Lexi // Grand Rapids Bridal Photos

Welcome to all my dreams. Bridal sessions are more popular in the south and I sure hope that is something that changes! I loved being able to just play and Lexi is all about it and just had fun with her dress and was pretty much up for anything. Being in a wedding dress is just…I don’t know, it’s a magical experience so if you can be in your dress more than once, I think thats the best idea ever!

Ryan and I had a Dr. Seuss themed wedding back in the day and my goodness, these stripes would have just made my heart explode if I had photos like this! Ahhhh I’m jealous haha

Shelby & Marc // Detroit Wedding Photographer

Shelby and Marc were one of the couples caught up in 2020 rescheduling. They decided to get married last year in a small, family only ceremony and then have the big wedding this year and I'm so glad they did. It was such a great day!

Shelby is just the most encouraging, sweet, authentic person and Marc is her perfect for her and he just beams happiness out of his face, especially with her around. Being able to problem solve and then problem solve some more, that is what marriage is about. Watching these couples go through such disappointment of last year but just turn around and plan a whole new wedding that provided its own new challenges and roll with it is really something.

Ultimately, it's just about being together and celebrating happiness. It is not about stress and clinging to disappointment in changed plans. We had so much fun and are so glad to have been part of such a beautiful day.

Marcus + Hanna // Castle Farms Wedding Photographer

Well this wedding was amazing. This was a solo wedding for Ryan but I decided to come along at the last minute to tack on a little day away together in Charlevoix and it was a Harry Potter themed wedding so I thought that would be fun and I’m so glad I did!

They were just up for anything and running around and it was just so fun! There’s a lot of gifs in this one because they just moved so much, I couldn’t resist!

I just love when people are themselves for their wedding. Ryan and I had a Dr. Seuss themed wedding back in the day. We always tell people, there are no rules or requirements in weddings other than you somehow end up married. The rest should reflect who you are and have fun because the rest is a party. I love the images of just Hanna and Marcus in this wedding a lot because it reminded me of when Ryan and I got married and I just loved being playful and having photos of just the two of us before we were around all the people. It’s fun to look back on them all these years later and be amazed at how much things have changed but just being with him and laughing is still my favorite thing to do.

Crystal + Spencer // The Barn at Monterey Valley Wedding

This was our last wedding of 2020 and what a way to end a crazy year! 

When we first met with these two, you could tell they were meant for each other. I love a good proposal story and Spencer actually made a whole Youtube video of him building this awesome tree house on their property, about how hard it was to keep it a surprise. All to use it as a spot to pop the question. It was a great insight to their appreciation for one another. 

You can probably tell that photographing them together was effortless. This is one of those portrait heavy blogs because we just couldn’t keep them out. The crazy part is that we had about an hour less than planned but still had some of the best portraits of the year! It also helped that the wedding party was a riot. Spencer and his brothers were pros when it comes to movie lines and since that is the basis of my entire sense of humor, I was having a great time being entertained by all the shenanigans. Did I mention their amazing German Shepard was a groomsman? I mean… day made just with that!

How about this venue by the way? The Barn At Monterey Valley was incredible and the whole experience there was top notch. It was such a beautiful place especially with peak fall color! Honestly it was kind of a vendor dream team. The catering (Enza’s Pizza) was probably the tastiest of the year and there was even this magical hot chocolate / coffee station from Clique coffee) that was so good. Holly still talks about it that hot chocolate. The high energy and fun that Curtis of Avison Entertainment brought was the perfect way to celebrate an amazing day. 

One more thing that made this wedding special was the slideshow Spencer made for his grandma complete with audio of unheard voicemails of his grandfather who he was really close with before he passed. Sometimes it’s hard to see all the emotions in the room and keep doing your job without crying and that was one of those times. It was just such a faith in humanity restoring moment. Honestly seeing all the relationships through the day was what we needed after such a hard year. The world is so much better in real life outside of the internet and I am so honored that we get to have a front row view of the inter-workings of people’s lifetime relationships. We have a truly awesome job.

We so appreciated everything about this wedding. We will definitely be remembering it for a long time!

Taylor + Joe // Kalamazoo Backyard Wedding Photographer

I love Joe & Taylor. They are both the kind of people that make it easy to become instantly comfortable around. They are so kind and thoughtful. I am always so happy when people like that find each other so they can preserve and grow that kindness in one another. The world has gone crazy but once you get off the internet and realize people like them are still around, it makes everything ok!

