gordon green wedding
Nathan + Jordan
Okay, this Gordon Green wedding blog is gonna be a good one because Nathan and Jordan are freaking awesome. Mikayla and I instantly hit it off with Nathan and Jordan for many reasons—from Jordan’s love of The Office to Nathan’s love for cooking food, we knew it was a perfect match. So let’s hit that first point shall we?
The Office. Literally the greatest television show in modern day history. If we can stuff an Office quote into any normal everyday situation and all get the reference (sorry Nathan) then it’s a good time. As you know, Mikayla and I’s favorite character and somewhat spirit animal is Creed Bratton. A little part of me believes that he is indeed the Scranton Strangler, buttttt Toby is still a top contender … I digress. Our investment guide is chock-full of office references that include “I declare bankruptcy” as our top package, and we all had a good laugh about it at our first meeting.
Second point. Nathan’s love for cooking food. During the engagement session, Nathan made the most amazing snack that included a charcuterie board and these garlic puffs that tasted like heaven. Imma be honest here, once I tasted the food he made, I didn’t want to do the rest of the engagement session, I just wanted to eat all of the food. #IamwhatIam. But Nathan works in the event industry, so you already know he probably experiences incredible food (not to mention the food he and Jordan get to enjoy on all of their travels together) and I’m a bit jelly.
Wanna hear something cute? Their absolute obsession with Jeni’s Ice Cream. The Jeni’s Ice Cream near their home knows them by name. I can see them in their old age being that one cute old couple that goes to the shop everyday as a tradition. Was that weird? Oh well, welcome to the blog people. During their Chagrin Falls Engagement Session, they enjoyed Jeni’s and introduced us to the awesome flavors they had to offer (us being very devoted Mason’s Creamery lovers and nothing, I mean nothing, Nathan and Jordan, will ever stand between us and Masons, but Jeni’s was an acceptable second).
the gordon green wedding: the theme
A theme that Nathan and Jordan talked about a lot during our consult was their love for travel. They love experiencing travel together; that’s how they’ve grown together, grown in love for each other, and got to know one another best, all while learning and experiences numerous cultures, and can you guess what? That was the whole theme of their Gordon Green wedding. But I need to talk about the elephant in the room again—COVID. Nathan and Jordan are what you would call social butterflies. Their whole original plan for their wedding was supposed to be centered around mingling with their closest friends, fantastic appetizers of diverse food, and plenty of great conversation—the most un-COVID wedding.
But with COVID in the mix, plans had to change.
They decided to go with a sit down meal that was catered by the amazing Thyme Catering Cle. Check out that spread in the images below, you won’t be disappointed. Nathan and Jordan labeled the tables at the Gordon Green wedding to be like plane aisles (Aisle A Window, etc.), made these ethereal baby’s breath clouds that hung from the ceiling, provided embroidered masks for all their guests (a letter N, then plane icon, then the letter J; cute, we know), created plane ticket invitations, etc. It’s a really cool parallel for traveling to the next stage/destination in life. Love it, love it, love it. You can check out all of those little details below.
Another thing that we really loved about this wedding (I mean, there’s a lot we love here, its hard to talk about just one) and about Nathan + Jordan, is that they were really focused on safety. They wanted everyone to be as safe as possible with COVID. They required everyone to wear masks and promoted social distance whenever possible. That’s great for Mikayla because she’s immune compromised, which really made her and I feel safe. They even kept it light hearted by writing out a little safety guide with an uncanny appearance to the one flight attendants give out safety guidelines during a flight.
Here’s a sweet quote from Nathan and Jordan themselves, regarding their wedding: “Although the versions of our wedding may have changed because of COVID restrictions, the vision always remained the same. We wanted our guests to experience our love though our passion for travel. We loved watching those closest to us share in our favorite experiences from around the world, and witness two families become one through letters, speeches, and intimate moments. Through it all, we were able to focus on the things that matters most; family, friends, and food.”
Wanna know something really cool? This was the very first Gordon Green wedding that was held at the venue! It’s located in Gordon Square Arts District in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, near Ohio City and Downtown CLE. It’s the best up and coming event space, and we got to experience the first of many events at this venue. And we must say, it’s one of the most beautiful spaces we’ve shot at. Just look at the shots of Nathan in the basement, the beautiful and lush ceremony space, and the magical light filtering through the windows. It was magical.
The inside has the best vibe; a mix of modern with a hint of its industrial and historic past. Amazing lighting, a giant, open floor plan, ugh, we could go on and on. The outdoor space for ceremonies was perfect and made you feel you were away from the rest of the world (all while being near the heart of Cleveland!). They have awesome murals on the brick outside, and it made the space feel even more creative. Not only was the space amazing, Jacob and his team at GG were phenomenal with the change of pace (sit down dinner, abiding guidelines, etc.) and we’ll be doing a highlight on these guys in the future because 10/10.
the gordon green wedding: the deets
So now that you have the backstory, let’s get into the day. Nathan got ready in the basement of Gordon Green and Jordan got ready in the Green Room located right down the road. Both were beautiful spaces that could accommodate a ton of people. Nathan and Jordan both gave each other letters to read as well as some nifty gifties. Mikayla and I really push having first looks because, for one, the photos are always amazing, but two, it’s such an intimate moment between partners and it’s a moment where you can really see the stress of the day melt off their faces, and the perspective shift back on the reason we’re all there.
