Yes, I love couples in love.  Yes, I adore your stories.  I believe in marriage, and I crave the energy of a wedding day.  But when it gets right down to it, I get seriously inspired by the location.  Place has always been a huge driving force in my work.  Looking back on my art career and training, you’ll find I was always drawing, painting, printing and making films about places, and the stories they held.  It is part of why I love to travel so much – I have an insatiable appetite for new places, new stories.  This blog series is all about the places I would love to shoot a wedding at because I find them seriously intriguing, inspiring and amazing.  And I have no doubt that a couple who chooses to get married there would be equally amazing and inspiring and I want to be there to document it.

Hilltop : A Gathering Place

(all images from the venue’s website or google images.  Sadly, they weren’t credited.)

A knotted and knarled Catalpa tree thrusts it’s way out of the verdant lawn and up into the pale blue Wisconsin sky.  Below it’s heavy-laden branches stands a bride and groom, surrounded by concentric circles of family and friends and expanding landscape.  A warm breeze sweeps its way up the hill and rustles the lace of the bride’s dress.  They clasp hands, run down the aisle in joy and lead their guests to a stunning outdoor patio, where cocktails await.  As the sun sets among the pines and oaks, dipping below the hilltop they celebrate on, a sister toasts her best friend under a cream-colored canopy with small sparkles of lightening bugs illuminating the moment.  Later on, the rustle of leaves is joined by the strains of music from the 100-year old barn as guests jump, step and jive to the beat, a happy, newly-minted couple at their center.

That wedding could happen at Hilltop: A Gathering Place.  This unique and little-known venue is conveinently right in our backyard – adjacent to the famous Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  It’s one of those rare “all in one” wedding venues where you can have all of your events hosted on one piece of property providing a fluid and continuous wedding day experience.  The serene and pastoral nature of this wedding venue is an ideal spot for an outdoor wedding and reception for any nature lover.  Given the incredible views available from it’s elevated location, late summer and fall are particularly wonderful times to be married there.

The Pritzlaff Building

(all images from the venue’s website or google images.  Sadly, they weren’t credited.)

Footsteps echo across hardwood floors that have seen over 125 years of stories. Light streams in the tall factory style windows.  A bride glides down the aisle of a make-shift ceremony space, eyes locked fixedly on her smiling groom.  They and their guests, laugh, cry, promise and kiss under original timber beams, surrounded by endless cream-city brick.  The feelings are raw, unpolished and original, just like the space they stand in.  Hours later, they glide across a colorfully lit dance floor, circling and swaying amongst massive wood columns.  Glasses clink, faces alight in candle glow, small children play hide and seek and giggles waft across the open-ness.  All too soon, the band is packing up their equipment, the caterers start stacking chairs, and there stands the couple once again.  Her head is on his shoulder and they look around them at the beautiful mess they have created.  Another story to be imprinted into the history of this place.

The Pritzlaff Building has long been one of my favorite structures in Milwaukee’s Third Ward.  It’s vast, wandering and so full of history.  So, imagine my utter delight when I learned that Gravity Events has opened up an event space there!  Milwaukee has such a wonderful district of warehouse-style urban loft spaces in the Third Ward, but until the Prtizlaff, they were all suited to only more intimate weddings.  The Pritzlaff though is positively massive if you want it to be – with several convertible spaces that could host a wedding of 125 to 400 guests.   The possibilities are endless in this raw and unpolished space – make it elegant, make it hip, make it rustic.  It just doesn’t get cooler right now in Milwaukee than the Pritzlaff, and I can’t wait to shoot a wedding there!

Golden Oaks Mansion

(all images from the venue’s website or google images.  Sadly, they weren’t credited.)

All good love stories have a sense of folklore, a bit of fairytale.  Theirs was one of those.  One where the missing beats in its telling made you daydream, made you wonder what filled the spaces.  Strolling along the shore of Lake Geneva that summer, he read out the history and background of the mansions they passed.  One had played host to the playboy club, another a summer home for an industrial era magnate.  She wondered what their lives had been like, what details completed the stories.  Later that summer, they added another chapter to their story at a whitewashed mansion in the little community along the lake.  Standing amongst the generations-old oak trees, their branches swaying a sweet summer breeze, they vowed yesterday, today and tomorrow.  The chandeliers hanging from the branches twinkled with reflected light that evening, casting an aura of mystery and magic over the intimate gathering of family and friends for an open-air party.  The couple spun around the dance floor, weaving amongst their guests, negotiating the spaces between them, leaving some open and others full of new details and snippets of story.

