We LOVE an epic adventure elopement out in the mountains, but once in a while it is SO fun to get back to a good old country wedding in the midwest. Kari & Brayton’s fun-lovin’ country wedding in Washington, Iowa was such a wonderful celebration of their love, surrounded by all of their best friends and truly inspired by their love for everything country! From beers being passed around all day to taking portraits in front of a garage covered in old signs, this wedding totally embodied the spirit of Iowa in the most fun way. Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Turner!
Kari & Brayton’s Summertime Country Wedding in Washington, Iowa
The sweetest country couple
Kari & Brayton are your classic midwest couple: he’s a farmer, a country boy, and an auctioneer, and she’s his perfect country gal match. They even own and manage a farm together (we visited their pumpkin patch a while back and it was a blast)! Every minute of this wedding showed off their sweet, goofy, & fun-loving personalities – it was impossible not to have a huge smile on your faces at seeing the pure joy emanating off this sweet couple’s faces. Honestly, they could’ve been sad about their wedding day being super rainy and cloudy, but instead they had such great attitudes and made the freaking best out of it!
Cozy engagement photos around a campfire
Before we show you more of their wedding day, we HAVE to show you some photos from their engagement session, which was one of our favorites of all time. It was the coziest shoot ever, with these two just being themselves and drinking beers around a campfire, like they would in their daily lives! We loooove when couples incorporate activities that they love to do together into their session, because it really helps bring out their authentic personalities 🙂 These photos are so cute and will for sure make you want to have your own engagement photos taken around a campfire out in the country!
A traditional church wedding ceremony
Now back to the wedding – Kari & Brayton had a traditional ceremony in a gorgeous church, where they tied the knot in front of all their loved ones. We took plenty of portraits outside once the ceremony wrapped, because how epic (and kind of spooky?) does this church look under those overcast skies?! Especially with that adorable couple doing a dip kiss right in front, of course 😉
Iconic Iowa wedding portraits out in the country
After the ceremony, Kari & Brayton hopped in their RV and we made a few pit stops for some portraits of just the two of them and their wedding party. First up was a random gravel road in the middle of a few fields, and then we made our way to their ol’ buddy’s farmhouse for some photos in front of his crazy cool garage – which actually has the MOST collected old signs in Iowa! Such a random fact but it totally fit the country vibes of this day, and so did the giant tractor + farm behind the garage, of course!
A night of pizza, beer, and square dancing (+ a garter auction?!)
Once we were happy with all the fun portraits in front of that one-of-a-kind garage, we stopped with Kari, Brayton, & their wedding party at a dive bar for a few drinks and some dancing – this is when we found out that these two are SUCH good dancers. Another great reason why their custom koozies had the phrase “Turn’er Partner Round & Round” on ‘em (besides the fact that they were now Mr. & Mrs. Turner)!
And after this quick dance session at the dive bar, we headed back into the RV for a ride to the reception hall, the final stop of the night. Now this reception was an absolute BLAST, with a pizza & salad buffet for dinner, all kinds of beer coolers being passed around the entire night, and plenty of cute country-inspired decor! The reception hall was even decorated in some pretty cool antiques that meant a lot to Kari & Brayton, so everywhere you looked you could find some sort of thoughtful touch that these two put a lot of thought into. Loved every minute of it!
Probably the highlight of the night, though, was the garter toss. Brayton was hilarious and made a big deal about stretching & limbering up for it before “going in,” which got everybody laughing and Kari blushing away😆Now because Brayton is a professional auctioneer, they ended up auctioning off the garter – and somebody bought it for around $300!! He was a total pro, he talked so freakin fast and the crowd had so much fun participating & shouting out their offers. He would pause in the middle of auctioneering and just crack random jokes – it was probably one of the funniest receptions we’ve ever been to😂
They wrapped up the night with an AWESOME dance floor – everyone knew how to square dance and wasn’t afraid of showing off. Every dang minute of this day was filled with just pure JOY and love, since Kari & Brayton really put a lot of thought into creating a wedding that reflected their personalities so authentically. Every guest had the night of their lives celebrating these two, and so did we!!
Kari & Brayton’s Iowa wedding film
Now of COURSE we did both photo and video for this beautiful Iowa wedding day – if you want to watch all the highlights from Kari & Brayton’s wedding (including a peek at that garter auction, of course), check out their highlight film below!
Iowa Wedding Photographer & Videographer
Again, we freakin love shooting fun country weddings like Kari & Brayton’s – so if you’re on the lookout for an Iowa wedding photographer & videographer duo for your own Iowa wedding, we’d absolutely LOVE to be there for ya!! Check out our Iowa wedding photography & videography packages to see what we offer, and if you’re feeling all the right vibes, we’d love for you to reach out and tell us all about your dreams for your dream wedding in Iowa🔥
Iowa Wedding Resources & Inspiration
Want some more inspo for your own Iowa wedding? Need help finding the best venue for the big day? We’ve gotcha covered! Below are two of our recent Iowa blogs that we think you’ll love.
