Terri + Megan: An Intimate and Joyful Queer Wedding Celebration

Believe it or not, These two had not one but two failed proposal attempts

Megan (they/them) had planned to propose to Terri (she/her) on a gorgeous waterfall hike in Iceland, but COVID ruined those plans, and then less than two months later, Terri planned to propose to Megan at Disney World, but plans were thwarted by a hurricane! After all the plans gone awry, they both proposed to each other sweetly tucked away in their house and then began work on planning a small, intimate celebration in September!

Their wedding day was filled with personal touches, most importantly a beautiful memorial to family members who have passed, including Megan’s brother, and Terri’s father. Other personal touches include their dogs, Lars and Apollo walking each of them down the aisle. Megan gave Terri a beautiful gold bracelet that contained a locket with pictures of Terri’s dad. Terri gave Megan gorgeous custom cufflinks with their various furry friends’ faces. Megan made Terri’s bouquet and their own boutonniere out of pages from their favorite book! (The book is House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, which is one of my favorite books also!) Megan’s dad wore a tie Megan colored for them back in 1994 and he also made the s’more flavored wedding cake (which was delicious)! Megan + Terri had custom cocktails made for the celebration, and for their wedding favors? They hand-picked different books for each of their guests and wrote a person inscription in all of them.

It was a beautiful and deeply personal wedding day with so much love, laughter, and joy. I am so, so grateful to have been able to celebrate with these two and their family and closest friends! Help me with them a big congratulations!

—Sam

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

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Air BnB

Hair Stylist: Union Hair Parlor

Bridal Jumpsuit: Strike Bridal Bar

Mx. Suit: Bindle & Keep

Custom Cocktails: Mint Mark

Haylee + Julia: A Chic Modern Wedding at Barnwood Events

These two had a beautiful wedding day!

It was a gorgeous day (absolutely perfect weather) for an equally gorgeous wedding celebration for Julia + Haylee. The wedding was chill and simultaneously chic, and I am so excited to share these photos with you all! I’m even more excited and honored to have been able to celebrate with these two. Help me wish them a big congratulations!

—Sam

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

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Barnwood Events

Catering: Buck & Honey’s

Paige + Aaron: A Wedding Celebration with a Theme of "Finally"

Paige + Aaron had a small and romantic celebration with their closest family

And they laughingly joked that the theme of their wedding is “Finally”, because they’ve been together for 10 years, after meeting in high school Spanish class.

These two are so sweet and smiley (and like me, apparently they both cry quite a bit at weddings) and it was an amazingly lovely wedding day!

Help me with them a big congratulations and enjoy the photos!

—Sam

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

Ceremony Venue: Rock County Courthouse

Portraits Venue: Rotary Botanical Gardens

Officiant: Jodi Timmerman

Jewelry: Kessler’s Diamonds

Bridal Gown: David’s Bridal

Groom Tux: Men’s Wearhouse

Florist: Floral Expressions

Drea + Doug: A Pokemon-Themed Wedding at the Bur Oak

Drea + Doug had a perfect mix of fancy and laid back for their wedding day!

With lots of DIY touches and fun ideas (like the Table Dash, which was a blast), as well as all the Pokemon references you never knew you needed from a wedding, these two put together an amazing shindig!

After 10 years together, they wanted their celebration to be distinctly them, and for their closest friends and family to be able to party with them in style. The Bur Oak was a wonderful backdrop for their big day, and I loved seeing all the laughing and shenanigans (that’s how you know it’s good party)!

Help me wish these two a great big congratulations, and I am so excited I got to celebrate with these two!

—Sam

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

Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Bur Oak

Catering: Beef Butter BBQ

Wedding Coordinator: Ashley with The Bur Oak

Marshall + Francesca: A Lovely Outdoor Wedding Day 3.0

Marshall + Francesca had not one, not two, but three wedding celebrations!

They first got married in February 2023 (you may remember them from such weddings as this one), but also had a gorgeous formal wedding celebration in England in March 2023 so that Francesca’s family in the UK could celebrate with them. Finally, wedding day 3.0 came about in August of 2023 which was meant to be the big celebration with their friends on this side of the ocean!

It was a gorgeous day for wedding 3.0, and the Barnwood Events venue is stunning this time of year (more on that in another blog post, but I want to mention that Barnwood Events is the most accessible venue I’ve ever shot in), and folks were clearly so happy to be celebrating with these two! There were smiles all around, and so much laughing, and even heat and mosquitoes couldn’t keep folks from feeling so much joy for Marshall + Francesca!

After dinner and speeches, we snuck out for a little golden hour light, and wow did the sunlight and the venue grounds deliver some perfect scenes for photos!

Afterward, it was all about the dancing, as you’ll see in the photos. ;)

Help me wish these two a BIG congrats to Marshall + Francesca, and also let’s congratulate them on not having to plan anymore weddings! (Though they’re very good at it!)

