and then return to the main building for the reception.

That means more time photographing and less time driving around Omaha.

And I'm always here for that.

One of My Favorite Places for Bride & Groom Portraits

If you're getting married at Lauritzen Gardens, one of the places I especially love for bride and groom portraits is the Hitchcock-Kountze Victorian Garden.

This section of the gardens has such a different feel from the Rose Garden, with a beautiful combination of Victorian and English garden influences, winding paths, lush plantings and architectural details incorporated throughout the space.

The architectural remnants throughout the garden add an especially interesting element to portraits and give us plenty of variety as we move through the space.

It is one of those locations where I can keep moving you through different areas and create an entire collection of portraits without your gallery feeling repetitive.

And honestly, that's one of my favorite things about wedding photography — finding the little pockets of a venue that photograph beautifully and making the most of them.

A New Second Shooter — My Son, Lukas!

This wedding was also a little extra special for me because my son, Lukas, joined me as a second photographer for part of the day!

Lukas is beginning to second shoot with me, and I'm excited to have him learning the ropes and getting hands-on experience photographing weddings.

One of my favorite things about having a second photographer is seeing the wedding day from a completely different perspective. While I'm focused on directing Lindsay and Brian through their portraits, Lukas can be capturing what's happening from another angle.

He photographed some beautiful details, ceremony moments and even caught a side view of Lindsay and Brian while I was photographing their portraits.

I love that these images give their gallery a slightly different perspective of the day — and, of course, I'm pretty proud of my son for jumping in and doing such a great job!

I'm excited to see where photography takes him and how much he continues to grow as he gains experience photographing weddings alongside me.

Here are a few photos of us working together and all the wedding photos below were taken by Lukas. He really does have an eye for it!

A Familiar Face from Nine Years Ago

There was another unexpected and pretty special moment during the day.

While we were at Lauritzen Gardens, I spotted a bride and groom whose wedding I photographed nine years ago!

Allison & Nick got married in 2017 at Arbor Day Farm. I still remember their beautiful day (I'm including one of their wedding portraits below).

It turns out the bride from that wedding is a cousin of Lindsay, so we had a chance to visit for a few minutes.

And, naturally, I couldn't resist taking a few photos of their daughter dancing.

We also grabbed a quick photo together on my phone — a little behind-the-scenes snapshot that I will definitely treasure.

One of the most rewarding parts of being a wedding photographer for as long as I have is seeing where life takes people after their wedding day.

Nine years later, seeing a former couple again — now with a daughter who is old enough to be dancing around at another family wedding — is such a cool reminder that these photographs really are part of people's stories for years beyond the wedding day.

You never quite know where a wedding will lead or when our paths will cross again.

Back Inside for an Incredible Reception

After spending time in the gardens, we headed back inside for the reception.

And the food?

Amazing.

Abraham Catering is an Omaha staple, and they absolutely delivered.

Then came the dessert table from Sweet Magnolias Bake Shop — and it was seriously one of the most beautiful and immaculate dessert displays I've seen.

The combination of beautiful presentation and delicious food made the reception just as memorable as the gardens.

Vendor links are included at the top of this post.

The Moments You Can't Plan

While this post is focusing primarily on the portraits, venue and details, there was another side of this wedding day that deserves its own post.

Some of my favorite photographs from the day weren't planned at all.

The emotional reactions. The little interactions. The laughter. The hugs. The moments between family members. The things that happen when everyone forgets for a second that there is a photographer in the room.

I'll be sharing a separate blog post dedicated specifically to the unscripted and candid moments from Lindsay and Brian's wedding day, because there were so many good ones.

[LINK: Read more about the candid & unscripted moments from Lindsay & Brian's wedding day →]

Emotional Parent Dances & A Lot of Spinning

As the evening continued, we had some especially emotional parent dances.

One of my favorite moments was watching Lindsay dance with her dad. There are some wedding moments that don't need much direction from a photographer — you just need to be ready and let the moment unfold.

And then came Lindsay and Brian's first dance.

There were some seriously fun spins happening on that dance floor, and naturally, we had to photograph them.

Those are the moments I want couples to have when they look back through their wedding gallery years from now — not just the perfectly posed photographs, but the photographs that immediately bring back the feeling of being there.

Ending the Day with Sunset Portraits

And then we finished the evening with one of my favorite things to photograph:

Sunset portraits.

Just outside of Lauritzen Gardens, we found some beautiful evening light and took a few final portraits of Lindsay and Brian as their wedding day came to a close.

I will take almost any opportunity I can get to sneak a couple away for sunset photos.

And here's the thing — you don't need to be at a specific “sunset location” to make it happen.

I can find beautiful evening light at almost any wedding venue or location.

Sometimes it's right outside the venue. Sometimes it's down the street. Sometimes it's a field, a parking lot or a little stretch of open sky you might not have noticed at all.

Give me good light and a few minutes with my couple, and I'm happy.

An Intimate Wedding Can Still Go Big on Photography

Lindsay and Brian's wedding was a great reminder that an intimate wedding doesn't mean you have to sacrifice any of the things that are important to you.

You can have a smaller guest list and still prioritize beautiful portraits.

You can have an intimate ceremony and still have an incredible reception.

You can have a relaxed wedding day and still have a gallery filled with variety — gorgeous portraits, family photographs, details, candid moments, emotional reactions and sunset images.

In fact, having fewer moving pieces can sometimes give us more time to slow down and be intentional with your photography.

Whether you're planning a large traditional wedding, a small Friday celebration or an intimate wedding at Lauritzen Gardens, I want your photographs to reflect what made your day yours.

After 16+ years of photographing weddings, I've learned that the size of the wedding doesn't determine how meaningful the photographs will be.

The people, the moments and the time we make for them do.

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