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 had the privilege to travel out to San Diego, CA to both witness and photograph my dear cousin, Ari's wedding. The intimate gathering of friends and family up on a mountain started with a yoga session followed by arranging bouquets while sipping mimosas and coffee while another group transformed a garage into a fancy dinner location. The community that surrounded this could on this day was beautiful to be apart of and watch, I am so glad I got to welcome Matt to our (crazy) family and dance the night away under the moon with everyone. I am so beyond happy for these two and their great adventure together, with their next big adventure expected top arrive this spring! Congratulations Ari and Matt.

A highlight of my summer was traveling out west to hike in the mountains, spend a few days living in a tiny house and documenting this wedding. I've known Elise since the 3rd grade, so it was very exciting when she contacted me to come shoot her wedding - getting to know these two through this last year has been wonderful, seeing her family and friends again was a nice reunion and this day was perfection. I cried more than the photographer should, I had goosebumps from the way these to love not only each other but their families and their friends - it was an honor to be up on that mountain witnessing their vows.

A small gathering of close family and friends gathered on the rooftop of The Edgewater on a Saturday afternoon in August to witness Andrea and Jeff exchange their vows and although it looked like rain, the view was too beautiful to not risk getting a little wet. Following this beautiful ceremony (and the rain waited until we were all finished and inside) these two had their reception at The Bos Meadery with Underground catering one of the best meals we all ever had. A perfect day to celebrate a wonderful couple.

Laura & Josh were married on a Friday with a small gathering of family (blog post here) and the following day they put their wedding clothing back on and had an epic party with all of their loved ones.

Although Nicky and Tim live in Chicago, they decided to get married in the backyard of Nicky's family cabin - a beautiful home on the Wisconsin river. This day was perfect - starting the early day with mimosas, floral arranging and up-dos, followed by exploring the woods surrounding the property with Nicky & Tim and their wedding party - a late afternoon (and sunny) ceremony followed by a cocktail hour with an archery tournament (this was a first, and this was the best), ending with a wonderful dinner, and an epic dance party. I have had the privilege of knowing Nicky since middle school, reconnecting last year for a mutual friends wedding allowed me to meet and get to know Tim better and the two of them as a couple. When they came to me to ask if I could document their day, I was so excited. Being at the venue for a vacation last summer, I knew it was going to be a beautiful day in a place that holds importance to both Nicky and Tim.

I met Erica and Simon about 6 years ago, around the time they started dating, so when these two came to me with the news of their engagement and their plans for winter wedding, I was pretty excited. Erica & Simon had a beautiful, intimate wedding at Olbrich Gardens, a 5pm ceremony in the conservatory with just their immediate family, music by Erica's little sister and their best friend Grace, who became ordained to marry them, after the ceremony there was a room full of friends ready to celebrate with them. A perfect way to celebrate these two, and I am so happy they asked me to document this wonderful day.

A few weeks ago I went back to my hometown of Appleton, Wi and photographed a wedding of the lovely Brittany Depis, who I went to High School with. I always love photographing weddings of someone I once knew, I love the little reunion we get to have, the stories we can swap and the chance to document such an important day in their lives and getting to meet the person they decide to spend the rest of their life with. I had such a wonderful time with Brittany, Ryan, their friends and their family, the ceremony was classic and beautiful, the sunshine stuck around for our photographs and the speeches at the dinner were some of the best I've witnessed -- Congrats to Brittany & Ryan Wirth, you two are lovely and were so much fun to photograph.  

Erin and Bob eloped back in December in their living room in Appleton, Wi with just 2 witnesses, their black lab and a pastor, a perfect set up for a wonderful couple.  A few weeks back Erin contacted me to see if they could put on their wedding clothes and do a little photo shoot with me - I was so excited for I have known these two for years and I was so happy when I found out they got married -- we had a blast on this photo shoot.

Mads and Za contacted me just a few months ago about their small, no fuss backyard wedding that took place on August 9th in Oshkosh, WI. Mads and Za have only lived in Oshkosh for about a year, they moved from Boston when Za got a job teaching at UWO and within that year these two have built such a lovely community. Their neighbors helped cook food and decorate, people traveled from Norway, Boston and many other places -- it was the perfect small gathering of close friends and family to celebrate Mads and Za.

