Maggie + Aksel (a yogi + dentist, respectively) said their vows on a bluff above Aksel’s beautiful family land, then hiked down to a backyard tented reception, layered with boho touches and a nod to the Norwegian side of the family. We’ve been out of practice with blogging lately, so excuse our overload of images — but also, prepare yourselves for more, because we have a stop motion video of this wedding, as well. Enjoy!!

More on weddings we photograph around La Crosse and the Driftless here.

The morning started at the Charmant Hotel, our favorite spot in La Crosse for getting ready. The suites there are big enough for a full wedding party, one for the bridesmaids and one for the groomsmen, and the light in those rooms is some of the best we get to work with all year. Nora and Akram’s wedding at the Nature Place started there too, along with plenty of others we’ve photographed over the years.

Aksel’s family land sits in a coulee a few miles outside downtown La Crosse, the kind of pocket in the Driftless that feels like a world of its own the second you turn off the main road. Most of the day happened down in that coulee, but the ceremony went up top, on a connected stretch of family land along the bluff. Maggie and Aksel built the ceremony arch themselves, wooden and a little rough around the edges instead of polished smooth, with rugs laid down underneath. After they said their vows, everyone hiked back down the hill together.

The reception unfolded in layers as everyone made their way down. Cocktail hour came first, up on a flat stretch partway down the slope, with crates and pillows for seating and drinks poured off a wood barrel bar. From there, guests continued down into the lower part of the coulee for the tented reception, and when it was time to dance, the party moved again, into a shed on the property.

A chicken coop sat just off to the side of it all, one more piece of what made this property feel like an actual home instead of a rented venue. Maggie and Aksel spent their first night as a married couple in a glamping teepee set up on the land. Friends who came in from out of town pitched their own tents nearby and stayed the whole weekend.

Aksel’s Norwegian heritage showed up in small ways all day, the cake most of all. Instead of a traditional tiered cake, Maggie and Aksel had a kransekake: rings of cake stacked into circles, one on top of the other, iced simply in white, in the traditional Norwegian style. It’s easy to miss in a wide shot, but it’s the kind of detail that tells you exactly whose wedding you’re looking at.

None of this came together without Summer, of Orange Door Weddings, who planned the day. We’ve worked with Summer many times over the years, and we can’t recommend her highly enough to anyone getting married in the La Crosse area. She has a great eye for detail, and an even rarer ability: taking whatever a couple is picturing for their wedding and actually pulling it off, without the day ever feeling rushed.