Have you ever wondered how to incorporate your life hobbies into your wedding day? What if your hobby is normally super masculine and not romantic adjacent? How would that look? For this one-of-a-kind wedding, Bob and Carrie were married at a place that was near and dear to their hearts, Road America, a Motorsport road course near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Road America
Think NASCAR and the Indy 500 and you’d have an idea of what Road America looked like. It’s an enormous course and property. We drove from corner to corner and never saw the whole course. It’s got multiple spots to camp or view the track and for us to take portraits.
Bob and Carrie had an outdoor wedding at Porsche Park, the venue location. And, in the background was the track with cars and their roaring engines in the background.
My favorite portrait location was a road (a road for spectator traffic and not racers) forested on either side forming a tree-lined tunnel.
The other locations were far more race-centric. We took photos of Bob and Carrie with Bob’s porsche on the championship podium, on top of a spectator overlook, and in the stands of their favorite racetrack corner.
I didn’t know what to expect heading into my first viewing of Road America, but I was pleasantly and enthusiastically surprised by the natural beauty of the property. Even if you wanted a more traditional wedding and pictures without racing cars, it’d suit your needs.
Carrie’s Wonderful Enthusiasm
The one thing I’ll always remember about Bob and Carrie’s wedding day, aside from the unique racing venue is Carrie’s lively personality.
She is full of life and energy. Her enthusiasm and laughter rang throughout the day. And, she was excited for every moment. She made me laugh out loud several times and she added so much to my posing prompts.
In particular, I remember asking her and Bob to walk across the road in front of the large “Road America” entrance. I was looking forward to photographing low to the ground and isolating them in front of the large entrance, sign and sky.
I thought it’d be a good idea for them to walk across the road, because it’d give them a reason to be out there and they could do a “Beatles Album Cover” type walk.
In the past, I’ve never been 100% satisfied with my Beatles Album covers, but Carrie initiated a whole new way to walk. As a joke she started walking like a robot with her arms at 90 degree angles, over-emphasizing every step and arm movement. Bob did the same and it really made the photos pop.
Especially with wide angle scenic portraits, subtle movements won’t really stand out, because it’s so far away. It’s only big outlandish movements that will show up in the photo. So, her outlandish walking actually made the arm and leg movements stand out enough for you to notice them.
In general, I really appreciate Carrie’s attitude, because it made her so pleasant to work with and it spurred us on to having more portrait time and therefore them getting more and higher quality wedding portraits from their wedding day.
Golf Carts
Andy Anderson was our point person for Road America and he was in charge of making sure the weddings they hosted went on without a hitch.
On the day we visited Road America to tour the facility and see the best places for photo ops, he drove us around in his pickup truck.
On the day of Bob and Carrie’s wedding, however, we instead had a golf cart and I drove around in my car. For our sunset session we all hopped on the golf cart.
This was a really nice setup, because we had a lot of independence and were able to go anywhere we wanted to on our own. This was only possible, because Bob and Carrie were very familiar with Road America, visiting the track for races multiple times a year.
Bob was able to drive the golf cart without getting lost of wasting time going down the wrong roads. He was able to lead us everywhere.
Golf carts are just perfect for portrait sessions and I highly recommend them.
Every golf resort that hosts weddings will have golf carts available and a lot of larger wedding venues like Road America will also have them ready.
The nice thing about them is that it is so easy to just hop on and off and every bride will have an easy time hopping on a golf cart, no matter how cumbersome their wedding dress happens to be.
The greatest thing about them is that they give you access to more areas. At a recent golf resort wedding we were able to visit three places four or five holes away from the clubhouse, because we had a golf cart.
Without it, we would have been relegated to walkable areas immediately beside the clubhouse which may or may not be the most scenic.
If your venue does charge an extra fee for golf carts, I’d recommend adding it to your budget, especially if you care deeply about the portrait session.
Entertaining the Children
Another part of Bob and Carrie’s wedding, which I thought was super unique and I’ve never seen before happened during the reception.
Like a lot of Wisconsin weddings, Bob and Carrie were very family friendly at their wedding. Kids were welcome and most of their friends and family had small children. It seemed like most of their guests were families rather than singles.
With that in mind, Bob and Carrie wanted to do something strictly for the children at the wedding.
Before the first dances started they had the DJ entertain the children with a few games involving a mix of following directions from the DJ and also dancing.
I love seeing a DJ being able to adjust away from putting on a party atmosphere and entertain the crowd, whatever kind of crowd that happens to be. At my own wedding, I really appreciated our DJ who was able to entertain our guests, who were mostly family members and mostly Christian and traditional.
After a few games, the DJ then had a little dance party and Bob and Carrie threw candy out at the children for them to catch the candy like they were at a Fourth of July parade.
The children absolutely loved it and the good-naturedness of Bob and Carrie really enjoyed seeing all the laughter and joy coming out of the children.
Verse of the Day:
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
Psalms 126:2
Dress and Bridesmaids: David’s Bridal
Groom and Groomsmen: DuBois Formalwear
Flowers: A Floral Garden
Jewelry: Sienna Moon
Hair: A Hair Affair
DJ Sound Sensations Entertainment
Coordinator: Andy Anderson, Road America
Rings: Etsy & Kay’s Jewelers
Caterer: The Antidote