If you’ve ever visited Lake Geneva, you’ve likely wondered just who lives in those amazing mansions and homes along the water.  It’s long been known as a vacation destination for Chicagoans and others, a little bit of Hamptons-esque flair right in the heart of the midwest.  There’s no question the little community is gorgeous and yet still quaint.  Most of the homes are private (and you can rent them for events often), but one of the oldest mansions is also an Inn, and you can get married there. The Golden Oaks Mansion is a little-known venue, but so lovely.  I’ve always pictured the sort of affair I’ve described above – an outdoor wedding under the oak trees, a small, intimate open-air reception in the summer breeze.  Lights strung from tree to tree, music wafting in the air, and a beautiful historic mansion standing guard over it all, soaking in this new story.  Of course the bonus of this location is the built-in rain back-up inside the mansion, and the fact that you can stay right there on the grounds with your closest family and friends.  It’s like you could step inside one of those stories, and fill it in with a few details of your own.

Thanks to Hubby for taking over the “random thought” blog posts the last two weeks. We have always been a great team, but parenthood is teaching us new ways to help each other out, and him stepping up to help keep the blog active is one of those ways. Yeah, you know you are jealous of my husband!  I have several blog posts half-written, so when I can string together enough minute moments at the computer, one of them should appear.

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Speaking of how parenthood is changing us. We’ve never been big into celebrating Valentine’s Day. I think once in the last eleven years we went out to dinner in celebration. Anyway, we had agreed again to mostly ignore the day this year. But we ended up giving each other gifts anyway. I gave him six hours of uninterrupted sleep (meaning I got up with Sloane all night) and he gave me the luxury of a normal length shower and getting ready time.  Like, I actually got to blow-dry and fix my hair.  And, it was fabulous. Oh, how times have changed.

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I stumbled across this amazing love story on facebook last week. A brother and a sister got married. Get your mind out of the gutter though and click here - this is one of the best love stories you’ll read, written by their son as tweets – so a series of 140 character or less blurbs.  So sweet.

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I found out recently that my alma matter, CalArts, was named the Best College for students in the Arts by Newsweek Magazine and The Daily Beast.  Big Congrats!  It’s a designation that is so well-deserved.  I think I’ll give my degree an extra polish today.

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Last week I had the honor of shooting the birth story of a fellow photographer/friend and his wife.  It was indescribable to witness the two of them go thru the process of becoming parents.  It was also so hard to strictly be an observer, with my own birth experience so fresh still.  The wonderfully unique thing is that she ended up going down much the same path I did, with a baby who required a c-section after trying everything else.  So, I got to see what was done to me, from the other side.  And, I got to photograph that part wearing something like a haz-mat suit, which is something likely to never happen again:

Congrats to the new little family!  Hopefully, this won’t be the last birth I capture.

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I also got cleared to resume all normal activities last week by my doctor.  So, of course I wasted no time getting back to the gym.  It wasn’t so much for the weight-loss benefits as much for my mental health.  It felt really good to step back into that routine even for just one morning.  A six-week vacation from my workout routine had me a little scared, but it was better than I expected.  Sure, my usual weights felt heavy again, and my stamina is certainly lacking.  But, on the flip-side, with most of my baby weight gone, everything was so much easier.  With Sloane to take care of, I’m likely not going to get to go as often as I used to, but I’ll take what I can get.

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You know I love Kate Spade.  Today, they sent out an email about all their new wedding accessories -so you know I had to check it out.  This bridesmaid’s bracelet is so adorable.  Just the right touch of  whimsy and sentiment wrapped up in an elegant and modern bangle.  The perfect gift!

