Northern Michigan + Grant and Sabrina

“Grant and I actually struggled with the decision to hire Lea initially, because our wedding was on a super tight budget. We searched for two weeks to see if we could find anyone else who had a similar style, in our budget…. However we kept going back to her website in awe. She effortlessly captures so many beautiful moments in an artistic way, with coloring and consistency that we could not find anywhere else!! It wasn’t until we were talking to a friend, explaining that we wanted a 7pm ceremony time for better lighting, and we wanted a First Look to create epic portraits that our friend stopped us and pointed out that we were clearly revolving our wedding around quality photography! She reminded us the photographs are the only thing we are left with afterwards. To make everything else affordable, I scoured Pinterest for ideas (but I did NOT want a “Pinterest wedding”) and cherry picked on the ideas for my own personal twist…. like instead of flower centerpieces, I bought preserved eucalyptus to lay down as a faux garland. The gold geometric sculptures on the tables were made from gold paper by my sister and her boyfriend. We also had a more elaborate set up for our head table, but not the guest tables…. saving time and money!! Looking at our wedding photos now, brings us the best feelings in the world!!!! There are seriously so many epic shots I am having a really hard time deciding what to print. After seeing the full gallery, Grant and I are still so amazed by the quality of every.single.photo. One of my bridesmaids hilariously said it best: Lea is like a ninja! Multiple times she suddenly appeared out of nowhere to take a photo… she may be a gnome… or a fairy!!!”

Sabrina’s handmade wedding dress by Tracy Pickering ( @sewwfabulous )

Always incorporating Star Wars in the best ways!
This was their invite:

100% this was one of my favorite wedding days because Sabrina and Grant WANTED to climb on a mountain on their wedding day!!!!
Basically… because there is no other way to have epic portraits on top of Sugarloaf if you don’t climb it!
This type of timeline isn’t for everyone, but thats what makes their wedding day unique to THEM.
We had HOURS to hang out and capture allllll this amazingness:

K, I have to speak up. Bridesmaids attitudes are everything.
These amazing bridesmaids urged Sabrina to continue with the plan of climbing Sugarloaf even though we were an hour behind schedule. They knew how important it was to Sabrina, even though they would sweat from the process of climbing after applying their makeup: )

I am sooo passionate about their outfits haha!
After all these years I truly believe:
1. Texture creates dynamic and interesting photographs,
her dress and bouquet provided both.
2. Our eyes love PATTERNS so his tie is awwwwesome
3. and Color! Her blush underskirt, his blue suit, and the bouquet!!!
People, don’t be afraid of color: P

Thanks to Dylan for second shooting!!

The face when your dad eats YOUR candy….

How to merge Star Wars with your wedding portraits!!!

I LOVE when ceremony backdrops are only nature!!
Their wedding was the first at the Carp River Gardens in Marquette
to use this magical ceremony spot!!! Everyone opts for the garden ceremony, but they wanted something different!

All of the handmade goodness!!!!!