This was absolutely the most beautiful January wedding here in the Quad Cities at the Watch Tower Lodge in Rock Island, IL.  This entire wedding was gorgeous…everything from the rustic decor, to the romantic lighting, to the light dusting of snow on the ground.

When Kelly and Ryan told me they were having their wedding on January 2nd, I was so excited!  A beautiful winter wedding!  I kept crossing my fingers the weather would hold out for us, and it did.  It was perfect!  It was about 20 degrees, minimal wind, and the most gorgeous midwest sunshine!  The way it reflected off the snow was magical.

We started off the day at the Holiday Inn in Rock Island where the girls were getting ready.  Once Kelly was ready, we headed over to the Watch Tower Lodge.  Since the ceremony and reception were both held their, we had lots of places within walking distance to take their wedding portraits.  The inside of the Lodge is gorgeous with all the stone and beautiful natural light, and the outside area has so many pretty places.  One of my favorite things to do for a wedding is not only have a first look for the bride and groom, but also the father of the bride.  It’s such a special moment when a dad sees his daughter in her wedding dress for the biggest day of her life!

For those of you who know the groom, Ryan, you probably know he’s not the biggest fan of pictures just like most all other guys I know.  But let me tell you, he was such a trooper!  I love how we captured his reaction of Kelly in her dress for their first look.  It was priceless!  And even though it was pretty cold outside, he knew how much the pictures meant to Kelly so he went right along with everything.  And boy do these two photograph well together!  Just look at them!  Such a gorgeous couple!

Kelly could write the book on the best ways to be the perfect bride.  She was so relaxed, easy going, and just excited for her big day.  She looked absolutely stunning!  One of my favorite things about Kelly is that she is a country girl at heart.  She loves hunting and the outdoors, so this girl was prepared for the cold weather.  She wanted her bridal portraits to be outside, so we braved the cold weather and went out.  Under her dress, she had on her very warm hunting boots to help with that coolness of the day!  Such a cool girl I tell ya!  And I have to give credit to the bridal party as well because they were so cooperative doing the pictures outside.  I’m so glad we did, as the pictures turned out amazing with that light dusting of snow on the ground, the beautiful location of Black Hawk State Park, and that gorgeous light coming through.

Please take a look at some of my favorite images of their beautiful wedding day, and thanks so much to Kelly and Ryan for selecting me to photograph your beautiful Quad Cities Wedding!  It was a true pleasure!

Feel free to leave comments below for the bride and groom!

Amanda Oakes Photography is a natural light photographer in the Quad Cities specializing in family and children photography, engagement and wedding photography, maternity and newborn photography as well as high school senior portraits.  This includes photography services in the Moline, IL, Rock Island, IL, Davenport, IA, Bettendorf, IA, Muscatine, IA and greater Quad Cities area.