LeeAnn + Justin: A Chic Downtown Madison Wedding

These two wanted a simple and beautiful wedding and then a kickass party, and they definitely had both!

LeeAnn + Justin met on Hinge in the fall of 2021. From everything they said, it was one of those first dates you just never want to end. In 2023, Justin took a year to travel nurse. It was challenging to be apart for that long but it helped them up their communication game (a must for any successful relationship) and also helped them see how important they are to each other’s happiness. After getting engaged in August 2024, they planned this wedding day (which was a joy to attend) for their friends and family, and if you looked at either of their faces at any point during the wedding day, you could see how ludicrously in-love they are. Their honeymoon will be spent packing, as they prepare to head off on their next adventure (a cross-country move) together!

The Rigby feels like it was meant exactly for their wedding celebration too, and the mini dance party that broke out after the formal dances was epic! We left the wedding feeling awesomely energized and so happy to have been able to celebrate with LeeAnn + Justin!

Help me wish these two not only a BIG congrats, but also wish them good luck on their next adventure!

-Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony Venue: Monona Terrace

Reception Venue: The Rigby

DJ/Band: Greg at Kuhl Entertainment

Engagement Ring: TQ Diamonds

Bridal Gown: Bon Bon Belle

Groom Suit: Monetti Tailoring

Hair & Makeup: Melissa Ann Artistry + co.

Florals: White Fence Flower Company

Desserts: Greenbush Bakery

Wedding Coordinator: Becky Kolb (Bride’s Best Friend’s Sister)

 
 

Katie + Cody: A Magical Wedding in Lake Kegonsa State Park

Katie + Cody’s wedding day was as enchanting as the two of them

Okay listen, I’m a crier. I cry when I’m sad, I cry when I’m mad, I cry when I’m frustrated, but more important than all of those, I cry when I’m happy. I was in excellent company on Katie + Cody’s wedding day, because there were very few dry eyes in the park, including Cody + Katie themselves! There were huge smiles and tears of joy nearly every time I looked around, and it was so clear how much these two adore each other, and how happy their friends and family are for them!

The wedding day itself could not have been prettier, with gorgeous sunny weather, beautiful surroundings in the form of the forests of Lake Kegonsa State Park, and tasty food and desserts and drinks for everyone! It was a perfect wedding! Please help me wish Katie + Cody a BIG congratulations, and enjoy the photos of this sweet celebration of love!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Lake Kegonsa State Park

Desserts: Bloom Bakeshop

Catering: Beef Butter BBQ

 
 

Rebecca + Alisha's Surprise Proposal at Olbrich Gardens

Rebecca surprised Alisha with a proposal at the couple’s favorite spot in olbrich gardens

Alisha may have suspected something was up, but that didn’t make the moment any less beautiful or emotional. Rebecca set up her camera against a rock to take a picture of the two of them kissing under the giant oak tree, as they have many times before, but just as they were done kissing, Alisha got down on one knee to ask Alisha to marry her (spoiler alert: Alisha said yes)!

We then proceeded to meander about Olbrich gardens, and I got to photograph these two amazing humans being deeply in love (have you ever seen such big smiles?!). It was a beautiful and tender day, and a BIG congratulations to Alisha + Rebecca on their engagement! Thanks for letting me capture this special moment!

—Sam

 
 

Olivia's Maternity Photos at Governor's Island

Olivia + Jim are expecting their little one later this month

And Olivia wanted to capture the maternity photos before their son arrives! You might remember Olivia from such weddings as the one pictured here (one of my favorite weddings of all time!) but who you probably haven’t met before is Bumpy, Olvia + Jim’s Cairn terrier fur child, who joined us for some Bumpy + The Bump maternity photos midway through our session. We got to explore all over Governor’s Island for these photos, and what an absolutely gorgeous location for maternity portraits! Enjoy these sweet, once-in-a-lifetime images of Olivia and The Bump, and congrats to Olivia + Jim on expanding their little family!

—Sam

 
 

Michelle + James: A Romantic Spring Wedding at Olbrich Gardens

A queer love story for the ages

Michelle + James met in college prior to James’ transition and were friends for years before each realized they had feelings for the other, or that they were even queer (a tale as old as time in the queer community, amiright?) but eventually they both figured it out and the world is better for it! From a magical trip on a dinner train at a northern Wisconsin resort in the middle of a blizzard, to James’ enlisting Michelle’s help to plan what turned out to be the engagement proposal (surprise!), these two have been having adventures and being adorably in love for 12 years now!

Their wedding day was an unseasonably warm & sunny late April day and we were lucky enough to have magnolias in bloom at Olbrich just in time for couples portraits! The day was a beautiful mix of tradition and whimsy, and Michelle + James were able to celebrate their commitment to one another with so many friends & family members cheering them on! Their friends even put together a flash mob dance for the song Apt. by Bruno Mars & Rose´!

