If there were a masterclass in enjoying your wedding day no matter what the sky is doing, Erin and Dan would teach it. It rained through their first look portraits. It rained through the dancing outside. And as far as we could tell, it only made them happier. That’s the real story of this day, and it’s the thing we’d want any couple staring down a bad forecast to hear.

Burlap + Bells in Black River Falls sits in a grove of Norway pines that genuinely stops you in your tracks, and this crew made full use of every inch of it — rain and all.

Before any of the weather showed up, Erin did a first look with her dad. They both cried. Her bridesmaids stood off to the side watching it happen, and then they cried too. We’ll keep saying it: father-daughter first looks are the best thing on a wedding morning, and this one was proof.

Then the rain arrived, and Erin and Dan walked out into it. Nobody wants to hear rain in the forecast leading up to their wedding, but we’ll say it anyway — rainy weddings are some of our favorites, and this day is exactly why. During the ceremony, the sound of it falling on umbrellas under those tall pines was something else entirely. Afterward the sky cleared and handed them a rainbow. Later, a bumpy dirt road led up to the top of a hill right as the sun broke through the clouds. You can’t plan for a day like that. You can only be willing to go outside for it.

One of Erin’s bridesmaids gave her an album as a wedding gift. They tipped us off ahead of time so we’d be ready with a camera, which we’re always grateful for, and it’s a good thing they did — it brought the room to tears. Erin is a feeler. She spent the whole day dancing through it, reveling in having every person she loves in one place, and a moment like that landed on her exactly the way it was meant to.

They also handed out trophies. Actual trophies. One went to a friend for being the best thing happening on the dance floor. Another went to one of their grandmas for best dressed — she had no idea it was coming, and the moment she realized, then held that trophy up for us, is burned into our memory. It’s the kind of idea that costs almost nothing and gives a reception a spine.

The rest of the night went like this: group grand march dances, the kind that pull in people who had no intention of dancing. A yellow bus photo booth from Big Foot Foto Co. that arrived and immediately became the best thing at the party — and the guy running it is as friendly and easy to have around as anyone we’ve worked with. And lightning during the dancing, because of course there was.

A word about the people who built this day. Summer at Orange Door Weddings planned and designed it, and she is the best, period — we’d say that to anyone getting married in this part of Wisconsin. And Burlap + Bells is run by Laurie and Jason as a husband-and-wife team, which shows the second you arrive — Laurie greeted us warmly the moment we pulled in, before anyone had to ask her to. It has that feeling of somewhere people actually care about. The ceremony site under the Norway Pines is stunning, the pavilion gives couples a real blank canvas to work with, and the wagon ride to the ceremony is a small detail that guests always remember. It’s a genuinely well-thought-out venue tucked into the woods outside Black River Falls, and we’re always glad to be there. If you’re weighing it for your own day, we put everything we know into our Burlap and Bells wedding venue guide — all three ceremony sites, the light, the timeline traps, and the honest trade-offs.