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've known Anna since our Junior High Days, she then moved away in High school & continued moving through college and then her and Daniel moved to Madison a few years ago from Chicago and we've always lived 2 blocks from each other. Their wedding weekend was spent in Monroe, Wi in Anna's parents yard, one of the most beautiful places in Wisconsin and I got to be a witness with a camera. Here are some images that I took during the weekend. 

I first met Joleen & Brendan back in January to discuss the wedding and take their engagement photographs, it was the week before they moved to Washington D.C and it was about -10 degrees outside, so getting a chance to take their photograph on July 5th, a perfect summer day was wonderful. I arrived to the room with Joleen sitting in her beautiful flower crown with her brother and friend Joanna and everyone was so calm, I knew it was going to be a good day. Joleen & Brendan had a small guest list, a beautiful outdoor ceremony and the best party bus I have seen in all my years of wedding photography. They had lawn games, an amazing meal by Upstairs Downstairs  followed by an epic dance party.  

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:

On June 14th I got the chance to spend the day with Adria & Chris along with Adria's daughter, their family and friends at Olbrich Gardens and it was truly a wonderful celebration filled with sunshine, good food and lovely music. I have been able to get to know these two a little bit since they decided to book me for their wedding, we had a pretty awesome engagement session in their home & letterpress studio and Adria has done some pretty amazing graphic design work for me --we've been able to connect on many things and I really enjoy these two, their story and I had such a lovely time documenting their wedding day.

A beautiful backyard wedding filled with DYI projects and home brewed beer, followed by a reception on the lake - a perfect day of not getting rained until the very end on and celebrating Matt and Amber!  

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.

An April day that called for rain, gave us sun until we were all safe inside for the dinner. On April 12th Laura and Aaron had a lovely wedding at The Overture Center to celebrate their love with their friends and family and I was so happy to be apart of that day.  

On March 1st in Horred, Sweden I documented Isak & Clara's wedding celebration. A car full of girls picked me up in the morning and drove to the next city over to go to the salon where Clara got her hair done and her girls got ready in the waiting area. When we returned to Horred we went to the apartment for Clara to put on her wedding dress that her now sister-in-law made for her and we left the place for Isak and Clara to share their first look alone, as much as I love documenting that moment, sometimes moments are meant to be shared alone and I love that I wasn't invited. It called for rain but it never came, we drove to a few locations for images before the ceremony and made it to the church with 1 minute to spare --- The ceremony was beautiful, although I didn't know what was going on since it was all in Swedish, but there were still moment where my eyes filled with tears and I found myself laughing with everyone (luckily they translated the program for me so I didn't miss the kiss). After the ceremony, Isak, Clara and myself went to a few more places for photographs but made it quickly to the reception where guest were waiting to greet them. There was an amazing dinner was made by Clara, Isak and their families and served by friends. The rest of the evening was spent listening to stories of the couple, songs their family and friends wrote and a little dance between the new married couple -- a beautiful day filled with so much laughter and quite a few tears as well -- this couple has such a beautiful community surrounding them and it was a beautiful day to be apart of.

  On my first full day in Sweden, Isak and Clara wanted to take me on a little adventure and we turned our adventure into a little engagement session - Enjoy.

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!!

 

  My last 2013 wedding blog post, and the perfect wedding to end the year on. I met Chloe a few years back when I started to freelance at ShopBop, she works there as a stylist/stylist assistance. Chloe and I have working together on a few projects and when she got engaged to Mike I was so happy when they asked me to document their day. Chloe and Mike had a small guest list (around 50 people) and even though it was pretty chilly they still got married in an adorable park in the Monroe St area- their ceremony was beautiful and the guests were cozy with blankets. After they were pronounced husband & wife the marching band started up and we all walked to the reception space, Crescendo  (a coffee shop on Monroe St that is a wonderful place to rent for small gatherings) where we at dinner and danced.  It really was a perfect way to finish my 2013 wedding season.

A rainy day for Tess and Brandon, but that didn't change anything for these amazing people (except rain boots instead of heels and indoor ceremony instead of outdoors). These two and their friends and family were the perfect group of people to deal with downpour rain for an entire day and my crazy collection of umbrellas that are in the back of my car always FINALLY came in need.  I loved everything about this day, from trying to beat the rain an move the ceremony 2 hour ahead only for us all to get rained on to the unique location - Eden, Wi on the family mushroom farm. I only had one meeting with Tess and Brandon before the big day, and that was on Skype and by the end of their wedding I had cried about 3 times - their love, the things their friends and family had to say about them as individuals and as a couple and all of the love that surrounds them. It was a beautiful rainy day.

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. 

Vanessa & Brad were married at the Neenah Presbyterian Church, a beautiful church that has never done a wedding in their outdoor courtyard until September 21st -  a chilly fall day but a beautiful service. It was a wonderful day to document - enjoy!

You may remember Marcie & Bill from my blog last September, they were married in late September with a small group of people on a perfect fall day. A year later they have a beautiful baby boy names Jack and they celebrated their marriage and family at Quivey's Grove . I was so happy I was able to document both events and to get a change to meet their son. It was a perfect night filled with wonderful food, friends from all over the country and lovely tunes from Hometown Sweethearts (if you are planning a wedding and want a live band, I strongly encourage you to contact these gentlemen) - Enjoy!

Everything about this wedding was perfect, from Megan's dress (with pockets) to the beautiful venue in Minneapolis (Nicollet Island Pavilion). Megan and John now live in Hawaii and came back to the Midwest to celebrate with their friends and family, it was a wonderful ceremony, with written letters to each other that made everyone cry, to vows from The Simpsons for some comic relief. It was a great day to be apart of, filled with beautiful people to photograph.

I photographed a wedding a few years back that these lovely two attended, and during the reception I could not help but photograph these two on the dance floor - they we so happy, such good dancers and so in love. I remember going up to the bride, pointing them out and telling her when those two get engaged to send them my way because I want to document that day. So when Dick gave me a call and told me that they would like to have me photograph their wedding, I was pretty excited. They got married in Marshfield, WI at in Rosemary's parents backyard, followed by champagne brunch, then later we all got together for a pig roast and dancing.

Sun out, wind blowing and pretty people to document all day. Katie and Trent's wedding was such a beautiful day and at one of the prettiest venues I have been to in Wisconsin, Whistling Straits in Sheboygan. Katie and Trent are some friends of mine and when they got engaged and I got a text from Katie asking me to photograph the wedding, I squealed with excitement, for I knew this was going to be in love with every outfit and detail of the day -and I was right. Katie's dress had pockets, her hair was perfect, and their wedding party was a blast to work with. I am so happy for these two!