Needless to say I had an amazing time with them. When I can be this comfortable with my couples I feel like I do my best work and capture them just being them! There was so many great and happy moments in this day, I am really proud that I was able to document it the way I did.

I will say it was a little weird having only like 12 people in a big Catholic church but it still carried all the emotion of a bigger wedding in my opinion. I think this whole mini-wedding thing is so great. I hope it is still a thing even after life goes back to normal.

When we got to the reception I was kind of blown away with how it all looked! Big shout out to Lauren Koster on that front! I’ve never seen the woods look so classy! Joe and Taylor just rented this huge house in Battle Creek which I thought was so smart! It looked so nice and I bet they saved so much money over a traditional venue.

Anyway, thanks again guys. It was a special wedding for me that I will be sharing for a long time!

Mary + Nick // MSU Horticulture Gardens Wedding // Lansing Wedding Photographer

We as photographers have some weddings where everything just magically falls into place. Where the couple is super loving toward each other, the light is amazing everywhere we go which is crazy as the bulk of these were shot mid-day and the people are great and so was the venue. MSU, I came to find out, is just a photographic jackpot everywhere we went. My mind was going a mile a minute thinking about all the possibilities and the pressure to be great while I had limited time but a great couple.

I am super proud of the photos I came up with and the experience we had during the portrait process. Special thank you (times a million) to Mary’s maid of honor who just happened to be an assistant to a wedding photographer back home. She was so helpful and I couldn’t have done this without her! If I was rich I would 100% hire her to come to Michigan and be full time with us!

This wedding will be one of my favorites for a while and a memory I will definitely keep with me. It was all about family, with such great moments and the sharing of deep feelings that may not have a chance to come out if not for the joining of these two families.

Ok enough gushing, I hope you can feel some of what I felt through these images!

Andrew + Katie // Family Farm Wedding

Weddings have undoubtably been difficult this year. We’ve felt the stress and uncertainty with every one of our 2020 couples as they panicked trying to figure out the right balance of how to move forward. Not everything that is a challenge has to be bad though. If shooting weddings for 13 years has taught us anything, it’s about how to handle challenges and that you just have to keep moving forward, making the best of every change in your path.

The way that Andrew and Katie handled all the changes showed great maturity and teamwork. They were supposed to get married at Shadowland in St. Joe, MI. With so much uncertainty of what would be happening by the fall, they weren’t sure if they should just outright postpone or move forward with it or what. Eventually she told us they were going ahead with a small wedding this year with the big party at Shadowland next year. I think it was the best choice they could have made. The small wedding was now planned to be at her family farm. She talked about the halloween parties they had in the barns when they were younger and how they would play basketball on the pavement behind the barn that is now broken up with grass growing all between each piece of cracked concrete, her grandparents were married there. This place already had so many memories so adding to that is meaningful and honestly, isn’t that what weddings should be about?

Life will never be perfect, timing will never be perfect and choosing to pivot with grace when things are kind of a mess is the best thing to do. In marriage, there’s plenty of pivoting. In parenting, I feel like all we do is pivot when things are a mess and plans aren’t working out how I had them in my mind. Being able to handle that stuff together is what marriage is about. Loving each other in stress, uncertainty, disappointment. That is everything.

Katie and Andrew are just such exceptionally kind people. The way he looked at her during their first look photos will forever be stuck with me. He was in awe of her. The way they treat the people around them is just so authentic and true to who they are. I’m so glad they chose to pivot into this beautiful day and I’m so excited to shoot their big party next year.

Funny side story… I was listening to hours upon hours of true crime podcasts while working on their wedding so I’ve got all these stories of murderers and such in my mind so I found this pretty funny when I was going through and picking images for the blog. I’m glad you weren’t a murderer either Katie. You’d be a good one though because nobody would see it coming since you are so nice :)

Marta + Peter // The Homestead Wedding Photographer

This has been a weird year. I have done more small weddings for obvious reasons but I honestly love it! Marta and Peter live in NYC and with all the craziness and stress going on over there, I think the Homestead was a perfect Northern Michigan destination to get some peace and focus on what’s important, the merging of these two wonderful families!

When I arrived early I was scoping out the property and I struck up a conversation with a couple ladies, nice as can be. Turns out one of them was Peter’s mom! I feel like in another life I would have been close friends with Marta, Peter and their families. They were all such warm and caring people which of course leads to some amazing wedding photos that document all the love they carried for each other.

