CANDID, STORY-DRIVEN PHOTOGRAPHY IN MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee WI Wedding Photographers
Story-driven photography for couples who want their day to feel as good as it looks.
photography that tells a story,
you're in the right place.
Milwaukee sits right on Lake Michigan, and you can feel it in the light: big open sky over the water, the kind of gold that cream city brick warehouses turn in late afternoon, wings on the Art Museum that open and close with the day. It's a city built in layers — old brick next to glass and steel, a concert hall that turns into a wedding reception, warehouses that turn into someone's living room. The backdrop doesn't look like anywhere else in the state.
We're Ray and Kelly, a husband-and-wife team documenting weddings across Wisconsin since 2007. We live in Viroqua, out in the Driftless, so Milwaukee's a few hours' drive for us, not our backyard. We make the trip often enough that we know our way around the venues that matter: the Art Museum, Turner Hall, and the warehouses and barns just outside the city.
We won't hand you a shot list or ask you to hold a pose while we fix the light. We photograph what's actually happening, which usually turns out to be the parts you'd have missed anyway. Your mom's face during the vows. Your brother laughing at something off to the side. The ten seconds right after the ceremony when nobody's looking at you yet.
more about us! →
We didn't always live in Wisconsin — we spent years in Chicago, then Portland, before we moved back home on purpose. That city time never really left us, and it's a lot of why Milwaukee keeps pulling us back: the old cream city brick and cast iron storefronts downtown, a coffee shop scene we could spend a whole weekend working through, and a food scene that isn't shy about naming the farm your dinner came from. We end up in Milwaukee often, for shoots and just for ourselves, often enough that it stopped feeling like a special trip a while ago.
What keeps us coming back for weddings specifically is the venues: the Art Museum's wings closing over a reception at dusk, Turner Hall's stage lit up for a first dance, warehouses on the river that look like nowhere else in the state. We started shooting weddings in Milwaukee because couples we already knew from home moved there, and now we just keep getting invited back.
That's the short version. There's a longer one with more about us and less about the city.
we are ray + kelly!
photography that tells a story,
you're in the right place.
Milwaukee runs later into the season than the Driftless does — city heat holds on through September — and the lake changes the light: hazier and more diffuse right along the water than it is inland. Summer evenings on the lakefront stretch long. If your date's flexible, we're glad to talk through what a specific month actually looks like here rather than what it looks like in photos
WE KNOW The Venues
We won't pretend we know Milwaukee's back roads the way we know the Driftless. What we do know, from repeat trips, is the handful of venues we keep getting hired back to: which room at the Art Museum catches the best afternoon light, how Turner Hall's stage looks once the tables are cleared for dancing, which warehouses along the river have the right kind of worn-in beauty for portraits. If your venue isn't one we've shot before, we're happy to scout it ahead of time.
Milwaukee Weddings
Milwaukee Venues &
Locations We Love
photography that tells a story,
you're in the right place.
A few of the areas and venues we love around Milwaukee:
Downtown Milwaukee — the Milwaukee Art Museum on the lakefront, and Turner Hall, a historic ballroom that doubles as a concert venue
Kansasville — The Farm at Dover, about 35 minutes southwest and worth the trip
Burlington — Wagon Wheel Farm, and Camp Dewan, a working barn and a rustic camp venue, both about 40 minutes southwest
Elkhorn — Camp Wandawega, a vintage lakeside camp about 45 minutes southwest
West Bend — Orchard Valley Acres, a working farm about 40 minutes northwest, chickens and all
Hartford — The Bowery Barn, whitewashed and golden-lit, about 40 minutes northwest
Don't see your venue here? We've shot at plenty of places that aren't on this list — reach out and tell us about yours.
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Recent Milwaukee Area Wedding Photos
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Cara and James got married at St. Augustine of Hippo and celebrated at Turner Hall, a historic Milwaukee ballroom that runs as a concert venue the rest of the year. Portraits happened at his family's warehouses on the river, and the reception ran on the same stage touring bands play. Nieces and nephews ran the place all night in little chauffeur hats, and Cara barely left the dance floor. See Cara + James's full wedding day →
Rebecca and Matt asked for a day of bourbon and lace at The Farm at Dover, about half an hour southwest of the city. Dried wheat boutonnieres, string lights after dark, and not one stressed-out moment the whole day. Rebecca's late father's cowboy hat sat in the front row through the ceremony, his seat held for him in spirit. See Rebecca + Matt's full wedding day →
Rebecca + Matt /
Farm at Dover Wedding
The Farm at Dover