—Sam

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

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Barnwood Events

Officiant: Casey Varecka (friend of the couple)

DJ: Isthmus DJs

Florist: daffodil*parker

Wedding Cake: The Baked Lab

Catering and Non-Cake Desserts: Ugly Apple

Sam + Joe: Wedding 2.0 in the Mountains of Colorado

Sam + Joe celebrated their 3 year anniversary with a vow renewal in Boulder, COlorado

Boulder is an incredibly important part of Sam + Joe’s story; It’s where they first said “I love you” to one another. These two had originally planned to get married in Boulder in 2020, but, as we all know, 2020 disrupted a lot of wedding plans. They opted instead for an outdoor micro wedding in Madison (see the pics here) that was lovely, but kept dreaming of a celebration in Boulder, and in 2023, decided to make it a reality!

They started the celebration on Thursday at Rayback Collective, which is a magical place with food trucks, yard games, beautiful and interesting murals, and tasty beverages! We stopped back there on the day of the wedding 2.0/vow renewal celebration to take photos at one of my favorite geometric murals ever.

Next up was the “rehearsal dinner” on Friday evening at the Rio Grande Restaurant in downtown Boulder, where the wedding guests had tasty Mexican food and desserts and the kiddos learned how to make origami frogs for fun!

The wedding day 2.0 itself was absolutely gorgeous. There was some threat of rain, but the skies cleared just in time for photos, and Saturday was one of the brightest (and hottest!) days we spent in Boulder. Sam, Joe, and I made our way up the Flatirons to take photos in the mountains just before the vow renewal ceremony, then headed down to the lawn of Chautauqua Park for the main event. My son, Ben, even helped second shoot the wedding ceremony with me, which was an awesome first!

The vow renewal ceremony was short and sweet, and Sam + Joe repeated their original wedding vows from 2020, but they hit even harder this time around, given the last few years of trials that Sam + Joe have gone through since wedding day 1.0.

Following the ceremony, Sam, Joe, and Ben and I headed to a few spots around Boulder to take photos of the happy couple, and then onto the reception, at West End Tavern for BBQ (delicious cauliflower steaks for the vegetarians among us) and very fancy drinks. There were tender speeches, dancing, and cake as the sun set around us.

It was such a beautiful celebration of love, care, and tenderness, and I am so honored to have been able to celebrate love with these two not once, but twice!

Help me wish them a BIG congrats on their 3rd anniversary!

—Sam

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

Ceremony Venue: Chautauqua Park (Boulder, CO)

Reception Venue: West End Tavern (Boulder, CO)

Officiant: Maid of Honor and Best Man

Bridal Gown: Torrid

Desserts: Costco

Catering: West End Tavern (Boulder, CO)

Madi + Rysa: An Intimate, Queer Downtown Madison Wedding

Madi + Rysa’s wedding day was filled with fun and laughter (which in my opinion is the perfect kind of wedding day)!

Madi (she/her) and Rysa (they/them) met at Plan B originally (A queer Madison bar that sadly is no more) and began hanging out more and more, and planning gay movie nights, Drag Race marathons, and other fun outings, until they made things official. Even though they wanted a small and intimate wedding day at the Capitol building, it was important to them to work in photos at the formerly Plan B “L-O-V-E” mural on Willy St., and we had so much fun goofing off, doing cartwheels, and dancing pre-ceremony.

Once it was time for the ceremony, it was short and sweet (folks after my own heart - mine was also very short and sweet), and then onto more pictures with family and very close friends, and a walk around State street, as well as some fun photo ops with their beloved dog, Trixie (who is a VERY good doggo)!

It was a beautiful and hot summer day, perfect for the start of a very big adventure.

Congrats to Madi + Rysa!!!

—Sam

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

Ceremony Venue: Wisconsin State Capitol Building

Jewelry: Rysa’s Band - Chalmer’s Jewelers | Madi’s Ring - Kessler’s Diamonds

Wedding Gown: David’s Bridal

Wedding Tux: Jazzman

Sarah + Patrick: A Romantic Orpheum Theater Wedding

The Orpheum was the perfect romantic venue for sarah + patrick’s wedding

Sarah + Patrick wanted a beautifully romantic wedding day with a more intimate vibe, and a wedding day that worked in their mutual love of music! They knocked it out of the park with the gorgeous floral installations for their ceremony, family style meals for each table, and the amazing live band (seriously, so fun!) to finish off the evening with dancing, laughter, and pure joy!

Everyone on their wedding day was so happy to be there, and I’m ecstatic that we got to celebrate with them!

Congrats to Sarah + Patrick!

—Sam

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

Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Orpheum

Officiant: Theresa Roetter (family friend)

Hair & Makeup: Bang Salon

Jewelry: Vintage Diamond Engagement/Wedding Ring for Bride and Vintage Wedding Band for Groom

Bridal Gown: Loren by Allure Bridals

Groom Tux: Men’s Wearhouse

DJ: Craig Droessler

Live Band: The People Brothers Band

Florist: Ray Mejia (family friend)

Desserts: The Baked Lab

Catering: Upstairs Downstairs Catering

Day Of Wedding Coordinator: Paige Endres

Chloe + Moose: A Wedding Celebration to Remember

Chloe + Moose married in 2021 and had a fun and joyful celebration with friends and family at the Overture Center in 2022

But first, they had photos with their family and their dogs, Tia + Toast, at Westmorland Park on Madison’s West side, surrounded by wildflowers, which is the same place we took their “Yay we’re married!” photos earlier this year! Check those out here.

