MCKENNA AND CHRIS
ST. MONICA CATHOLIC CHURCH & THE ADOLPHUS - DALLAS WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - 12/27/2025
Wedding Coordination: Stunning & Brilliant Events — Michelle Peska
Reception Venue: The Adolphus Hotel
Ceremony Venue: St. Monica Catholic Church
Officiant: Father Stephen Bierschenk
Floral Design: Weekly Floral — Byron Laszlo
Wedding DJ: LeForce Entertainment — Justin Stringfellow
Wedding Cake: Fancy Cakes by Lauren — Lauren Kitchens
Hair & Makeup: Gary Parson
Wedding Videography: Strong AV Productions — George Strong
Wedding Photography: Rafael Serrano Photography
MaMcKenna and Chris’s fairytale had a very good dance floor.
Their December 27, 2025 wedding began with an intimate ceremony at St. Monica Catholic Church in Dallas and continued with romantic Christmas portraits and a lively reception at The Adolphus.
The couple share a love of high fantasy, and their enchanted-fairytale vision gave the celebration its direction. McKenna’s love of theater and dance brought another part of her personality into the day, especially once the reception got going.
But the heart of the wedding was sharing it with family and friends. They wanted their guests to have an amazing night, and the photographs show how much life those people brought to the celebration.
An Intimate Catholic Ceremony at St. Monica
St. Monica gave McKenna and Chris’s ceremony a setting filled with stained glass and Christmas decorations.
A wide photograph includes the trees, red poinsettias, and guests gathered around the ceremony. Closer views bring the attention back to the couple, including their kiss at the front of the church.
Father Stephen Bierschenk officiated their Catholic ceremony.
Photographing inside the church meant working with limited available light. That was one of the practical challenges of the day, alongside the transitions between locations. We needed to preserve the atmosphere of the space while keeping the couple clear in the photographs.
After the ceremony, the church remained part of their portrait story. One frame looks down the aisle toward them, with McKenna’s dress and veil extending into the foreground. Another brings a reflection into the composition.
Those different views let the gallery remember both the place where they married and the two people at its center.
Emerald Wedding-Party Portraits and a Bridal Frame with Drama
The wedding-party photographs bring emerald dresses, dark suits, and white-and-green flowers together.
Weekly Floral provided the wedding florals, with Byron Laszlo credited on the couple’s vendor team. The bouquets connect the group portraits visually while leaving each person room within the arrangement.
The people themselves made this part of the day especially enjoyable. McKenna and Chris’s family and friends were wonderful to work with, and that matters just as much to the experience as the finished arrangement of a group.
McKenna’s individual bridal portrait brings a different mood.
In black and white, the light across her dress and veil becomes especially noticeable. She holds the veil out around her, giving the photograph a shape and presence that feels at home beside her love of theater.
It is one expression of their fairytale style, with her personality still visible in the frame.
Moving from the Church to Downtown Dallas
This wedding involved more than one location, and the transitions were an important part of photographing it.
After St. Monica, we traveled to downtown Dallas for the hotel portraits and reception. The weather was lovely, but the city was busy. Traffic and holiday visitors were part of the day’s surroundings.
Everything stayed on time.
Michelle Peska with Stunning & Brilliant Events made the day easier through her coordination. When a wedding includes a church ceremony and a hotel reception, that shared organization helps connect the ceremony, travel, portraits, and celebration.
For couples planning a similar day, our advice is to discuss transitions with your planner and photographer early. The time between locations belongs in the schedule alongside the events themselves.
Our Dallas–Fort Worth wedding tips offer more planning guidance as you work through those decisions.
Romantic Christmas Wedding Portraits at The Adolphus
McKenna wanted a photographer who would be patient with the process and use good lighting to show the beauty of the hotel.
That was a clear direction for the portraits: romantic photographs that gave the couple and their setting a meaningful place together.
The Adolphus’s Christmas decorations became part of that visual story. The wedding-party portrait on the staircase includes a lit tree above the group. A quieter couple portrait uses a dark bar setting, with the decorations surrounding McKenna and Chris rather than overwhelming them.
The light and composition give those photographs different moods.
One frame has everyone together, arranged within the architecture. Another brings attention to the couple in a much more intimate scene. Outside, the hotel entrance sign makes the location immediately recognizable.