It was a joy to celebrate with Michelle + James! Help me wish them a big congratulations and enjoy the photos of their beautiful wedding day!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Olbrich Gardens

Officiant: Rob Anderson, Oso In Love Events

Hair & Makeup: Studio Z

Wedding & Engagement Rings: Jewelers Workshop

Bridal Gown: Veras House of Bridals

Groom Tux: Indochino

DJ: DJ Aaron Womack with Kuhl Entertainment

Florist: Daffodil*Parker

Desserts: Batch Bakehouse

Catering: Lao Laan-Xang

Wedding Coordinator: Rob Anderson, Oso In Love Events

Videographer: Ella Bella Productions

 
 

Every New Beginning...

…Comes from some other beginning’s end

This is a year of big beginnings and big endings for me, and I have so many feelings about it that it’s hard to hold them all. While the nation may be in a state of turmoil (okay, there’s no maybe about it), my personal life is currently going about as well as maybe it ever has. This year is shaping up to be my best photography year ever, despite being only 4 months in. I’ve seen big growth in my boudoir + empowerment brand, Reverence Intimate Portraits. I hosted my first ever Queer Body Image Bootcamp (also under the Reverence Intimate Portraits brand). I had my work up in the Art + Lit Lab (a Madison-based art gallery) and did my first ever artist talkback event with my friend and creative collaborator, Sami Schalk. It’s been a year of personal and professional growth like I’ve never seen, and that’s led me to make the exciting (and sort of terrifying) leap of quitting my day job (after 23 years of doing both day job and photography) to focus my time and energy entirely on photography and body image education!

If I’m being honest, I never thought this would be possible. I don’t mean that in a particularly pessimistic way, it’s just that I’m a realist and up until relatively recently, I hadn’t seen any evidence that such a thing was eventually going to come to fruition. I thought I’d continue to hold down a day job as a Product Manager and do photography until my body gave out and I had to give up photography, or until I retired from both things. So the deep joy and gratitude I’m feeling right now about this new beginning is overwhelming.

It’s bittersweet though. In early 2024, I made a decision to change day job companies after being with my last company for 10+ years, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, that was a scary move in and of itself, and now here I am, just over a year later, making an even bigger leap. I love the folks I work with at the new company, I just can’t keep doing both because my body won’t stand for it anymore. So as I say goodbye to one wonderful opportunity, and the end of an era, I’m saying hello to this big and bold new beginning.

To commemorate the decision to go full-time with photography this year, I got a new tattoo from the best tattoo artist a girl could ask for, Mar Gosselaar! I talked with them about my vision, which was a half sleeve inspired by The Empress tarot archetype (which symbolizes abundance, creativity, intuition, and growth) and they fully brought that vision to life. The Empress seems like the perfect representation of what I’m calling into my life this year, and where I want my path pointed. We’re still working on the color, and that’s fitting because this new beginning is still a work in progress, as am I.

I am filled with gratitude for all of our clients, and the folks who have been so supportive of us over the years. I cannot wait to be able to serve our community even more, and thank you thank you thank you for making this possible!

—Sam

Erin + Ingrid: 10 Years of Making the World Better Together

Erin + Ingrid celebrated their 10 year anniversary surrounded by friends and family from across the globe

These two have had some amazing adventures both together and separately in the last 10 years! They met and eloped in 2015, the year same-sex marriage was legalized, and have spent a significant amount of their decade-long marriage abroad, working in Russia, the Ukraine, and other places along the way! After 10 years together, they decided that they wanted to have a belated wedding reception to celebrate their union with friends and family and adorable puppy Butter (now more than ever it’s important to celebrate queer joy and queer love) and so the idea was born to host the reception in their adopted hometown of Madison, WI!

The morning of the reception, we met at the Dane County Farmer’s Market to take photos with the couple’s close friends and so that folks from out of town could enjoy the farmer’s market (yay Stella’s hot spicy cheese bread!).

The reception itself was held later in the day at the gorgeous Goodman Community Center Iron Works building, and featured delicious all-vegetarian food and a picture-focused activity for guests to find pictures of themselves on the cocktail tables and write good wishes to the couples on the backs before placing the photos in a photo album (I LOVE this activity in place of a guest book!). The tunes were great (as they always are with Kuhl Entertainment) and there was so much joy and love to go around it made me a little weepy! (I’m a crier, what can I say?)

