One of our favorite sequences from Ashley and Monte’s wedding happens immediately after their private vows.
If you’ve photographed enough weddings, you start to recognize certain patterns. Couples exchange private vows by the water. There are tears, hugs, deep breaths, and a few quiet moments together before the day picks up speed again. Ashley and Monte had all of those moments, but what makes us smile looking back through the gallery is how quickly they returned to being themselves afterward. Within minutes, sunglasses appeared, champagne appeared, and whatever serious editorial energy we thought we were creating lasted about thirty seconds before somebody said something that made the other person laugh.
That sequence feels like a pretty accurate summary of the entire wedding.
On paper, this was a black-tie wedding at Rock Island Lake Club. The bridesmaids wore black. The guys wore tuxedos. The ceremony overlooked the lake. There were beautiful florals, thoughtful details, and all the ingredients of a polished wedding day. Yet almost every time things started feeling a little too formal, something happened that reminded you who Ashley and Monte actually were. A joke interrupted a portrait. A laugh ruined a perfectly composed photo in the best possible way. Somebody reached for a champagne glass. Somebody else put on sunglasses. Looking through the gallery now, we get the impression that these two appreciate beautiful things but have very little interest in taking themselves too seriously.
That feeling was present from the beginning. While Ashley was getting ready with her bridesmaids and family, the room felt less like a production and more like a gathering of people who genuinely enjoyed being together. There was plenty happening. Hair and makeup artists moved through the room. Champagne was poured. Music played. Conversations overlapped. But nobody seemed particularly concerned with creating a perfect moment. The atmosphere felt lived in rather than curated, which is something we find ourselves appreciating more and more the longer we photograph weddings.
One thing we didn’t fully appreciate until editing the gallery was how often Ashley and Monte made each other laugh when nobody else was involved. Most couples laugh on their wedding day, so that isn’t what stood out. What stood out was how frequently it happened in the middle of otherwise ordinary moments. We’d be taking portraits and one of them would quietly say something. The other would immediately lose composure. Whatever pose we had been working on would fall apart, and we’d start over. Then it would happen again ten minutes later.
One of the stranger parts of our job is spending an entire wedding day with people while simultaneously having absolutely no idea what half the jokes mean. Sometimes we’ll leave understanding family dynamics, friendship groups, and relationship histories while still having no clue why one random phrase keeps causing an entire group to burst out laughing. Ashley and Monte felt like that kind of couple. There was a sense that they were carrying around a conversation that had started years before we arrived and would continue long after we left.
Even the flowers seemed to understand the assignment. Everything else about the styling leaned classic: black tuxedos, black dresses, clean lines, timeless details. Then the florals arrived looking like they had consumed three espressos before getting out of the car. Bright pinks, yellows, blues, corals, and purples appeared everywhere. Against all the black attire, the colors somehow managed to feel dramatic and playful at the same time. Looking back through the gallery, they feel less like a design choice and more like an accurate visual representation of the day itself. Most couples choose either elegant or playful. Ashley and Monte seemed perfectly comfortable choosing both.
A quick side note:
If you’re here because you’re planning your own Rock Island Lake Club wedding, we put together a venue guide with tips, photo locations, timeline advice, and examples from real weddings we’ve photographed there.
→ Explore the Rock Island Lake Club Wedding Guide
Lead Photographer: MJ
Venue: Rock Island Lake Club
