I first met Caitlin and Ryan in 2020 at my first “back to normal” wedding after the big shutdown in early March.
Ryan was the best man for Andrew’s wedding, a favor that Andrew would return more than a year later for Ryan.
I remember that was about the smoothest client meet and greet I’ve ever experienced, because Ryan first reached out to me a week before Andrew’s wedding saying he was looking for a photographer and wondering what I offered. He then said he’d chat with me more at the wedding and that I could meet him and his fiancé, Caitlin.
That was a great meeting, because everyone was already at a wedding, having a great time and they could see me in action. The first time I met Caitlin was at the reception while everyone was on the dance floor. It was right before I was ending for the night and after I punched out for the night, my assistant and me even joined in on the dance floor for a couple songs.
And, after spending the day with Ryan I could tell that his chill and gentle demeanor would really jive with my personality.
Luckily for me, I was apparently cool enough that Ryan was comfortable moving ahead with me.
A unique rustic venue
Caitlin and Ryan had their whole wedding day at Milford Hills, a really unique wedding venue in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, about an hour west of Milwaukee.
I had photographed here before, and if you love the outdoors and that rustic wilderness vibe, you really should look into this venue.
By day, it’s a hunting club, so it has a wide array of grounds and places to walk for portraits. It’s main clubhouse is atop a hill and they’ve set up a permanent outdoor ceremony location right atop a hill that overlooks a grass field leading down to a pond.
Visually, it’s just magic and there is no comparison doing the family portraits on this overlook compared to my usual locations that may be inside with just a wall as a backdrop.
Milford Hills has two buildings on the grounds and in the two times that I’ve photographed there I’ve used both of them. However, Caitlin and Ryan only used the main clubhouse. Both got ready with their wedding parties downstairs with Ryan in the locker room and Caitlin in a side room. After the ceremony we did our main portraits down by the pond. The reception was in the upstairs dining room which was split into two dining rooms with a bar on either side. All the eating was done in one room and the dancing was in the second room.
Fall colors
Caitlin and Ryan’s wedding was in late September. The beautiful fall colors in Wisconsin vary a little every year, and this year it was later than the year before. It’s funny, but being a photographer most of my work is centered around the autumn season, so more than most I have a cataloged record of when peak colors are every year.
For this wedding, you could see a few trees that were colorful, but the grasses in the field really made the wedding feel like October. And then Caitlin and Ryan’s clothing and decorations did the rest. The bridesmaids wore rust-colored dresses, and the guys including Ryan wore green suits with light brown shoes and orange ties (for the groomsmen).
Caitlin then brought in pumpkins to flank the wedding arch and there also a large number of pumpkins decorating the bridge area next to the pond.
Photographing the decorations and scene
This is a side note to other wedding photographers, but it’s so important to keep taking photos of everything at the wedding, because you can never know if you’ll miss it later.
Before the ceremony there reaches a point when I know the processional can happen at any time. I really can’t venture too far away from my post at the front of the aisle, but I can still take photos of the decorations. And, during the ceremony I can take photos of decorations as a way to mix up the variety of what I deliver after the wedding.
One decoration at this wedding was a glass sign, set up at the entrance of the aisle. I knew it was important to Caitlin. She had either mentioned it in our pre-wedding meetings or I might have seen her working on it when she was getting ready.
Either way, I took a photo of it before the guests sat down, which in an ideal world is how I like those photos to go. It shows the whole venue set up perfectly in a clean simple way. I also like to do this for the reception.
I also took a photo of it during the ceremony with Caitlin and Ryan in the background.
It was a great win that I took this photo, because 10 minutes into the ceremony everyone just heard a large crash and it was the glass sign taking a tumble. It was a very gusty day, and it can get pretty windy atop the hill at Milford Hills, so really that sign didn’t have much of a chance.
After the ceremony, Caitlin asked me immediately if I had gotten a photo of the sign and I thankfully could tell her yes!
Sunset Portraits
It’s always a good idea to take some portraits at sunset even if it doesn’t work that well timing-wise. It was quite a big trek to walk down to the pond for our main set of portraits, so I was pretty sure Caitlin and Ryan were done walking by the time we got back up to the clubhouse for the reception.
However, the sunset started immediately when they sat down to eat and much to my surprise Caitlin and Ryan were still up for getting those photos.
We walked over to the Winchester Field, an open field and concrete path south of the clubhouse. From there the sunset was in full glory and we captured some breathtaking shots.
My favorite thing to do with sunset portraits is to take half of them with the sunset behind the couple and half of them with the sunset behind me.
With the sunset in the background, I’ll get some very hazy and dreamy photos, but the couple won’t have the best light on their faces.
On the other side with the sun behind me, the lighting on the couple will be incredibly photogenic and the sky will show up with different tones than the deep oranges. In this next case it was soft pink.
You always have to cherish the sunset, because it’s never a guarantee that it won’t be overcast and rainy on your wedding day.
I can’t wait until I do my next wedding here. I’ve even see that you can rent a horse-drawn carriage and that is something that I really have to see!
Venue: Milford Hills
Flowers: Sonya’s Rose
Hair: Teresa Mueller
Makeup: Nola Khan
Dress: Amelishan
Rings: Craig Husar
DJ: Bob Hoff
Coordinator: Heidi Ott @ Milford
