Every wedding I photograph gets the same attention — whether it's at Grand View Lodge or grandpa's backyard on the lake. Reach out with your date and venue, and let's talk about your day.
The Journal
Real Brainerd Lakes Weddings
Full wedding stories. Real venues. Real couples. Planning guides for your day.
Grand View Lodge · Summer
Olivia & Adam — The Flower Walk, the Dock, and the Last Light on Gull Lake
An August evening at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa: the chapel path, golden hour at the Italian Gardens, a dip kiss on the flower walk below the main lodge, and dusk silhouettes on the Gull Lake dock. Next summer they get married a few miles down the shore at Madden's.
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Whitefish Lodge · Summer
Josse & Alex — Married in Sweden, Married Again in Crosslake
They were already married. Midsummer, in Josse's Swedish hometown. So this August Saturday in Crosslake was the one where the rest of the family got to be there, and where a fika table built by half the guest list turned a north woods lodge into something a little bit Swedish.
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Aitkin County Fairgrounds · Summer
Isabelle & Gabe — Tears at St. Joseph's, Cinnamon Rolls at the Fairgrounds
No first look: the doors opened at St. Joseph's in Crosby, and the first sight of Isabelle undid Gabe in front of everyone he knows. Then a fairgrounds reception in Aitkin with a cinnamon-roll wedding cake, a cereal bar, cowboy hats for the grand entrance, and the last of the August light throwing their kiss onto a fair-building wall.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
Chelsea & Eric — A Sunflower Grand View Lodge Wedding
Chelsea and Eric's Grand View Lodge wedding — sunflower-draped arch, emerald groomsmen, a time-capsule ceremony, and a quiet silhouette dance on the dock at dusk.
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Deerwood Auditorium · Winter
Madeline & Sam — A New Year's Eve Mass and a Transformed Gymnasium
A New Year's Eve nuptial Mass at St. Joseph's in Crosby, snowy pine-forest portraits, and a historic Deerwood Auditorium gymnasium transformed by the bride's mother into a fairy-lit reception.
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Whitefish Lodge · Summer
Amy & Carter — Every Shade of Blue on the Back Lawn
They didn't narrow a wedding party down so much as bring everyone up front — eleven women in every shade of blue, a friend holding the microphone, and a July afternoon hot enough to make the oak shade feel like a gift.
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Chase on the Lake · Summer
Amber & Monty — Vows Aboard the Knota Lotta on Leech Lake
They rode a walleye boat to a sailboat, tied a sailor's knot with her two kids, and found their harbor back at Chase on the Lake in Walker.
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Private Cabin on Gull Lake · Summer
A Private Cabin, a Dock, and the Last Light on Gull Lake
Ember & Dan married on her family's Gull Lake cabin lawn — a lakeshore ceremony, dinner under a sailcloth tent, and a golden-hour dock twirl as the sun dropped into the water.
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Pine Peaks Event Center · Winter
Snow on the Pines: A New Year's Eve Wedding at Pine Peaks
The only true winter wedding I've shot at Pine Peaks — a New Year's Eve in gold sequins and a fur stole against snowy evergreens, a birch-arch ceremony indoors, and a sparkler send-off into 2017.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
A Garden in Full Bloom at Grand View Lodge
Ben & Steph skipped the famous staircase for the gardens — a flower-lined ceremony aisle under the pines, a first look on the white Chapel walkway, and lemon-yellow blooms all the way to the ballroom.
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American Swedish Institute · Summer
Ali & Chris — A Wedding at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis
A summer wedding at the American Swedish Institute — stained glass silhouettes, stone arches, an outdoor courtyard ceremony, fuchsia bridesmaids, and a glow-stick reception.
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Summer
Family Formals in 30 Minutes — The Additive Shot List That Actually Works
Family formals run long because the set keeps resetting. Build them additively — start small, add people, never subtract — and sixteen groupings take thirty minutes. Five calls that make it happen, including the one person you absolutely need.
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