Katie & Connor

A Colorfully Bright Summer Wedding | Des Moines, Iowa

August 22, 2026

Hopefully by now you've noticed that I LOVE colorful photos, and holy moly, there was no shortage of that at Katie & Connor's beautiful summer wedding at the Des Moines Heritage Center! Katie's planning skills as the owner of Love and Light Events combined with the always stunning florals from The English Rose made for such a gorgeously fun celebration!

Besides being so beautifully colorful and impeccably planned, there were so many swoon-worthy parts of their day. Definitely top of that list includes Katie & Connor's First Touch moment where they shared personal vows while standing back to back, bringing equal parts laughter AND tears! Prior high impact planning of their timeline allowed for LOTS of couple's portraits time, giving us a HUGE variety of couple's shots at multiple different locations - like, seriously... I'm obsessed with how many different portraits we got. There were several nods to Connor's love of aviation throughout the day, which of course brought my back to their iconic engagement session at the Ankeny Airport. (Check that out here!) Katie & Connor's first dance was full of epic choreography that had their awe-struck guests LITERALLY cheering them on - and of course I had them recreate their best moves later during Golden Hour! The toasts were thoughtful and funny - especially from the Best Man, who plays the unique role of Bride's older brother AND Groom's childhood best friend. But of course, the night ending with a high energy dance floor (JM3 DJs killed it, as expected!) and an excited bride & groom who were ready for the REAL celebrating to begin! All that mixed with a couple that couldn't stop laughing and cracking up at each other - even during their ceremony! These two are truly *couple goals* and I am SO grateful to have been a part of their day.

Congrats to the newlyweds!