A Northern Wisconsin Lakeside Wedding

Feb 27

Chris & Audrey

2025 was one for the books. Not only because Abbie and I stepped into marriage ourselves, but because we stood just a few feet away from our best friends as they promised forever. There’s a sacredness to photographing weddings, a quiet privilege in being trusted with memory. But photographing your best friends is something else entirely. You’re not just observing the story. You’re part of its fabric.

Over the years, I’ve felt myself pulled further toward the unnoticed moments, the ones that happen in the margins. The soft exhales. The nervous laughter before walking down the aisle. The way hands instinctively reach for each other in stillness. I’m less interested in perfection and more drawn to presence. The unpolished, unguarded, beautifully human exchanges that define a day.

Chris and Audrey’s wedding lives in that space for me.

They were married in early August in northern Wisconsin, on a piece of family property tucked beside the water. It isn’t a place layered with generations of history, but it is deeply personal and meaningful to them. The kind of place where the wind moves slowly across the lake and the trees feel tall and protective. It wasn’t just a backdrop. It was a setting that allowed them to breathe. Open sky, warm air, the hum of late summer all around. It felt expansive and intimate at the same time.

There’s something about choosing a place that already feels like home. Tucked away into the trees above the lake, the light filtered through the trees in that soft Midwestern way, golden but never harsh. Nature didn’t compete for attention. It wrapped around the day, steady and grounding. You could feel how important it was to them to stand there, in a place that felt honest and unmanufactured, and say yes to forever.

The colors of the day mirrored that vibrancy. The bridesmaids wore bright, joyful dresses, hues that felt alive against the greens and blues of August. Each color distinct, yet harmonious. The groomsmen stood beside Chris in light linen suits, effortlessly relaxed and perfectly suited for the warmth and the setting. Nothing felt stiff. Nothing overly curated. It was elegant, but breathable. Refined, yet full of personality.

The day overflowed with affection, the kind that doesn’t need a microphone to be heard. It was in the way parents lingered a few seconds longer during hugs. In the way friends’ eyes welled up before they even realized it. In the way laughter rippled across the property, carried by the breeze off the lake. The entire gathering felt tender and wholehearted, a community not just witnessing love, but actively surrounding it.

When Audrey walked toward Chris, the world seemed to quiet in that subtle way it does when something significant is unfolding. Not dramatic. Not theatrical. Just true. There was a steadiness between them. A calm certainty. The kind of love that doesn’t need to prove itself because it already knows.

As I worked through their photos, I’m reminded why I photograph weddings the way I do. For the way light catches in someone’s eyes when they’re holding back tears. For the subtle squeeze of reassurance before vows are spoken. For linen sleeves brushing against sun-warmed skin. For the sound of applause echoing across open water.

Chris and Audrey’s wedding wasn’t just beautiful. It was luminous. Sincere. Vibrant in color and rich in feeling. A day shaped by intention, softened by nature, and held together by the steady presence of family and friends who love them deeply.

And that, more than anything, is what stays with me.