I'm not entirely sure how to start and where to end on this one -- Elizabeth Rose has been my best friend since before we had our drivers license and we were pen pals before cellphones were in everyone's hands. Elizabeth and I have many stories I could share, so many memories growing up together - every weekend being a sleepover throughout high school. I love her dearly and being a witness to her marrying into this amazing family was one of the greatest things I have been apart of. I could write a novel about how I feel about these two and this family of six, but I don't feel like everybody who reads my blog needs to know, or really wants to know – so I'll say this – when Elizabeth called me to tell me they were engaged – I made the weirdest sound possible - a combination of a scream, a burst of tears and some kind of words of congratulations – I was filled with joy because I truly couldn't pick out a better match. The love these two have for each other and for those 4 amazing children is a beautiful thing to witness – the love these two have for their close friends and family is just as beautiful and I am so thankful that when I come up to Appleton, I know I can spend a day at the beach hanging out with the kids and Elizabeth followed by making massive amounts of food and end the night sitting on their porch talking until the early hours of the morning.

Here is a series of photographs that I took while being apart of their wedding, with the exception of a few that I am in taken by my lovely Father and Elizabeth's brother, Ezra.

Caroline & Peter were married in Caroline's Mothers backyard followed by an epic dance party at High Noon Saloon on the summer solstice, June 21st -- a day that started out with rain but ending in being a perfect day of summer. The setting was stunning, they were married by Caroline's father next to a beautiful willow tree, followed by an amazing fish fry by Underground Catering, yard games and a party bus to take everyone to High Noon Saloon for some dessert, drinks and dancing. It was a wonderful day to be apart of, Caroline and Peter come from amazing families and have a wonderful group of friends who all traveled from all over to be witnesses for these two. Enjoy these images:

I met Mike & Kate on Skype over a year ago to get to know them as well as talk about their wedding, at the time they were both living and working in Philadelphia – Kate was working in Finance and Mike was in Fashion. After talking with these two, I felt so excited for their wedding, not only are these two sweet, beautiful and best friends but they have amazing taste. A few months after we Skyped, I met Kate & Mike in Milwaukee for their engagement session, I had so much fun wandering the city with them to capture their humor and love. Between that and their wedding, I received a letter letting me know that they had moved to New York because Mike accepted a job at Rag & Bone, a brand that I love and a very exciting job to get. After a year of change and adventure, these lovely Wisconsinites turned New Yorkers and came back on May 24^th to have a very Wisconsin wedding at Mulberry Lane Farms in Sherwood with perfect weather and a wonderful group of friends and family to help celebrate their love.

Oh how I love  road trips, I make a playlist by laying out the cassettes on the passenger seat in the order that I would like to play them and next to those you will find my road trip snacks. A few weeks ago I had a road trip to Waterloo, Iowa to photograph Travis and Lindsay's wedding - a scenic drive - between Dodgeville & Dubuque it really is beautiful, I pulled over a few times to take a photograph but it never really captured how beautiful it really is. I met Lindsay a few years back while she was living in Madison, she then moved to Iowa, met Travis and now they farm together. I was thrilled when Lindsay sent me an email asking me if I'd come over to shoot their wedding, I love when I get to work with someone I know and get to know the person they have chosen to spend their life with. A wedding in Iowa in February had me wondering what the weather would turn out like, but lucky us we woke up to a light snow fall, followed by a sunny double digit day - which felt great compared to the average -10 we have been getting this winter.

Lindsay and Travis had an 11am ceremony time followed by a wonderful long brunch at Hickory Hills Park in Laporte City, IA - enjoy!!

 

As we all know, wedding days can be stressful, especially if rain is in the forecast, but when Katie and I walked into photograph this wedding it was like walking into a day at the spa - we were greeted by the bride herself, Ashley and she walked us around the venue to show us how the day is going to go. We then followed her into the dressing room where Ashley handed us gift bags filled with snacks and water- sweetest thing ever. I often tear up once or twice through out my work day - but during Ashley and Josh's day I think I may have set a record with more like 5 or 6 - everything about this day was so beautiful, the love that there two have for each other is so real and everyone that was there to celebrate were so nice.  I hired Katie on as a second shooter and here is a collection of images that we captured from the day. 

Before today I only had a few conversations with these two and I managed to cry about 5 times throughout their wedding day. I can't describe to you how beautiful this day was and in so many ways- to start, everyone looked so beautiful, these two are ridiculously cute and they manage to have really attractive family and friends. The community that these two have is so genuine, their love for each other is so evident, their friendship is so true. Every bit of this day was perfect, to the cute little chapel they got married in, to the song Cait recorded for their first dance. These two are new owners of a coffee shop and music venue on Monroe St. called Crescendo, and you should all check it out.