Just a day in the life of the Rajala family from this last fall. I’ve been lucky enough to document this crew since Henrik was just a little babe and now he is rocking a skateboard and they are all really good at ignoring me and just live life in front of my lens.

Megan and Russ made many changes in order for their wedding to happen in a safe way this last summer and it was a perfect day by the lake to celebrate their exchanging of vows. It was a wonderful day filled with happy tears and so much joy and I am so grateful I got to be there to witness and document it all.

I got the chance to meet up with Kari and Cody this fall to document their engagement and it was really lovely. I am very much looking forward to when these two exchange vows and celebrate with their family and friends.

This has been the year for family sessions. We all have spent more time home together this year than most years and I’m so grateful families have reached out to document this time together. Back in September I was able to visit the Heidemann family at their new home to document their lovely family again - I photographed this crew back in 2018 when their second son, Adler was just born, it was so lovely meet him as a toddler and see my buddy Ezra again.

We all have had to make sacrifices in 2020 but that doesn’t mean you still can’t marry your person. For Gabriela and Meheer, they had a plan to have a big celebration in August and when the reality that is 2020 hit, these two made a new plan - Instead of August, how about July, instead of a venue in Madison, why not Gabriela’s parents’ rooftop patio, instead of 100+ people, why not immediate family only and instead of a wedding gown, why not an amazing feathered orange dress? These two shifted their plans but kept their goal in mind - to marry each other and I loved that I was able to document this wedding and also eat the meal Gabriela’s parents prepared for all of us.

I’ve known Elise since Elementary school, I got to go to Colorado to photograph her wedding to James a few years ago and this summer they took a road trip to Wisconsin and I got to meet their precious son, Silas! I love getting to continue documenting as families grow and it was such a joy to see these two again and meet their happy kiddo.

I’m not going to lie - I miss photographing people, I miss being invited into peoples homes and document their day. On March 7th I went over to meet this lovely family in their beautiful home and I didn’t know it would be my last family session for awhile. It was just starting to feel like spring, that feeling where you know hibernation is coming to an end and soon you will be meeting up with friends at outdoor cafes and hosting grill outs. We spent some time in their beautifully lit home and then went for a walk out on the tracks just out in their backyard - it was a simple day in the life of this family and I got to document it.

Back in November I attended a photography retreat down in the KC area so I decided to drive down a few days early to visit my friends and document life with a toddler. I have had the opportunity to photograph this family since Reina was born and I love my annual visits and my annual documentation of this sweet child and this wonderful family.

This is Mel and Fred with their dog Atticus in their home and their neighborhood. I took these photographs over 2 months ago and I wanted to share them and tell my story of Mel Barnes. Mel and I moved to Madison together in 2006, we lived in a drafty old blue house that was frequently visited by mice, we lived off of leftover Persian food from Caspian Cafe (where we both worked - hands down best food in the world), we would get ice cream on the first snow fall every year and we often were found at MadCity Records in the dollar bins. We lived together in that house for 3 years, having 10 other roommates throughout those years but we stuck together through it all. I made a ‘no cat’ rule in our first year and she broke it, Señor Gomez came into our home, helped with the mice and taught me cats can be pretty great. We found our clothing at Dig n Save, we had crappy internet so we spent most of our evenings in our gross basement drinking coffee, doing homework and creating art or sitting on our front porch meeting people who to this day are still in our lives. I loved my years at the ‘01, I loved those years with Mel Barnes as my roommate. I love that Mel is now a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, has a real great dog, a loving partner and a beautiful home and I love that she asked me to come document their life.

I photographed Katie and Trent when they first got engaged then I documented their wedding day and when their first was born I did a session with them in their condo and now they have 2 wild and lovely boys and they asked me again to come photograph life in their new home. I love this, and by this I mean couples coming back and asking me to photograph their life. So here is a Friday morning at the Osterholz Home.

Mary and Kelsey won a session with me from Wintersong which is a Indie Acoustic Holiday show benefiting Second Harvest Foodbank through a wonderful evening for music and a raffle, which will be happening again Next Saturday, December 7th at the Barrymore Theatre. I went to their beautiful home last month and met their amazing daughter Luella and their amazing dog named Russel (which is the best name for this dog) and photographed their lovely family spending an evening together.

