Jenna and Spike got married on New Year's Eve — the last day of 2016 — and rang in 2017 already married, which tells you most of what you need to know about them. Theirs is still the only true winter Pine Peaks Event Center wedding I've photographed, and the cold turned out to be the best stylist in the room: snow on the pines instead of wildflowers in the meadow, a birch arch wrapped in twinkle lights instead of the brick aisle outside, gold sequins and a white fur stole against a wall of deep evergreen. They didn't run from the season — they threw a New Year's party and dared everyone to come stand in the snow with them.
I photographed Jenna and Spike's wedding at Pine Peaks Event Center near Pine River, Minnesota — eighty private acres of pine and pasture about twenty minutes from Crosslake — and the plan was the only one that works on the shortest, coldest days of the year: get out into the snow while the light held, then come back into the warm, fire-lit barn and let a New Year's Eve run all the way long. It went past midnight, and it kept going.
Getting ReadyThe Quiet Before a New Year's Eve
The day started quietly in the lodge, the way the loudest ones often do. Jenna's silver heels sat in a slice of low winter light; her gown hung in the window between six gold sequined bridesmaid dresses, the whole bridal party's shoes lined up beneath like a countdown — which, on New Year's Eve, felt about right. The room was already dressed for the occasion: a stone mantel stacked with candles and pinecones and a marquee LOVE sign, and a hand-lettered "Baby It's Cold Outside" chalkboard that told you exactly what kind of night you were walking into.
Hair went up in curlers while everyone was still in flannel, the room loose and easy with people who've known each other forever. But the quiet beats were in there too, the ones I always watch for: Jenna reading a card from Spike in the window light, Spike reading hers alone in the game room by the pool table — different rooms, the same stillness, two people each taking a private minute before the night got loud. Then a clasp at the back of a beaded gown, a pug nosing at the train, and the whole thing tipped over into motion.
Early AfternoonGold Sequins in the Snowy Pines
Then everyone bundled up and walked straight out into it. This is the gift a winter wedding hands you that no other season can: gold sequined gowns and black fringe wraps and a white fur muff against fresh snow and a wall of evergreens. Jenna led her bridesmaids out through the pines, mittens on, all of them laughing in the single-digit cold — gold and black moving through a white-and-green forest. We kept it fast, because a Minnesota December doesn't give you much daylight, but the frames come quick when people are this game for it.
And the light did half the work for me. The low afternoon sun cut sideways through the pine boughs and lit everyone from behind, and the snow threw all of it back up into their faces. A winter wedding either leans hard into its season or fights it the whole day — Jenna and Spike leaned all the way in, and the Brainerd Lakes did the rest of the styling.
AfternoonTwo People in the Snow
We stole Jenna and Spike away from the group for a few minutes alone in the trees, and those are the frames I'd show any couple who's nervous about a cold-weather date: a kiss in the snow with a fur stole pulled close, a laugh that breaks wide open when he leans in, the two of them backlit by a winter sun that lasts about an hour. The cold barely seemed to reach them this close together — and that's the whole secret of a winter portrait. The warmth has to come from the couple. Theirs poured off them.
A few of these are still the frames I keep coming back to from this whole wedding — her train fanned out across untouched snow, his arms wrapped around her from behind, the pines going gold where the last of the sun caught them. There's a particular hush to a winter forest you don't get any other time of year, and it does something to two people standing in the middle of it.
Late AfternoonA Birch-Arch Ceremony Indoors
With the cold what it was, they brought the ceremony inside — under a white birch arch wrapped in twinkle lights and soft draped fabric, a crystal chandelier overhead, candles down a wide aisle. Jenna came in on her father's arm, her smile arriving a half-second before she did; Spike was already watching her, already gone. The vows broke into laughter more than once — at one point the best man doubled clean over, eyes squeezed shut — and the first kiss happened under birch and chandelier light, the date sign at the front reading 12-31-16. The last kiss of the old year, near enough, with only a few hours left on 2016.
And the room felt small and warm in the best possible way. Outside it was a stark Northwoods December; inside it was string lights and candlelight and a hundred people leaning in toward two of their favorites. That contrast — cold dark forest, warm bright barn — is the whole reason to get married out here in the snow.
They got married on the last day of the year — in the cold, in the dark — and turned that barn into the warmest room in Minnesota. Then they walked into the new one already holding hands.
EveningA Reception That Refused to Sit Still
Jenna and Spike came through the doors under a branch-and-twinkle-light installation with their hands thrown up, and the room never really sat back down. The toasts ran long and loud — Jenna mid-laugh at the head table, the best man reading off his phone, a forehead kiss that pulled the whole room in close. Their first dance went forehead-to-forehead under the draped ceiling, the candlelit tables blurring out behind them. And then it got loud in the best way: the groom airborne and fully horizontal at one point, his Nike sneakers up in the air, Jenna holding steady underneath and the whole room coming apart laughing.
