Owen and Ashley, two compassionate doctors and really good people, wanted to get married overlooking Lake Michigan, a favorite place of theirs. They crossed their fingers for good weather and were married on a gorgeous August day at Michillinda Lodge.
Jerry and Erica were married in the beautiful University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel and ended the evening at the comtempory Logan Center for the Arts.
Patrick and Arielle did their “first look” at the Lake Michigan cottage that Arielle’s great-grandfather built 93 years ago. They then were married at Willow Harbor Vineyards in Three Oaks, Michigan.
In the summer of 2014, this beautiful family hired me to join them for a day in Glen Arbor for their summer vacation. In 2015, they asked me back but this time in New Buffalo. The beach was different and the children had grown but so much stayed the same.
The couple chose to get married in the Northern Michigan town where Becky spent her summers since she was six years old. She wore a gown made by her great-grandmother. It was the same dress that her mother wore and her grandmother wore before that. The bridal party (seriously, the most fun bunch I’ve ever had the chance to photograph) all gathered at the family cottage to get ready and then it was moment after moment until the sun set over Betsie Lake.
Only days old, I was asked to document some of this sweet baby girl’s first moments at home. I always feel especially privileged to be a part of something so precious and new.
In June, we converged to the little-known town in the mountains of Lopez, Pennsylvania near the corner of Maple and Maple to meet my nephew who arrived just over three weeks before. Just like the harsh winters of Lopez leave the buildings with a perfectly weathered patina, my sister Leni’s labor could compare. Harsh. Long. Tough. In the end was this perfect baby boy for us all to love.
Michael and Christina were high school sweethearts. The school where they met as kids now is a church where they exchanged rings. Michael and Christina had a fun and energetic wedding full of moments I’ll never forget.
Garrett spent his summers along the dunes of the Beachcomber Association near Little Point Sable Lighthouse and this is where he chose to come back this summer to get married to Sabrina. Good food, good music and good friends surrounded the two as they were married along Lake Michigan in a beautiful and intimate ceremony.
Josh and Sara both grew up in the Detroit area but now call Kalamazoo home. As lovers of wine and craft beer — and their new town — they wanted to invite all their closest friends and family to join them for one big cocktail party type of wedding.
I’ve known Henry for a few years now and, yes, he gets cuter every time I photograph him. But man, oh man, does his energy grow exponentially. I won’t lie I had a hard time keeping up with this little man but I love that everything is an exploration. A rock. A tree. A stick.
I love rural life. For anyone who doesn’t know, my minor is actually agriculture. Sooooo, the Wilburns are pretty much my favorite type of family. When your kids can walk down the middle of the road it’s a perfect place to grow up.