Together, those photographs give the gallery variety while staying connected to their Christmas wedding.
For more examples of how we work with the hotel’s settings, explore our Adolphus wedding-photography guide.
Photographing the Hotel During the Christmas Season
A Christmas wedding at a busy hotel calls for patience.
The decorations attract visitors, and McKenna and Chris’s wedding took place while other people were enjoying the hotel too. We looked for angles that reduced distractions and kept the couple at the center of the photograph.
We also made room for images that included the activity around them.
The downtown walking portrait has cars and city buildings behind the couple. That is part of what a wedding in downtown Dallas can feel like: a personal celebration taking place within a city that keeps moving.
My advice to couples considering The Adolphus around Christmas is to enjoy the setting while staying flexible about individual photographs. A background may be occupied, and a different angle may give us a stronger result.
The goal is a collection that remembers your wedding honestly, including its quieter portraits and the life happening around it.
The Adolphus Christmas Wedding FAQ
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It can be. During McKenna and Chris’s wedding, visitors were enjoying the hotel’s Christmas decorations too.
We looked for angles that reduced distractions and also made photographs that included the activity around them. Patience and flexible portrait plans help when a hotel is part of a busy holiday destination.
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McKenna and Chris did exactly that: their ceremony was at St. Monica Catholic Church, followed by a reception at The Adolphus.
For a day across multiple locations, discuss travel, traffic, portraits, and guest transitions with your planner and photographer. Their wedding stayed on time, and Michelle Peska’s coordination helped make the day easier.
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Yes. McKenna and Chris’s gallery includes quiet church portraits, romantic hotel photographs, downtown scenes, and a dance floor full of guests.
Tell us what matters most to you so we can discuss how those parts fit into your wedding coverage and timeline.
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Downtown Dallas is an active setting. McKenna and Chris’s walking portraits include cars and the surrounding city, while other photographs give them a quieter frame.
We can discuss the balance you prefer. The city’s activity can become part of the story, and individual backgrounds may call for patience or a different composition.
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The hotel’s FAQ states that outside photography is permitted only when associated with a wedding contracted at The Adolphus.
Confirm the current arrangements for your wedding photographs with the hotel team before planning specific spaces or portrait sessions.
A Reception That Reflected Their Love of Dance
The reception brought McKenna and Chris’s playful side forward.
McKenna loves dance and theater, and the evening included Disney dances and plenty of good energy. LeForce Entertainment, with Justin Stringfellow credited as their DJ, kept the dance floor moving.
One photograph shows Chris turning McKenna as her dress opens around her. Later frames place them among their guests, with the room full of people celebrating.
Those photographs are an essential part of this wedding story.
The romantic portraits show one side of the couple. The dance-floor photographs show another: whimsical, fun, and fully enjoying the night they had created for their family and friends.
Flowers, Candlelight, and a Cake-Side Celebration
The reception details appear alongside the moments happening around them.
At the head table, McKenna and Chris share a kiss behind white flowers, greenery, candles, and gold-toned details. Another photograph finds them beside their tiered cake, with McKenna raising a glass as Chris kisses her.
Fancy Cakes by Lauren, led by Lauren Kitchens, provided the cake.
Their vendor team also included hair and makeup by Gary Parson and videography by Strong AV Productions, with George Strong.
The selection keeps those details connected to the people enjoying them. That gives the gallery a fuller picture of the celebration than design photographs alone could provide.
A Staircase Send-Off and One Last Wave
McKenna and Chris finished with their guests gathered along the hotel staircase, waving gold pom-poms around them.
The Christmas tree remains in the background, connecting the final group celebration to the setting that runs through their hotel photographs.
Outside, one last frame shows the couple waving from an Adolphus-branded vehicle.
It is a fitting ending to a wedding with several sides to its personality: an intimate ceremony, romantic portraits, a fairytale setting, and a party full of people they love.
Planning Your Own Dallas Wedding?
Tell us the vision and the moments you most want to remember.
You may be drawn to Christmas at The Adolphus, a church ceremony followed by a downtown reception, or a celebration with beautiful portraits and a full dance floor.
Explore our Dallas wedding photography portfolio, then contact Rafael Serrano Photography with your date and venue.
We would love to hear what you are imagining.