A Milwaukee Wedding Day
Alissa and David had a beautiful outdoor Milwaukee wedding that showcased the best of what Milwaukee has to offer.
Alissa and David absolutely love Milwaukee and they very much wanted to showcase the city, both during their engagement session and then on their wedding day.
The two got married at South Shore Pavilion at South Shore Park in the Bay View neighborhood on the south side of Milwaukee’s shoreline communities. The park itself gives you one of the best views of Milwaukee’s skyline without jumping on a boat and going out in Lake Michigan.
For wedding day photography and portraits using this view as a backdrop was a dream.
The Iron Horse Hotel
Before all of that, Alissa and David first got started by getting ready at the Iron Horse Hotel, which is on its own accord a beautiful and iconic and stylish hotel in the city of Milwaukee.
I think photographing a wedding at the Iron Horse Hotel is a right of passage for wedding photographers in this city.
It’s such a beautiful place to photograph a wedding and I always seem to get the best getting ready photos in their hotel rooms.
I love playing with the light and shadows in the room and especially getting dramatic photos of brides holding wedding dresses or getting dressed in front of the windows.
Another point that I really love about the Iron Horse Hotel is actually what is on the outside of the building, even though the inside is already amazing.
The hotel is located immediately south of the Harley Davidson Museum and east of the Sixth Street Bridge. On this day, the bridge was the structure that I was most focused on, since it was one of those bridges that had towering white spires and white cables running across and down them.
Alissa and David had decided to do their first look outside of the hotel and before the ceremony. I loved this, because the hotel had a huge patio area with the bridge in the background. You could just make it out in between a patch of trees and I made sure to get a couple portraits with them in the foreground.
After their first look and a mini session of portraits we headed out to South Shore Park to get ready for the ceremony.
South Shore Pavilion
If you get married at South Shore Pavilion you have a couple options for where you can have the ceremony. I’ve photographed a wedding where the couple was married right outside next to the seating of the outdoor beer garden. It’s right on a grassy bluff, well a miniature bluff, that leads out to Lake Michigan.
Alissa and David chose a different spot that gave you a higher view of the Milwaukee skyline and Lake Michigan. It was immediately north of the pavilion higher up on a grassy hill. For their wedding they had built their own wooden arch. It was rustic, made of branches and they had quite the story of how they had to haul the arch by draping it over their vehicle and driving it all the way from their house through Bay View to the wedding.
After the wedding we were able to take portraits in roughly the same location as the wedding. The ceremony itself was angled where Lake Michigan was directly behind the arch, so that served as the backdrop if you were shooting down the aisle. For the portraits I moved the couple and the wedding party to the side so I could have the Milwaukee skyline in the background. This also worked out for me, since trees provided shadows that evened out the harsh lighting of the June afternoon sun.
Being surrounded by a park, the beautiful thing when you’re getting married at this location is that you can take portraits in a scenic outdoor location and then five minutes later be at your reception without having to jump in your vehicle.
One downside to getting married here is that you will have to be ok with lots of people walking around your outdoor ceremony and around and through your portraits. It can be a little disconcerting seeing people wearing swimsuits walking in the background of your wedding day portraits. But, a photographer will always make sure to cut them out of the frame even though you’ll have to have enough confidence and energy to make sure to not let them effect your mood.
This worked great for Alissa and David, because especially Alissa is a down-to-earth confident bride who is very warm and accepting to everyone she surrounds herself with. This actually just reminded me of her speech at the wedding reception. More than any other bride and groom, she went out of her way to mention every close guest and family member who participated in planning the wedding and participated in her and David’s life. It was like listening to one of the best Oscar toasts you’ve ever heard.
The Reception
The wedding reception was actually inside the South Shore Pavilion. It was in the upstairs ballroom. And, this was a closed off space to the public. I absolutely love shooting in this space, because it has enormous long vertical windows that dress most of the sides of the ballroom.
This lets in so much light and beautiful light that is golden and gorgeous. In fact, since this was a June wedding where the sunset was at its latest I didn’t even have to use flash for the first dances. After photographing the first dances we then went outside for the sunset portraits and once again we were on the beach in just a minute or two.
Mentioning the reception would be a great time to mention one of my favorite vendors I’ve worked with at weddings. That would be the DJ, Jack Boatman. He stands out for me, because he offers multiple services including playing the violin for wedding ceremonies. He did this for Alissa and David and he did the same thing for another wedding I worked with him.
He also has all white DJ equipment and speakers. This is such a small touch, but it was the first and only time I’ve seen a DJ have white equipment and speakers. It really brought some class to the wedding event vibe.
If you want to see even more of how much Alissa and David love Milwaukee, please check out their engagement session where they visited a handful of iconic Milwaukee tourist spots in a photo scavenger hunt-esque styled engagement session.
Planner: Heather Farr Events, Shannon Nalt
Assistant Planner: Jenna McReynolds// Heather Farr Events
Venue Manager: South Shore Pavilion
Caterer: Prime Minister Catering
Bar: Over the Moon Bartending
Florist: Hidden Botanics Wedding
DJ: Jack Boatman Music
Desserts: Honeypie Bakeshop
