Wisconsin Wedding Photography | Sarah and Russell

The day started off bright and sunny…in Pittsburgh. But meanwhile it was raining cats and dogs in Milwaukee, WI, where we were scheduled to fly for Sarah and Russell’s wedding. OK, a little rain isn’t going to hurt a plane (like my rhyming?), but seven inches of rain in two hours…that’s not good. As Jay and I finished packing up our suitcases and gathered all our photography equipment, we kept checking the website for our flight’s status. It still said it was on time…but at the same time it said the airport was closed indefinitely.

Then we got a cheerful message from Orbitz. Yep, our flight was canceled. It did have to be that day…the one day we were scheduled to fly to Milwaukee for a wedding. Well, we looked at each other and said, OK, let’s get in the car! And so we did…and drove straight to Lake Mills, Wisconsin for an awesome wedding. Take that, flooded airport!

Now back to Sarah and Russell (sorry for this long intro–if you just want to see some pretty pictures, by all means, skip it!)…Sarah and I actually go way back. As in way, way back in Russia. By the way, I do plan to get back to that story..when I have more time. Sarah’s family lived in Moscow when we were there, and we ended up going to the same small school and church. But after my family left in 1998, I didn’t really keep up with anyone. Of course, that was back in the day before such things as Facebook, when we had to send old-fashioned emails and use IM to chat online. How did we ever manage?? Fast forward to the present day–the age of Facebook–and Sarah and I find each other and become Facebook friends. I check out her profile, she sees mine, but that’s about it.

Then one day I got a message from her–she’s engaged and coming back to the US (she’s living and working in Moscow), and would I be at all interested in photographing her wedding in Wisconsin? Uh, sure! How cool is that, I thought? I’d love to meet up with an old friend, and it’d be fun to do a wedding in another part of the country.

So, that’s how Jay and I found ourselves photographing Sarah and Russel’s wedding in the middle of small-town Lake Mills, Wisconsin last weekend. And it was so fun! I loved seeing how IN LOVE she and Russell are…their incredible relationship, their wonderful family and friends, and even a few faces I recognized from back in the day. It was truly a blessing to be able to photograph their wedding day. I wish them both many years of happiness and service together (they both work at the same small missionary school in Moscow that Sarah and I attended)! Big congratulations to Sarah and Russell! And safe flights back to Russia! And a wonderful honeymoon in Egypt!

After the ceremony, we headed out to the lake near Sarah’s parent’s condo. It’s a special place to her, so we rooted out some random people swimming to get some good photos. (By the way, Sarah’s black and yellow theme would have fitted in well in Pittsburgh). Loved it!

The reception was held at Central Coast Restaurant in Fort Atkinson, WI, which was a really neat venue.

As the sun came out again, we took a little break to get some more photos of Sarah and Russell.

Love these two photos…

Then it was back to the reception for some more fun.

Again, a big congratulations to Sarah and Russell!