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The Oscars.  I admit, I missed the last hour because I fell asleep from baby exhaustion.  But I really enjoyed the show this year.  It was entertaining and moved at a nice pace.  Billy Crystal is a classic, and I loved his little ditty about the best picture nominees.  The only thing I found disappointing was the set design – it was really disjointed.  And, now I really have to go see “The Artist” and “Hugo”, two films I’ve been wanting to see, who swept the awards.

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Next week I head to sunny Florida for an engagement session.  I’m apprehensive about leaving Sloane for a couple of days, but it will be nice to soak up a little golden sunshine!  And, I haven’t been to Disneyland (where we are shooting) since I lived in California, so I’m excited to see all that has changed.

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Hopefully you’ve been enjoying the parade of kiddos that have been gracing the blog as of late.  It is so fun to see my wedding couples start families!  Up next on the kid front are shoots for both of the nephews (you won’t believe how grown-up they are), and maybe one of these days I’ll get around to editing Sloane’s newborn shoot too.  There are some engagements and some weddings I shot with friends still patiently waiting for their turn on the blog as well.  All in good time.

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My dad is here today, watching little Sloane for me, so I can focus and get some work done.  I feel incredibly guilty about this, but it is necessary, as I’ve been falling behind little by little each week. So, I better get to the rest of today’s to-do list before my babysitter runs out.  Have a great week!

Well, apparently I did well enough last week that I get another shot!  Thanks to everyone who checked it out and shared or liked my last post with friends.  Hopefully, I do well enough this time to get another chance in the future, but Molly will be back next week.  Here we go…….

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The most common question that I get these days is, “How is baby Sloane?”  To answer, she is doing great!  Molly and I are having so much fun being parents.  Don’t get me wrong, we are both exhausted all of the time but it’s getting better as she is starting to sleep 4-6 hours per night.

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One of our favorite things so far about Sloane is her facial expressions and arm movements.  Here is one of our favorites:

(taken on my iphone)

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It’s getting closer to wedding season and we’re pretty excited about that.  I know Molly really enjoyed shooting a great wedding a couple of weeks ago and is looking forward to more!  We still have some open dates for 2012, even a few May/June dates.

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Besides getting closer to wedding season, it’s also getting closer to Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Season!   That has me really excited.  I love reading the Blog Peanuts and Cracker Jacks 2012.  It’s a feature on jsonline.com that is done by sports journalism students at Arizona State University about the Brewers at Spring Training.  The content is more human interest stories and fun anecdotes than typical sports talk.

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Has everyone switched their Facebook profile to the new Timeline Profile?  If the answer is no, don’t worry neither have I.  In all honesty I can’t decide which picture I want to use for the header.  It’s a good thing Molly designs the albums and not me!

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I watch very little reality TV, but I do have a few favorites.  They are Shark Tank, Celebrity Apprentice and surprisingly The Voice.  By far my favorite reality star is Dallas Mavericks owner (among many other things) Mark Cuban (@mcuban), who is one of the investors on Shark Tank.  I really love his entrepreneurial skills.  He started selling garbage bags at age 12 to pay for expensive basketball shoes and has built an empire from that humble start.  One of the things I respect the most is that he wants to see others succeed and that he also gives back with things like the Fallen Patriot Fund.

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The Friday Funday! Video comes from The Voice.  It’s a unique performance of the Plain White T’s song “Hey There Delilah.”

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Make sure and comment on how I did this week and LIKE this post below and share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and the other million social media networks out there!  Maybe if I get enough response, Molly will let me blog again!  Have a great weekend!

Melissa and Simon are part of a family I’ve come to love and know better over the years thru phtography.  Melissa is Chris’s sister – from Katie & Chris, a wedding couple from 2010.  And, I’ve known their other sister, Melanie, for much longer (and shot many weddings because of her fabulous referrals).  Melissa and Simon and I got along so well at Katie & Chris’ wedding that during dinner, Melissa pulled me aside and said “one day, you must take pictures of our babies!”.   I of course, readily agreed, and then there we were, a little over a year later, laughing it up again, this time with little six-month-old Emily in tow.

She gets her adorable-ness from Melissa, and she definitely has her Daddy’s sense of humor.  If only she would inherit his loveable English accent too – she’ll be unstoppable.

Emily had almost mastered sitting up at our session, and she fell into tripods from time to time – but it was so adorable the way her little body just folded over: