Woodnote Photography Blog

Milwaukee + Chicago wedding + portrait photographers

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

sarah anne + filip are married!

posted in Weddings tags: boerner botanical gardens, filip drambarean, milwaukee wedding, milwaukee wedding photographer, sarah anne slauson, scrabble, teach for america, woodnote photography

You may remember Sarah Anne + Filip from their engagement session a few months back… the post where I talked about how art history brings people together? Well, it does.

Anyway..

Being a part of Sarah + Fil’s big day was an incredible experience as photographers, and as people that were treated like guests at the wedding. The couple’s families came together and celebrated in a way that was just remarkable, and the love that Sarah Anne + Filip have for each other really blew everyone away.

The ceremony and reception took place at the Boerner Botanical Gardens on a beautiful Friday morning in June. (Props to them for being original with their choice of time!) During the ceremony vows, rather than simply make promises to each other, Sarah Anne + Fil asked things of each other, as they quoted Song of Solomon 8:6 which says, “Place me as a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death.” I won’t lie … I actually had to wipe some tears away during their vows … which was a first for me! It was an insanely moving ceremony, and there wasn’t a dry eye in sight!

Sarah Anne + Filip took the majority of their portraits together before the ceremony, so we arranged a pretty cool ‘first look’ for them, where they joined hands around a big oak tree. The photos that we have of them holding hands were before they had even gotten to see each other! Their anticipation and excitement was so honest and free.. it was incredible to witness!! These two share quite a love.

After the wedding, we received the most lovely note from Sarah Anne + Filip that we have ever received from a couple. We were floored by how encouraging, generous and gracious these two were to us, and we’re actually hoping that they let us quote their letter on our website.. because it is the best ‘reference’ that a photographer could ever ask for!

And with that, let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy these snippets from their day. Sarah Anne + Fil, you guys will forever be a couple that we speak of with fondness and love.. if you ever move back from Texas, let’s be friends that play Scrabble together? Deal?

by Caroline

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

mandy + justin are married!

posted in Weddings tags: Amanda Ihlefeld Schweiger, bartolotta milwaukee, caroline lee, jayden lee, Justin Schweiger, mckinley marina milwaukee, milwaukee wedding, the grain exchange, wedding reception at the grain exchange, woodnote photography

Two blogs in one day?! Neverrrr!! Here’s some local Milwaukee goodness to wet your whistle..

I met Mandy back in October of 2008.. one morning at 4am when I was training at Starbucks, and she was already an employee there. Even at 4am, Mandy’s energy and bubbly personality were unstoppable! And then to find out she would open at Starbucks, and THEN go work another job for the rest of the day?!! Inspirational, to say the least!

So, when Justin [finally] asked Mandy to marry him… and Mandy asked us to photograph their wedding, I knew we were in for some fun! Only Mandy would have the drive to plan an outdoor wedding in Milwaukee in May … sometimes the snow hasn’t even melted by then! But she got quite a gorgeous day. A heavy mist hung in the air, and created an incredible romantic backdrop for many of their photos. After an outdoor wedding at the McKinley Marina, we took photos all around Milwaukee … even stumbling across a Harley Fest, where the kind folks let us commandeer their bikes for some fantastic photos … and ended up at the Grain Exchange for a fabulous night of dinner and dancing and soooo many laughs.

After we had photographed all the events of the day, and went to leave, Justin was adamant that we stay and celebrate with him. He kept saying, “Your work is done! You’re our GUESTS now!” We were totally overwhelmed by his love and generosity … and we may have stayed to party … just a little bit

Mandy + Justin, you guys are a riot! Never stop having absurd amounts of fun the way you do. We loved capturing your festivities, and we can’t wait to see you at Courtney + Nate’s wedding in October!!

Cheers!

by Caroline

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

joanie + corbin are married!

posted in Weddings tags: corbin st. pierre, destination wedding photographer, joanie goetz, woodnote photography

Well, well, well … welcome! Yes, we are still alive and well! Our summer is flying by, and we have many wonderful weddings to post here over the next few weeks…! Thanks for being patient with us. We promise it will be worth it.

That said …

It must first be stated that Corbin is my cousin. And not just any cousin. That crazy-wonderful-fun cousin, where your childhood memories of him include him saying, “What’s the magic word?” and when you said, “Please?” he’d say, “Nope! GHOSTBUSTERS.” That’s Corbin. Corbin’s laugh resonates through an entire room … he throws his head back, opens his mouth as wide as it will go, and then just starts saying, “HA HA HA HA.” It is possibly the most contagious thing on this planet! Corbin has four sisters [my incredibly hot cousins] … and I think being surrounded by so many women his whole life also influenced him, as he is a tender soul, and an incredible dad.

Needless to say, we were stoked when he + his lovely Joanie asked us to fly to Venice, Florida and photograph their big day!! They were married all the way back in May [... which shows you just how behind we are on the blogging thing ...], and it was a wonderfully stinkin’ hot Florida day. Joanie + Corbin have a total of six kids between them … WHEW! … and so their main goal for the wedding day was to celebrate with their friends, family and kids … and not do too many ‘posed photos’. We did, however, end up getting a chunk of time to take portraits under a big banyan tree in the middle of a median when the party bus’ air conditioning started on fire. Ahhh, memories.

One of my favorite moments of the day was during the reception. My incredible grandparents, who have been married for 66 years and are still ridiculously in love, got up to dance the moment that a Frank Sinatra song came on. It pretty much warmed my soul to the very depths! Talk about a standard to live up to … yikes! What amazing people.

Joanie + Corbin, we love you guys, and are so thrilled you guys are hitched…! Thanks so much for entrusting us with the task of capturing your special day. We hope you enjoy some of our favorite candid shots!

Corbin’s sisters … my lovely cousins!

by Caroline

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August 25, 2010 - 7:49 pm

Joanie St.Pierre - WOW thank you so much for everything Caroline and Jayden we absolutely love the photos you took and you both did a great job capturing our special day

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

ilana + david are engaged!

posted in Engagements, Portraits tags: math scares caroline, math scares caroline a lot, math scares caroline to the point of tears

We met up with Ilana + David a few weeks ago now, when the early stages of summer were beginning to unveil themselves … but the whispers of spring rain where still very near.

These two have chemistry…let me tell you! They met on Match.com, which sold us on it’s compatibility-matchmaking-skills, for sure! Ilana is a feisty one, with a major dose of sassy, too … [do I have to mention that I want to be friends with you even after your wedding is said and done?!], and David is insanely smart, but not at all nerdy. When Ilana told me that David has his PhD and is a math professor at a university in Chicago, I nearly fainted, and struggled to muster the courage to even meet him [math has to be my #1 weakness, and thus fear!] … but he wasn’t at all scary!!! David is kind, gentle, funny, and most of all … his love for Ilana is as obvious as the answer to 2 + 2! [Did'ya like that?? See.. I tried!]

Anyway, you guys are so much fun, and we just can’t wait to hang with you again on your big day later this year. Thanks heaps for choosing us! We’re stoked and honored, all at the same time!

Enjoy some of our faves from your shoot.. xx

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