An Old Soul

From a recent session: a two year old with an old soul.

Val & Mike | Madison Wedding

Val and Mike were married at Quivey's Grove, a quaint, old restaurant just outside of Madison, in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The restaurant is housed in the old house, while the bar and causal dining is located in the barn, connected to the house by an underground tunnel. Their open lawn is a pretty place for a ceremony, allowing enough room for a couple large tents for dinner and dancing, and open space for guests to linger.

I love kids at weddings and Val and Mike had a lot of them. They took advantage of the space and had a large "bounce house" for kids (and the adventurous adults- bride and groom included!) to climb through and jump in. To further entertain all the kids at the wedding, they made sure to have a craft table, music geared to little ones early in the evening and they even opted for cookies instead of cake for dessert.

Cecilia and Jason | Downtown Madison Wedding

The distinct ambience and character of a Madison wedding shines when the ceremony and reception are both in the beautiful downtown area. And what better place to get married than the oldest church in town, Grace Episcopal Church. I love old buildings, and especially old churches. Madison is lucky enough to have quite a few, but Grace is the iconic church that everyone knows- the church with the red doors across from the Wisconsin State Capitol.

I love fun details. Cecilia's shoes were definitely a fun detail. Blue! What a fun way to include the wedding tradition of wearing something blue. The bridesmaids were in short black bridesmaid dresses, starting with yellow heels and transitioning into yellow flip-flops. Hair was done by Rana Kay Design and the dress was from Brandi's Bridal.

Cecilia and Jason had a warm day in June for their wedding. Actually, I think it was one of the hottest days of the summer, but the heat of the day is always forgotten once the party starts. We went across the street to the Capitol for some photographs before heading to their favorite "biker bar" for drinks.

 The party kicked off at The Madison Concourse Hotel, located a block from the Capitol. Music was provided by Jukebox Bandstand.

Wendy & Keith | Monona Terrace Wedding, Madison

 Wendy and Keith had a beautiful day for their May wedding. We had such an early spring that it was hard to know what the weather was going to be like in May. Planning an outdoor ceremony in Wisconsin is always a bit risky, but the rooftop of the Monona Terrace was perfect. It wasn't too hot or windy, and the view of downtown Madison and Lake Monona is hard to beat.

 The wedding party took a walk up to the Capitol building for some photographs. The glasses on the wedding party was planned as a "surprise" by one of the groomsmen. We love hearing how the wedding party thinks we make the whole process of being photographed easy and fun. Couples also often tell us that their favorite part of the day is when they were being photographed, just the two of them. I think that really shows in their expressions, too. 

Wendy has enjoyed the honor of being in a lot of weddings.  A LOT OF WEDDINGS. Which means many bridesmaids dresses. And many of them are purple. Okay it was seven dresses, and the shades of purple varied, but that's still a lot.

To celebrate this, she asked guests to wear bridesmaids dresses to the wedding. Extra credit for those that wore purple. Many had fun with it, some even going out of their way to find outlandish gowns to don. Many other details made for a beautiful and enjoyable evening. The cake matched the wedding invitations, ducks, food stations, a music themed dash around the room for group photographs- it's all in the details!

We said good night to Wendy and Keith after one last photo session, a night session using the Monona Terrace rooftop with the Capitol as our backdrop. A romantic end to a stunning day.

Jamye from Beyond Elegant Events pulled the day together, Daffodil-Parker did the flowers, the cake was done by Craig's Cake, Scott Mueller Mobile DJ kept the dance going all night, Poetry in Motion created the videography and Khloe's Hair Studio made the bride look fabulous.