After everyone got ready, we accompanied Nathan and Jordan to this tiny little patch of field about 5 minutes away from their Gordon Green wedding, between a bunch of houses that had nothing but wildflowers and a great view of Cleveland’s skyline to have their first look. The first look was as cute as you’d imagine it, just look at the freaking pictures people. We made some time for portraits with them, and as we’re walking to this cool industrial are, I look on the wall and see graffiti that reads, “Will you marry me?” And right next to it someone else graffitied the word “no.” So we obviously had to take a photo next to that.
I feel like I’m saying Nathan and Jordan a lot, I need to combine them together, Nardan? Johan? Johnardan?
So Nardan and ourselves walked around to a bunch of random spots close to the Gordon Green wedding venue, taking some seriously killer photos because let’s just face it, we couldn’t take a bad photo of them. We even did some fun gifs of them spinning around. My favorite would have to be the one photo of them posing against the greenery and the sun just peeked out and lit Nathan’s face (give me all the direct sunlight vibes). After that amazing portrait session, we came back to the venue to do the wedding party and family formals.
the gordon green wedding: the brady bunch
First off, Gordon Green’s wedding space is absolutely perfect for formals. They have ample open space and huge windows that let in a bunch of natural light, so there was no need for any external lights or flashes. Nathan and Jordan wanted their closest companions there, so they still had an 18 person wedding party. COVID couldn’t take that away. <3 But due to COVID, we had to get creative with these wedding party photos.
Nathan and Jordan really wanted to keep their friends safe, so they wanted us to get creative with a group shot while everyone maintained being apart. So, Mikayla and I looked at each other and brainstormed a few ideas and BAM, instantly thought of the Brady Bunch. Check that out here.
But, the real issue we ran into was the big group photo. You know the ones. Iconic wedding party photo. I had the idea to pose every single person separately, placing them where they would stand if they were all standing next to each other in a large group. So we shot every single person individually and photoshopped them together to create this epic portrait. That’s right. no one in the photo below is actually standing next to each other.
This way, they didn’t have to do a group shot of everyone wearing masks, because that kinda feels a bit morbid, doesn’t it? I mean, they could’ve had long gloves and surgical masks and made it look like they were all doctors from the 1920’s looking like their about to murder everyone in the room. Too specific? I mean check out those new Disney commercials, it’s a bit morbid ins’t it? #pandemicssuckguys
You wouldn’t know that this photo was 19 photos in one. This is the beauty of what we can create as artists. Though they weren’t all standing there, it’s a photo like this that Nathan and Jordan can look back at in 20+ years and remember who was all there still having an amazing time celebrating their marriage. We were so happy to do this for them and would 100000% do it again.
After all the formalities were over, we were all set for the ceremony! One thing I’d like to note that I think should be a standard across all weddings from now on is giving out champagne for all the guests to enjoy while you sit and wait for the ceremony to start. Seeing all the guests faces when they got to pick up a drink before the ceremony started was priceless. During the ceremony, each of their parents gave the most heart felt speeches to Nathan and Jordan, and there were a lot of laughs, and certainly a lot of (happy) tears. It was a roller coaster of emotions and we were all on it.
This was a quote spoken during their exchange of vows: “Camerado, I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?” (Really relates to their theme 100000%). I was disappointed that nobody said “mawage is wot bwings us togeder today,” but once again, I digress. Still a perfect quote nonetheless.
the gordon green wedding: the food
They said the I do’s, kissed, and bam, they got married. It was beautiful, it was perfect, and we were all so happy for them. They started the reception with a grand entrance complete with a first dance and a cake cutting set with amazing tunes by the stringed trio, Opus216. They ate amazing food, which I’ll share below because we did some beauty shots of the food. They are one of the only couples to ask us to take amazing photos of their food because they are such foodies. Check them out here:
This tasty food is from Thyme Catering CLE and it was perfection. I’m hungry just thinking about it, and I mean, looking at it too. The ice cream is of course from Jeni’s and the cake from Luna Cake Shop was perfect (there is nothing more perfect than almond flavored cake. Nothing. Fight me.). Can I say perfection too much? Not when it comes to food. Guys, we’ve had some iffy wedding food in the past, and this will go down as one of our favorites, I’d say top 7 of my favorites. That’s high guys, I’m a very picky eater and bouji, nothing but class here.
They ended the night with pictures with guests and great conversations all around. It was a perfect end to their Gordon Green wedding.
Nathan and Jordan, we love you and can’t thank you enough for allowing us to take part in your story. You guys are the best and we wish you a lifetime of happiness.
Nathan and Jordan wanted to say this in the blog and it makes our hearts so happy (also we’re not crying you’re crying soemotionalandhappy).
“We can’t say enough about how fortunate we are to have met Mikayla and Luke. Not only did they capture the raw emotion of our wedding day through their artful eyes, we had trusted friends with us each step of the way. Even on the day of our wedding, they were by our side guiding us with words of encouragement. Although we had to change many things about our wedding, Mikayla and Luke were a constant force that we consistently leaned into for affirmation and support. If you need some incredible people in your life, give them a call.”
Planning your own epic Gordon Green wedding or elopement? Or a last minute COVID-19 wedding? Or just in need of some rad photographers to grab some ‘za with and socially distance hang? Shoot us a message and talk to our cats (aka the office administrators) for information! Now booking for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021.
