Katie and Marc are good people. Simply sweet, appreciative, generous and caring. It was obvious — by the huge number of close friends and family surrounding these two on their wedding day — just how much people adore them.  I loved all their rustic DIY details so much; they completely transformed their venue! The day was beautiful and light-hearted … just like their fun and nice wedding party, friends, and family. And, just like Katie and Marc.

I was pretty excited about the photo locations … so charming, unique and varied.

I’ll end with this super blurry shot of myself with Katie and Marc. I was originally going to throw this shot away, but I’m actually loving the effect. Besides, you’d rather not see an in-focus shot of me at the end of a long wedding day :)  Thank you a ton, Katie and Marc! You are wonderful people and I loved being part of your day.

This session was too much awesome.  I need a new adjective because ‘awesome’ just doesn’t do justice to who Maggie and David are as people. They are down-to-earth, plain nice, easy to talk to, intelligent, up for anything (with their summer camp Can Do attitudes) and crazy about each other for sure. They are my kind of client and my kind of people. It was really fun to spend the evening wandering around the summer camp where they met and began dating 7 years ago. It rained hard all day (including on the drive to and from Mukwonago), but not a drop fell on us during the session … which was awesome :)

To top off the evening, Maggie and David treated me to dinner and an ENTIRE PIE (blueberry apple) at the Elegant Farmer. This pie was baked in a paper bag and I am not kidding you — it’s the best thing I have ever tasted. No hyperbole. It’s so hard to sit at my computer today and not return to the kitchen hourly to eat another slice.

Thank you so much, Maggie and David! I cannot wait for your late July ‘Do What You Want’ themed wedding.

I’m so excited to share this wedding with you! Christine and Brian are both outgoing, fun, and … from Wisconsin. Although they’ve lived all over the country these past few years, they really wanted to celebrate their marriage in a very Wisco fashion. Beer, brats, cheese curds, a barn and tons of cows — they couldn’t have done any better. As if the WI theme weren’t enough, Christine and Brian incorporated several traditional Persian and Jewish traditions all throughout the day — the Ketubah, glass breaking, honey finger dipping, sugar rubbing, a knife dance, and the hora. There is way too much to mention in one little blog post, but let me just say it was a whirlwind and fascinating event to witness/capture as a photographer … and I imagine even more amazing to witness as a guest.

I’m no stranger to shooting at O’Brien Barn, but I love how each couple makes the place uniquely their own. Christine and Brian definitely did an amazing job with this. In addition to tons of DIY and Etsy details, some local vendors who helped make everything possible include: Cherry Blossom Events (Sarah is so awesome. Great to work with, good energy, and highly recommended!), State Street Brats, Carl’s Cakes, Jukebox Bandstand (always awesome), Event Essentials, and Beauty Blossoms.

Thank you so much, Christine and Brian! Such an amazing and gorgeous wedding to capture.

PS — A special thank you to my husband and second shooter, Troy. He did a great job capturing some unique elements with hardly any training at all :)

I drove away from this session thinking, “dear LORD, they probably think I am absolutely crazy; please don’t let them think I’m absolutely crazy.” I always get a little giddy to shoot an engagement session but this time it was full force. Maybe it was the bottled-up energy I had after my 4.5 hour drive to Chicago … or maybe it was the great weather. Probably it was Jennie and Dave’s first location, which looked like enchanted fairy dust was sprinkled on the trees … creating a magical light. Then add to that the color of Lake Michigan under a suddenly overcast sky. But for real, I think it was how much Jennie and Dave freaking adore each other. All of this amounted to me being a huge dork behind the camera.

I knew Jennie was a sweetheart immediately because she’d send me emails like, “I’m the lucky girl who gets to marry Dave” and, “I want our engagement session to be in Chicago because although Madison is my home, Chicago is OUR home.” How endearing is that? Dave is a super talented web designer and his entire face lights up around Jennie. Every single time he looked at her he had the hugest smile. It was a joy to watch them interact, to say the least.

And here I was telling Jennie and Dave how I need to stop writing/rambling so much on my blog…

Haha :)

Favorite moment of the evening? One minute I’m thinking, “Jennie is the sweetest, meekest girl ever.” And the next minute she’s belting out the lyrics to a Kanye West song. Yessssssss; perfect :)

I enjoyed every minute of this wedding. Not only are Megan and Brent awesome individuals … they are awesome together. They are just really nice, unfussy, and go-with-the-flow. Their barn wedding was an absolute reflection of that and everyone I talked to was having an amazing time.

Megan and Brent didn’t skip a detail either. O’Brien Barn was decked out in the coolest DIY rustic details. I loved their style and working with them was as good as it gets.

Wasn’t about to leave without a photo of myself with Megan and Brent. I simply adore them.

A huge congrats, Megan and Brent! Such an honor to spend your wedding day with you!

Megan and Brent incorporated several of my most favorite vendors into their wedding, including: Jennyface on makeup, daffodil*parker on flowers, and of course the O’Brien Barn as ceremony and reception venue.