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 spent an afternoon at the Arboretum with these lovely two back when we still had a little fall color left. A few weeks before that we met for coffee to talk about their wedding which will be happening this coming summer and I am so happy I get to be there and have these two in front of my camera once again. Congratulations to Ashley and Adrian, you guys are the best and I’m grateful to get to work with you.

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.

Met up with this lovely crew in Milwaukee while the leaves were perfect. We all took a walk in a beautiful park, skipped a few rocks in our midwest ocean aka, Lake Michigan and had a really nice time.

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.

Alexandra reached out in August to tell me about their wedding they were planning for October - at the time, Moose and Alexandra were living in New York, planning a wedding in Milwaukee and then decided soon after the wedding, they would moved to Austin, TX - needless to say, it’s been a last few months for the two of them. I wanted to lay that all out there to say, it would have been easy to feel overwhelmed and pretty stressed the days leading up to and the day of their wedding but all I saw were smiles, excitement and just pure joy when I was with them - this truly was a joyous day filled with so many friends and family who all traveled to be there to witness these two exchange vows at their interfaith ceremony where a Catholic Priest and an Imam worked together to create such a special ceremony. Alex and Moose, congratulations on your marriage, thank you for inviting me to document and to witness your wedding.

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 am honestly overwhelmed by what to write about this wedding day and I wish I could just write nothing and let the images speak for themselves but you can’t be apart of a day like this one and not comment on how wonderful it was. My heart was full this whole day and I am so grateful to have been apart of Simon and Leah’s wedding day. I cried so hard at so many parts, photographing through a foggy viewfinder because everything was just too good.

Simon and Leah, I am so happy for the two of you, I want to thank you for having me there, trusting me with capturing these moments for you and I am grateful to know you both. 

I had a wonderful second shooter on this day, Romulo Ueda.

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.

I’ve known Olivia for quite some time now and she has been in front of my camera before so when she reached out to me after her and Brian got engaged I was so happy she wanted me to photograph this day for them. We met up last fall for an engagement session and that was when I first got to meet Brian and watch these two together and my goodness, does Brian make Olivia laugh, they are just so happy together and I loved documenting it. On their wedding day I got to meet Brian’s daughter, Aubrey and watch the three of them together - is was honestly my favorite part of the day, catching moments of Aubrey with her dad and Aubrey with Olivia - the inside jokes, the friendship and the family - it was just the best. Plus, this venue, Firehouse Chicago was such a great venue.

Jenn Marie Photography was my second photographer for this wedding

A few weeks ago I captured an evening with Megan and Andy - they had a beer in their home, picked tomatoes from their garden, sat on their patio that they built together this summer and after that, they took me to the bench where they met, which is just a block away from their home and we then proceeded to get ice cream and end out evening at Tenney Park to watch the sunset. I would call this a perfect Madison evening.

I first met Annie and Robert last summer at a wedding I was photographing - I remember thinking “when those two get married, I want to photograph it” - so when these two contacted me after Robert proposed, I had to make it happen even though it would mean shooting two weddings in 1 weekend - I knew their wedding day was going to be special. My goodness, I was not wrong - I am so grateful I got to witness Annie’s father seeing her for the first time, Annie and Robert seeing each other for the first time on their wedding day, exchange letters to each other, exchange vows, have a reunion of friends and family and dance the night away - It’s no secret that I love my job and yes, shooting two weddings in 1 weekend was hard but it was 100% worth it to be apart of this day with Annie and Robert.

My dear friend Colin Crowley second shot with me on this day, thank you Colin!

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!

I have a hard time putting my sessions into words - it’s not that I have nothing to say its more that I have too much to say and I don’t know how to put it into a blog or instagram post. I’ve known the Langs for several years now, I first heard about them after seeing some photographs they took for a mutual friend and I felt we would be kindred spirits solely based on their photography and when I finally had the chance to meet them I knew that I was correct. I’m so grateful to know Sarah and Eric and when Elsie came into the world I loved spending time with her as well. I’ve been photographing this family of 3 since Elsie was a baby and it’s honestly one of my favorite things to photograph - a family throughout the years, watching their routine change as their family changes - from sleepy mornings making coffee to evenings picking herbs for dinner and walking to get ice cream by the lake. Here is my latest session with them, about a month ago I came over to their house in the evening and tried to stay out of the way and witness their family in action.

When Jeff and Eliza started to message me about their wedding last year I had just been camping up in Minocqua/Boulder Junction area for the first time ever and I fell in love with that area, I want to spend all my summers there so when these two told me they were getting married and at old boys camp her family owns up in Minocqua I was so excited.

When their wedding day showed up even the rain didn’t ruin this wonderful day and this magical place or anyones mood. I’m honestly getting tears in my eyes reliving this day right now and I wish I could express how special it was to be apart of this day, to meet all of these people, to watch the rain clouds be pushed away by sunshine the more the guests showed up for their ceremony - the moment Eliza’s amazing 100 year old Grandmother showed up and watching her face as she saw all of her family members in one place, I mean seriously, what and amazing thing to witness and document! It’s no secret I love my job and it’s couples and families like this who reassure me that I am doing what I am meant to do. I am so beyond grateful that Eliza and Jeff found my work and trusted me to document their wedding day.

The day Megan and Josh got married it was really hot, and I knew that the places I scouted out for their photos would be too uncomfortable for them to stand and snuggle for photographs so I changed the plan because a wedding day is about the couple getting married and enjoying all of the moments throughout the day and I’m there to document it. So we did the first look inside the hotel, I told Megan and Josh the second they are uncomfortable doing photos outside to let me know and we will duck in for a glass of wine somewhere - we ended up at Merci on the Square which is fitting since Josh is French and many of his family members were traveling from there for the wedding. So yes, it was hot but this day was so good and I had such a wonderful time photographing it plus Megan’s dress had pockets so she wins.

Venue: Madison Children’s Museum

Planner: Copper Feather Events

DJ: Sound by Design

Catering: Blue Plate

Bar Services: Roman Candle

Desserts: Bloom

I went to high school as well as worked as a lifeguard with Beth so when she reached out letting me know her family was going to be in my city for a wedding and wanted to schedule a session, I was so excited! I was excited to catch up with her, meet her (wonderful) husband and their adorable son. We met up on a hot Friday morning in July to capture their family being adorable.

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.