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Hey! I'm Andi Jo. Wedding and Family Photographer from Minnesota. Welcome to my blog. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy!

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Essence Event Center Wedding

Jamie and Brandon | St. Paul Minnesota

The Essence Event Center was the perfect backdrop for Jamie and Brandon’s June Minnesota wedding.

Fun. Laid Back. Bold

Jamie and Brandon define fun-loving, adventurous, outdoorsy couples in love and
this is everything I hope for when I photograph my couples. I wish for belly laughs, joy, go-with-the-flow, and down-to-earth brides with big hearts for the people in their lives. This is Jamie and Brandon to a T!

I was so lucky to have met these two during their beautiful fall engagement session in Northfield, MN and their wedding day was even more perfect! During their engagement session, Brandon and I talked all about living in the same town of Veseli, MN which is actually where he grew up. One of the first things he actually ever said to me was “Hey, I know exactly where you live.” Most people don’t even know that the town exists, let alone, grow up in it. It was so much fun to put faces to the names of the stories that he told me once their wedding day came.

The Wedding Day

The day started in the gorgeous new venue of the Essence Event Center in Como Park. If you have not seen or heard of this venue yet, please do them the honor, and check out their socials. It is SO GORGEOUS! The girls were getting their hair and make-up done, and the
guys hung out, and the moms were finishing setting up the beautiful handmade florals that were done by Brandon’s mother.

Jamie was surrounded by so much love from her girls and her mother and in-
law’s to be and Jamie even gifted each of them their own locket in a beautiful embroidered box with their names on it. She was jaw-dropping and her vintage lace dress and she was more radiant than ever. The moment I saw her dress, I just knew it was going to fit her like a glove. And that she would be the timeless bride that she envisioned. After buttoning up her dress, she was surrounded
by her bridesmaids and mom and they all were just so excited to be a part of the day.

Intimate Como Park Portraits

We headed over to Como Park to take Jamie and Brandon’s first look pictures and their bride and groom portraits. Como Park is just around the corner from the Essence Event Center so it was a great location to take these pictures. Plus Brandon runs every day on the walking paths too, so it is a location that was close to their heart.

The bridge was a perfect backdrop for their first look. After Brandon turned around to see his jaw-dropping bride, he was speechless….which isn’t normal for Brandon. But after a little twirl from Jamie. Brandon was just in awe and cracking jokes about how beautiful his soon-to-be wife was.

We continued along the walking path underneath the bridge and the moment I saw the trees perfectly framing the bridge, I just knew that we had to take advantage of that imagery. And my vision definitely came to life with these two.

The green trees and bushes were so beautiful against Jamie’s dress and Brandon’s navy blue suit.

Essence Event Center Wedding

The ceremony took place in the brick-clad space of the Essence Event Center. From floor-to-ceiling windows to Brandon’s mother hand designed florals to the personalized wedding vows, everything was just so perfect.

Breakfast Food Truck and DONUTS

Food has been a huge topic in the wedding world lately, and these two knocked it out of the park by having Wakey Wakey food truck as their caterer. Some of my favorite weddings have been ones that have food trucks for their guests, and the fact that this one was a breakfast food truck hit the spot!

To continue with their breakfast food theme, instead of having cake, they chose to have DONUTs! Mel-O-Glaze Bakery made them a huge pink frosted and sprinkled donut for them and CUB foods baked all of the rest of the delicious delicious donuts. Seriously, a donut bar is where it is at! And you better believe all of those donuts were eaten… lickety-split.