I loved the non-traditional men’s hairstyles for Moose and Chloe’s brother, Sam! More braided men’s updos please!

The Overture Center was so lovely as their reception venue, and Chloe + Moose even had life-sized cutout of themselves, and of their two dogs, so the doggos could be there in spirit!

Enjoy these joyful photos, and help me in congratulating Chloe + Moose on their wedding!

—Sam

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

Formal Photos Venue: Westmorland Park

Reception Venue: The Overture Center

DJ: Andre with Celebrations Entertainment

Bridal Gown: The Wedding Shoppe (vendor), Selby Rae (Designer), Monetti Tailoring (alterations)

Groom Tux: National Tuxedo Rentals

Groom Tie: DIY (Bride made it herself!)

Bridal Flower Crown: LisaUaShop on Etsy

Bridal Shawl: DIY (Bride crocheted it herself!)

Wedding Party Ties: Knotty Tie Co

Wedding Party Dresses: Azazie

Wedding Party Suits: StudioSuit

Wedding Bands: Bauer Jewelry Designs

Hair Stylist: Timeless Designs

Makeup: DG Beauty Salon

Florist: Felly’s Flowers

Wedding Desserts: Madison Sourdough Company

Catering: Fresco Catering

Candle Holders: BlueCornBeeswax on Etsy

Candles: BeesLightCandles on Etsy

Table sashes: ByFernStudio on Etsy

Cardboard Cutouts: Cardboard Cutout Standees

Hannah + Tim: A Beautiful Wedding At the Aldo Leopold Nature Center

Hannah + Tim met while playing D&D and were friends for years before they started dating

I’ve always thought that some of the best romantic relationships spring from true friendship, especially because friendship is such an important element in a successful romantic relationship. When talking about their relationship, Hannah said “how it feels” has always been so much more important than any label ever could be, and to see these two together, that absolutely seems true. If how sweet and tender they were towards each other on what can sometimes be a very stressful (if happy) day is any indication, these two know what is truly important. It was an honor to celebrate with them!

Enjoy the wedding photos of these two (and the gorgeousness that is the Aldo Leopold Nature Center) and help me wish them a big congratulations!

-Sam

Here are the vendors (with links) that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Aldo Leopold Nature Center

Officiant: Raquel Sanchez

DJ: Emily Mill (DJ Millbot)

Bridal Gown: Brandi's Bridal Galleria / Maggie Sottero / Professional Alterations by Lorri

Bridal Boots: John Fluevog

Wedding Bands: Jewelry by Johan

Florist: Sunborn Gardens

Desserts: Madison Sourdough

Catering: Chef Dave

Kristen + Jacob: A DIY Lussier Family Heritage Center Wedding

Kristen + Jacob had a gorgeous and misty Summer wedding day!

The rain held off just long enough for Kristen + Jacob to have a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Lussier Family Heritage Center’s Solar Shelter, followed by formal photos under the immense 300 year old oak tree (which is one of my all-time favorite spots at the Lussier Family Heritage Center).

The celebration was so fun and joyful, and there were people on the dance floor from the second the Bride and Groom were done with their first dance until I left for the evening (to the tune of “Grace Kelly”, which may be the catchiest song known to man).

Help me wish these two a big congratulations on their wedding day, and if you’d like to check out their engagement photos, click here.

-Sam

Here are the wedding vendors (with links) that helped make their wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Lussier Family Heritage Center

Officiant: Analiese Eicher (friend of the couple)

DJ: Midwest Sound

Bridal Gown: David’s Bridal

Groom Suit: Men’s Wearhouse

Bride’s Engagement Ring: Angara

Bride’s Wedding Band: Jeweler’s Workshop

Hair + Makeup: Lotus Artistry

Florist: Diane at Metcalfe's

Desserts: Anderson Baked Goods (cupcakes), Kim Baierl (cookies)

Catering: Blue Plate Catering

Patrick + Aaron: A Memorial Union Terrace Wedding

Patrick + Aaron had an amazingly fun wedding day at the iconic Memorial Union Terrace in Madison, WI

Their wedding was one of the first weddings we’ve done this year that felt a little more like “the before times” and it was wonderful to get to see them enjoy such a long-awaited (and once postponed) wedding day in true Madison-style at the Memorial Union Terrace!

We loved getting to celebrate in style with these two and their friends and families (and it was so fun to be on a party bus again!) Congratulations to Patrick + Aaron!

-Sam

Here are the wedding vendors (with links) who helped make Patrick + Aaron’s wedding day awesome!

Ceremony + Reception Venue: Memorial Union Terrace

DJ: Amy Midle, Polished Entertainment

Hair Stylist: Nichole Mick, All About You Salon & Spa

Florist: Kelly Deterding, Heather Hill Floral Design

Dessert: Madison Sourdough

Catering: Wisconsin Union