By full dark the floor belonged to everyone — grandparents twirling under colored lights, Spike pulling grandma into the middle of it, gold sequins flashing under a disco ball. A New Year's Eve wedding comes with its own gear — the party hats, the champagne, the countdown crackling under everything — and this one used every last bit of it.
NightSparklers into the New Year
The night ended the way the best ones do — back outside, but warm this time, somewhere in the small hours of a brand-new year. The whole wedding party crowded in close under the string-lit pavilion, sparklers lit, and Jenna and Spike stole the middle of it for themselves. It's the frame that holds the entire day: all that cold and dark pressed in at the edges, a tight circle of the people they love, and the two of them kissing in the one pocket of light. They closed out the old year married in the snow, surrounded and laughing — I don't know a better way to turn a year over.
Planning a Pine Peaks Event Center Wedding?
If you're considering a Pine Peaks Event Center wedding, here's the short version, and the part most galleries won't show you: it's just as photogenic in deep winter as it is in July. Eighty private acres of pine groves and open pasture near Pine River — about twenty minutes from Crosslake — with a brick-aisle ceremony site under an enormous old tree for the warm months, and a barn-style interior dressed with birch, twinkle lights, and a stone fireplace for the cold ones. Jenna and Spike proved that a winter date isn't a compromise; it's a different, rarer kind of beautiful. For a wider view of the area, here's my guide to the best Brainerd Lakes wedding venues.
A few practical notes for a winter wedding here. Daylight is short in midwinter, so the timeline gets built around an early-afternoon portrait window — get outside while the sun's still cutting through the pines, and keep the outdoor sessions brief for the cold. Fur wraps, mittens, and a warm staging room are not optional. There's no on-site lodging, so plan guest stays and shuttles around Crosslake and Pine River and the possibility of snowy roads. And lean into the season — the snow on the pines is the entire reason to be there in winter. I shoot Pine Peaks 60/40 documentary and editorial, most of the day observed with directed portraits worked in when the light's right, and couples who aren't used to a camera tend to settle in fast once they see I'm mostly watching.
More Pine Peaks weddings on the journal, in warmer seasons: Kat & Noah's spring day under the old tree and Taylor & Charles's autumn ceremony in the pines. If your date — winter or otherwise — is still open, reach out. I photograph a limited number of Brainerd Lakes weddings each year, and I'd love to shoot more of them in the snow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pine Peaks Wedding & Event Center is at 32869 480th St SE in Pine River, Minnesota — about twenty minutes north of Crosslake in the Brainerd Lakes area, on 80 private acres of pine groves, gardens, and open pasture. Jenna and Spike's New Year's Eve wedding used both the snowy grounds and the warm barn-style interior, which is the whole appeal of the property in winter: a stark, beautiful forest just outside the door and a fire-lit room to come back into.
It's both — a forest-and-barn property. In warmer months ceremonies happen outdoors on a brick-paved aisle beneath towering pines; the reception is barn-style with an adjacent string-lit pine grove. For a New Year's Eve wedding like Jenna and Spike's, the ceremony moved inside under a birch arch wrapped in twinkle lights and draped fabric, while the snow-covered pines outside became the portrait studio. You get the rustic warmth of a Minnesota lodge with the option of a genuine winter-forest backdrop just steps away.
Yes, and it's one of the most distinctive ways to use the property. Jenna and Spike married at Pine Peaks on New Year's Eve, and the snow on the pines did styling work no florist could match — gold sequined bridesmaid dresses and a white fur stole against deep evergreen and fresh snow. The honest caveat is the cold and the short daylight: portraits run quick, fur wraps and mittens earn their keep, and you build the timeline around the early winter dusk. But the barn interior stays warm, and a winter night ends beautifully under the pavilion lights.
In midwinter the usable light is short, so the plan is the opposite of a summer day: get the couple and bridal party out to the pines early, while there's still soft afternoon sun coming through the trees, and keep the outdoor sessions brief because of the cold. Jenna and Spike's strongest winter-forest frames came mid-afternoon with backlight filtering through the evergreens. After dark, the string-lit pavilion and the barn interior carry the rest of the night, right through to a sparkler send-off.
No on-site lodging — Pine Peaks is a private event property, not a resort. Guests typically book vacation rentals or cabins in Crosslake, Pine River, or the wider Brainerd Lakes area. For a winter wedding that's worth planning around: have a warm staging space for getting ready and a clear plan for shuttling guests on potentially snowy winter roads.
Pine Peaks sets its own venue pricing, which varies by season and what you book, so the venue is the best source for current numbers — and a winter date can come with off-peak flexibility. Photography is separate: my collections and current pricing live on the pricing guide at timlarsenphoto.com/pricing. I read every inquiry myself and reply within a day, and most Brainerd Lakes couples reach out roughly eight to sixteen months ahead.