I was overwhelmed when I walked into this home because it was so beautiful, every room had amazing light and I wanted to spend hours photographing this family. Meet Jennie and Ryan and their adorable daughter, Beatrix June who was born in March.

I have lived around the corner from a Greek Orthodox Church for the past 3 years and I’ve always wanted to see the inside of it and on September 28th I got the opportunity to photograph Anna and Stu’s wedding there. It was such a beautiful and traditional ceremony followed but an amazing, epic and hilarious party at The Edgewater - but what do you expect when the bride and groom run the cities comedy club! I think my favorite part of this day was the comedians roasting everyone who came in for the grand march - that was indeed a first for me.

I got to spend a Sunday afternoon with Nicole and Matt in their neighborhood, starting in their adorable home with great snacks and great throw pillows then too a little walk through a park so they can have a drink at their favorite spot, The Warbler. It was kind of cheating to photograph these two because well, they are adorable and they make each other laugh a lot. These two are getting married next fall in Milwaukee and I’m so glad they want me there to document it. Basically, Matt and Nicole for the win.

Katie and Varun’s Madison wedding was a wonderful day to not only be apart of, but to document. Every person I met that day was wonderful, so much joy, love and support I couldn’t even handle it. Katie and Varun have a wonderful community and I’m so grateful I was invited to photograph this lovely day

Congrats you two!

It always takes me a bit to figure out what to write about when I post wedding blogs - I’m a storyteller with my images and it’s hard for me to write out my thoughts and feelings about each wedding I get invited to. Each wedding I get asked to photograph is unique and I’m only a tiny part of it - my role is to document what is happening, I try to stay out of the way and I try to keep my camera shooting all day long - every moment is a story - every person invited to be apart of the wedding has their own story, know the couple somehow whether it’s since college, high school or since they were born. Lisa and Evan’s wedding was such a wonderful day to be apart of, the space was the backyard of Gila - Lisa’s mother - the space where Lisa grew up and the garden that Gila has been working on for years was the backdrop to this day. The radar showed it was going to rain all day but the sky opened up in the afternoon for a perfect sunny day. I am so grateful for my role on wedding days and I’m so thankful Evan and Lisa had me be apart of their wedding day.

In the fall of 2017 I got an email from B’s mom asking if I could document her son proposing to his girlfriend - I had never photographed a proposal and it was such a wonderful thing to witness. A few months after that I was able to meet up again with these two to photograph some engagement photographs at the Edgewood Campus, which is where these two met. On June 1st, 2019 I got to witness and document these two get married - there was not a dry eye during that ceremony - it was a beautiful day.

A perfect spring afternoon in St. Paul, MN spent with these two and their beautiful community. A few of my highlights from this wedding include the fact that Colleen didn't wear any makeup, watching Tom and Colleen look at each other, that both her and Tom's parents are adorable and so in love it made me teary eyed on a few times that day and that Colleen did a Mother & Daughter dance that was perfect.

This day was great and I loved working with these two. 

I never know how to express how I feel about weddings in just a few short sentences on my blog because i feel like it's one of those 'you have to be there' sort of things. This one, oh these two, I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that my cry count on this one was high, So many beautiful moments, so many wonderful people, so much support and love with this group of people it was hard to keep it in for me. This wedding was a good one, I had my very best friend all the way from Missoula, Abi of This Is Soul by my side shooting and we had a lovely time documenting the day that John and Katherine got married. 

It was cold but it didn't matter for these two! Jessica had her eye on this chapel for years knowing that one day she would get married there and on January 6th at sunset she married her best friend next to a roaring fire surrounded by all of their loved ones. I loved this day, a day filled with so much love and joy, there was so much thought put into every moment and Jessica and Andy braved the cold for photographs. After they ceremony in Oshkosh, we all drove to Neenah to Zuppas where the celebration continued with a wonderful meal, beautiful speeches and a table full of homemade pies and chocolates! Jessica and Andy, I am so happy you picked me to document this day, I am so happy for the two of you!