Enjoy the photos of this fun and meaningful 10 year anniversary wedding celebration, and help me wish Erin + Ingrid a great big happy anniversary!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Goodman Community Center, Ironworks Building

DJ: Kuhl Entertainment (Greg & Ace)

Catering: Goodman Community Center

 
 

Cat-Themed Family Portraits at the Studio

Aisa got to pick the theme of the family photos this year, and nothing would do but a cat theme!

And I love that her parents, Lindsey + Ben, leaned in! I really want to see more family photos where families are just cool being their weird, fun, and maybe cat-loving, selves! Enjoy these sweet & fun family photos taken at the studio!

—Sam

 
 

Evan's Bar Mitzvah Celebration!

Evan’s bar mitzvah was both a beautiful coming of age celebration and an epic party!

I love photographing B’nai Mitzvahs and celebrating with young folks as they come into their own as a full member of their community! Plus if you’ve never seen 13-15 year olds partying harder than you ever have in your entire life, it’s a treat, and so fun to be among all that energy!

Evan’s Mitzvah project (a community service or social action project undertaken by a Jewish child celebrating their Bar/Bat Mitzvah, allowing them to express their Jewish values by making a positive impact on their community at large) was focused helping people experiencing housing and/or food insecurity secure food for their beloved pets. How cool is that?! As a fellow animal lover and vegetarian, I was absolutely inspired and love seeing young adults look for ways to engage like this!

After the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, held at Temple Beth El in Madison, the party got underway at the Memorial Union South, and speaking of energy, WOW did Vibe Entertainment rock the house! They literally had hype dancers (not that the kids needed much help in the energy department)! And to top the evening off, Bucky Badger came to party as well!

Enjoy the photos of this amazing celebration of youn adulthood and community, and help me wish Evan and his family a big congratulations!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make this important celebration awesome!

Temple: Temple Beth El

Reception Venue: Memorial Union South

DJ: Vibe Entertainment

Florist: daffodil*parker

 
 

Em + Sam: A Modern Wedding Celebration at Goodman Community Center

Em + Sam had a beautiful modern one year anniversary wedding celebration!

I’m not much of a “fate” sort of person, that is until I hear a meet-cute story like Emily + Sam’s! These two both went to UW - Eau Claire at the same time (same dorm even!) but never crossed paths. Flash forward to a Live on King Street concert many years ago, and the person standing in front of Sam at the concert had a GIANT bug land on them, and Sam snapped a pic of the giant bug (cuz giant bug) but didn’t think much of it until sometime later when he was swiping on Tinder, and a friend found someone who seemed like they’d be a good match based on interests, music taste, etc., and it turns out that Sam recognized Emily as a person who had been in the background of the giant bug photo from the concert (the bug had landed on one of Emily’s friends as it turned out) so Sam swiped right, and the rest is history!

While the wedding was originally planned for 2024, life got wild and it ended up getting rescheduled to 2025, but Em + Sam didn’t want to wait to be married, so they got married officially in March of 2024, and then planned this epic celebration for their friends and family for their one year anniversary!

The wedding celebration day was so fun, and filled with so many awesome details, like an album wall (great taste in music is right!), a tiny 3-tiered tower of cheese to use in place of cake for Emily’s part of the cake cutting (she doesn’t care much for cake, but what red-blooded Wisconsinite doesn’t like cheese?), to the live band (Em’s dad’s band, Sage!) that played during the reception! It was a joyful, modern, and laid back wedding day that rocked!

Help me wish Sam + Emily a BIG congrats, and enjoy the photos!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Goodman Community Center Brass Works Building

Officiant: Jeanie Weiss (friend)

Hair & Makeup: AB Onsite Beauty

Bridal Gown: David’s Bridal

Band: Sage

Florist: My Cotton Branch

Desserts: Susie Danielsen

Catering: Goodman Community Center

Wedding Coordinator: Dave Tatro with Goodman Community Center

 
 

Naomi + Brian: A Micro Wedding in Downtown Madison

These two had a beautiful and intimate micro wedding at the capitol building

And I’ve rarely seen two people happier to be getting married! Their excitement was contagious, and their guests (as well as the officiant and I) were so happy to be celebrating with them! It was also Brian’s birthday, which made the day even more special. :) The couple had a small, intimate ceremony on the 3rd floor of the Capitol Building and then headed to Eno Vino Downtown to celebrate! They shared super sweet stories about their early dating years (with mementos from that time to pass around to guests) and their small group of loved ones toasted to their happiness as the sun set over the Capitol Building! It was a wonderful and heartfelt celebration! Help me wish these two a BIG congratulations (and also wish Brian a happy belated birthday)!

—Sam

Here are the vendors that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony Venue: Wisconsin State Capitol Building

Reception Venue: Eno Vino Downtown

Officiant: Judge Paul B. Higginbotham

Wedding Jewelry: Handmade by the Groom (including the Bride’s necklace & earrings)