A 25-guest DIY backyard micro wedding in south St. Louis County on the hottest day of the year. No vendors, handmade decorations, a tres leches cake, and many dogs and cats.
These kids know how to party
Kassie and Caelan got married in a backyard about fifteen minutes south of my house, in front of twenty-five people, on a day the National Weather Service had under an Extreme Heat Warning.
There were no vendors. No florist, no caterer, no coordinator, no DJ. Just me and a family that built the entire thing themselves.
It might be my favorite wedding I've shot.
I showed up the day before and got put to work
Kassie and Caelan invited me out on the Friday to help set up, and I took them up on it.
It was sweltering. I helped put little flowers together. I moved chairs and tables. I cut the streamers that ended up draping the walkway down to the ceremony. Caelan handed me jobs and I did them, and it was genuinely fun.
I also met most of fellas before the wedding even started, which is worth more than any amount of prep. And I met Koda, Hoover, Rain, and a rotating cast of other animals who were all very committed to being part of the day.
The House
The wedding happened at a family home in south county, and the house itself deserves a mention. Natural wood everywhere, beautiful wallpapers, rooms that turned corners in ways you do not expect. It photographed beautifully and it gave the whole day a lived-in warmth you cannot rent.
That is the trade with a backyard wedding. You give up a venue coordinator and a loading dock. You get a place that already means something to the people standing in it and I personally think it’s the best way to do a wedding if you have the option.
Saturday Morning
I started the day at the VRBO with Caelan and his friends. Caelan is in the Air Force, and so are a lot of the people around him, so I spent the morning getting an education on how thin the stationing options get in their fields. I heard firsthand accounts of living in Dayton, Ohio and in Nebraska. I would describe the reviews as… mixed.
It was a chill morning. Nobody was panicking. Nobody was running a timeline. That set the tone for the entire rest of the day.
Two families meeting for the first time
Here is the thing that shaped how I shot this wedding.
Kassie's family and Caelan's family to my knowledge haven’t been in the same space together. They’re all spread out. Not "had not seen each other in a while." Had never been in the same place.
When they told me that in advance, it reorganized my whole approach. The vows and the kiss are going to happen regardless. What you cannot recreate is two loved ones meeting for the first time in a driveway, ninety seconds before somebody calls everyone down to the yard.
So I spent the arrival hour and the entire reception circling for exactly that. Handshakes turning into hugs. People figuring out what they have in common. During the vows I photographed the parents as much as I photographed the couple.
Those are the frames Kassie and Caelan told me they cared about most, and I think it is the best argument for a small wedding I have run into. At two hundred guests that moment disappears into the crowd. At twenty-five it is the entire story.
The sun did not let up, neither did we
The high hit 100 degrees with a heat index of 109. The ceremony was at 1:30 in the afternoon, half an hour past solar noon, and there was not a cloud anywhere in Missouri.
Everyone powered through it. Nobody complained. And then a few hours later, right when we needed it, a whole bank of clouds rolled in for the portraits. You do not get that very often.
Fast formals. Twenty-five people, done in under twenty minutes. Kassie and Caelan had told their guests plainly on their wedding website that photos were happening and nobody was getting out of it, so nobody wandered off and I was not hunting anyone down in the heat.
At five, everyone cleared out to go change, because the second half of this wedding was a campout in the same backyard with tacos and a movie under the stars.
Before they went, Kassie and Caelan had their first dance. Alone. No crowd, no circle, nobody filming on a phone. Just the two of them in an empty yard while everybody else drove off to get their sleeping bags. I thought it was the most wholesome thing I have ever been in the room for.
If you are planning something like this
A few honest things for anyone considering a backyard or micro wedding around St. Louis:
Small does not mean less. It means the photographs are about people instead of production. If you care more about your aunt's face than your floral budget, this is your format.
DIY reads in the photos, and it reads well. Handmade decorations and sandwiches did not make this wedding look cheap. They made it look like it belonged to somebody.
Tell your guests photos are happening. Putting it on the website in plain language saved us twenty minutes in brutal heat.
Think about the light before the day. A 1:30 ceremony is a harder photo problem than a 5:30 one. Still very doable. Somebody should just be thinking about it in advance.
Planning a backyard wedding, a micro wedding, or a small ceremony somewhere in or around St. Louis? Get in touch (weddingsbypeck@gmail.com) and tell me what you are putting together. I would love to hear about it.
