Amy Aiello’s name shows up in my Instagram stories and photo credits quite often, as she is a talented photographer and dear friend. When she came to me, last year, and told me she was getting married, I was thrilled for her! Of course, I was going to help her with the wedding and was excited to hear about the plans for the big day.
Photography by: Being Joy Photography
Amy and Mark selected Acquaviva Winery in Sycamore, Illinois for its lovely vineyards and rustic Italian design. It’s situated just past Geneva, Illinois and is reminiscent of the Italian countryside. The owners were welcoming and the wine was plentiful.
The wedding was planned for June 14th, which is Flag Day, and when Amy and Mark were trying to come up with a Hashtag for the wedding, Amy’s Matron of Honor came up with the idea of using the national holiday for the hashtag. At the time, this seemed funny and random, but proved to be extremely appropriate.
Amy’s Grandmother was supposed to officiate the ceremony, but during the wedding planning and engagement she passed away, leaving Amy broken hearted. Amy’s Grandmother was one of her absolute favorite people. She was funny and charismatic, just like Amy. It was going to be difficult to experience a wedding day without her. Amy’s gracious friend, Mara, stepped in to officiate her first wedding and knocked it out of the park with a joyful ceremony.
It was a beautiful day, on June 14th, 2019 – Flag Day. The sun was shining over the green vineyards and the clouds were perfectly puffy like Amy’s blush wedding dress. It was the perfect day except… it was REALLY windy. Comically windy. Flag flapping in the wind windy. Amy had layers of tool in her dress and a cathedral length veil. As we walked her out to her first look the wind blew our hair and all those layers of tool everywhere. She and I started laughing hysterically and I told her, “This is the funniest wedding moment ever.”
Every wedding has one thing that isn’t ideal and usually becomes a perfect part of the event. Amy’s was the wind. It was the most appropriate element for the wedding day because Amy loves movement in her photography. A good part of her work is shooting dancers and gymnasts and has them twirling, jumping and stretching themselves to the limit to show their ability for movement. She even sets up trampolines with powder to capture them jumping with the explosive movement.
It seems that Grandma was at the wedding. She was above, waving wildly at Amy. She was the wind that made us laugh and that was necessary to make #Flagday2019 a totally appropriate hashtag for the day.
Megan Estrada
Owner & Principal Event Planner
NSWE