Weddings take a lot of work.   A    l o t .  Especially when it takes place at a family member’s home and there’s more than an acre of land – or, say, 70 acres.

Leah + Steve, with the help of many, many hands of family, friends, and neighbors poured their heart, sweat and energy into preparing the home where Leah grew up, and maintaining the apple orchard and surrounding land for their wedding. They cleaned out the barn, created an arch out of reclaimed wood from a barn down the road, she and her mother picked raspberries back when they were ripe and canned them, saving them for the guests who would jump on a school bus — after arriving from all over the country — and step foot onto the land where Leah used to run and play. And these are only a few of the projects that were involved in preparing for this day. :) Like I said, weddings take a lot of work. You guys know already know that. But for reeaaal, this was worth it.

Days like this are some of our absolute favorite. Meaningful, backyard, handmade, homemade, homegrown, relaxed goodness. Now go ahead, enjoy some of what we experienced, will you?

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Fall weddings are great, especially when the weather is inexplicably warmer than anyone would imagine it to be! And what’s not to love about pumpkins, apples, leaves and fall colors?

One of my favorite parts of Will and Leah’s day was their group father/daughter dance. As a dad, it brought tears to my eyes seeing all the dads out their with their little girls, and thinking of my little Willow and dancing with her someday. (Sorry if that is too much emotion for you who don’t have daughters of your own, but I couldn’t keep myself from sharing that thought/memory.) :)

Will and Leah planned a beautiful Stillwater-area wedding and had fall details sprinkled throughout their day- here are a few photos from their wedding!

Vendors and Venues:
Reception: Withrow Ballroom
Cake: Pastry Chef Rachel

You might remember the century farm in some of these photos from Brian + Kristy’s engagement session. While it rained on that day, it was totally different on their very sunny October wedding day and was a great place for  photos! Here are a few from their day:

We’re off to shoot a wedding this afternoon, but we really wanted to get a post up before the weekend!

Pasquale + Chessie’s wedding ceremony took place at Allen Centennial Gardens, but we covered much more ground than just that part of Madison.  The couple and their party were up for traveling around the city, so that’s exactly what we did. :) Three things we absolutely loved about this wedding: the most expressive bride/groom we’ve photographed for the first look, perfect lighting, and dads who dance like crazy. Oh, and the most adorable grandpa and grandma!

Enjoy!

We were so excited to photograph another Prairie du Chien wedding – the drive along the Mississippi makes our trip down there so, so enjoyable.  It’s sort of nostalgic for us, because we think it’s the closest scenery to what could compare to the Columbia River Gorge in Portland, where we used to live (on a massively smaller scale).

The day was filled with so many wonderful elements: gorgeous light, Colleen got ready in her childhood elementary school, the totally chill wedding party, a relaxing time in between the ceremony on reception — way out beyond the corn fields at Dan’s cabin, our favorite venue in Prairie du Chien (the Dousman House), amazing food, cheesecake, amazing food.  Seriously, we have eaten a lot of great food at weddings, but Colleen’s family owns a catering business and I think they brought out all the best food they could think of.  All of it!

Dan and Colleen, we’re so glad you chose us to photograph your wedding – it was an honor. :) Here are just a few images – enjoy!

Vendors and Venues

Ceremony: St Gabriel’s Catholic Church (Second oldest church in Wisconsin)
Reception: Dousman House
Catering: Jones’ Black Angus