This was just a chill, stress free and fun wedding and I just loved it. Marta is a natural beauty with no problem being in front of the camera (as you can see) and Peter was honestly the same! When that happens, getting beautiful photos becomes effortless and you can imagine how enjoyable that was!

Pair that with an amazing venue in the Homestead and I could do no wrong! Anyway I will stop gushing but this is just one of those weddings that make 2020 OK again. Thank you Marta and Peter for inviting me into your family for a day, I hope you love these as much as we do!

Steven + Desiree // Eloise Asylum Wedding Photographer

Well well well… let’s check something off my bucket list! I have always wanted to shoot a halloween wedding in a creepy place. When I saw that this wedding was at Eloise Asylum, I was all about it. I love creepy weird stuff and don’t often get to stretch that muscle in weddings.

I had to go up 5 flights of stairs with my rolling suitcase bag and gear and I’m very out of shape after having Lucy so I died and just decided the haunt the place and shot all these photos as a ghost. I planned out a few shots the day before since I knew I didn’t have a ton of time to play around and I’m so glad I did!

We were even able to get some fall portraits as well before the ceremony which is nice for variety, you all know how much we value variety around here!

I hope I can shoot more weddings at Eloise in the future, it was just such a treat for me!

Bethany + David // Detroit Backyard Wedding Photographer

Bethany and David are our people. Laid back, fun, full of love and appreciation for everything and everyone around them. We are so happy we actually got to do this wedding with Covid threatening to take it all away. 

We’ve all been hit hard in some way or another but Bethany and David had to deal with the stress of Davids parents and family being potentially banned from traveling here from India, then Bethany’s dad had to deal with some very major health issues that threatened his life. Thankfully he pulled through it and was able to fully enjoy his daughters wedding day.

While struggles like these are obviously very stressful and not what you want since planning a wedding is hard enough sometimes, but Bethany and David stayed positive and persevered. When you go through the mud like that, it makes you appreciate what you have and this wedding was so emotional and awesome. You could just feel the immense love they had for each other and their family and friends. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up a couple times during this day!

Covid sucks, but it has forced us to make our world smaller and focus on those who are really important to us and appreciate what we’ve been blessed with. So I guess that’s my positive spin on it. 

That all being said, this wedding was such a fun time. There was so much joy and laughter all day. I love that they could let go of all the previous struggles and just enjoy the day they’ve been looking forward to for so long!

Buckle up, this is a hefty amount of images, but it was just too good to cut things out. We take our work personally and they are our memories as well, so we want to carry this whole story with us! 

Enjoy this amazing backyard wedding!

Taylor + Sam // The Homestead 1835 Wedding Photographer

Kristina + Danny // Grand Rapids Wedding Photographer

Allie + Zach // South Bend Wedding Photographer

Kate + Sam // The Kensington Hotel Wedding Photographer

// FUNNIES! //

There was such a laid back, fun vibe to this entire wedding that there are funnies all over this whole post but these were ones that stood out to me and gave me a good chuckle while editing. Sam, you are a gift the world. Your humor, your kindness, it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by us! Kate, you are such a sweet and funny human being. I felt so welcomed into your group and your joy is infectious! You guys make so much sense together.

This will haunt me for the REST OF MY LIFE. 😂

These images were shot at totally different parts of the day without any planning to coordinate. I thought it was so funny when I got to the girls photos and was like… wait… this looks familiar! haha You guys picked the right friends, you guys are all the same!

Everyone….SMILE?

This makes me laugh every time I look at it. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a hugger and generally do not like being touched. This guys face is pretty much me all of the time when people try to get me hahahaha

Caity + Justin // Perry Hotel Petoskey Wedding Photographer

Fritz + Amanda // The Lamplighter Wedding Photographer

Jes + Tim // Muskegon Country Club Wedding Photographer

Harmeet + Emily // Laketown Golf & Conference Center Wedding

Aynna + Craig // Chicago Wedding Photographer

YOU GUYS this was the hottest wedding of our career. It was 109 in Chicago that day and I’m pretty sure we were all pretty close to walking towards the light. 😂

When we got to the country club, a big storm rolled through and in less than 10 minutes it cooled down like 20 degrees. It was so nice out then! We also got this incredible sky and beautiful sunshine coming through the clouds. Then sunset happened and its as the best ever. Craig and Aynna are just such kind people and such a good team together. Basically this was all really amazing :) So glad we could be a part of it!

To kick off this giant blog post, I think this gif sums up their relationship pretty well 😂

Krista + Eric // Sonshine Wedding Barn Photographer