Madeline and Sam got married on New Year's Eve — a nuptial Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Crosby, snowy pine-forest portraits in the afternoon, and a reception at the historic Deerwood Auditorium that the bride's mother transformed, by hand, from a 1930s stone gymnasium into a fairy-lit hall. A long cathedral veil that trailed across the snow, a wedding party in black, poinsettias banked around the altar, and a champagne tower under string lights: a winter wedding that used every bit of the season.
What follows is a New Year's Eve in the Brainerd Lakes, start to finish — getting ready against downtown brick, portraits that wandered from a candy shop to a snow-covered clearing, a candlelit Catholic Mass, and a reception in a National Register gymnasium that didn't look much like a gymnasium by the time the night got going.
Getting Ready Against Downtown Brick
The morning started in a brick-and-glass interior space downtown — exposed brick walls, tall industrial windows, a black-railed stairwell that runs two stories. The first frames were the details: the invitation laid out with a gold-foil envelope, baby's breath, and black ribbon; the halo diamond and a brushed-black band tucked in a velvet box. Then Madeline by the window in her gown and long veil, and a first look against the brick — Sam in a dark suit, her bouquet of white roses held out to the side, a real hug before anything else. I gave them a couple of cues and then mostly stayed out of the way.
Portraits, From a Candy Shop to the Snow
The portraits didn't stay in one place. There was a brick stairwell with the veil spilling down the steps, a window with a reflection of a warm bar interior layered over the two of them, and — best of all — a candy shop, the couple kissing in front of a wall of glass jars with a penny-farthing bicycle mounted above. The wedding party, all in black against the brick, walked and laughed through a few frames in the cold. It's the kind of run that only works when a couple is willing to keep moving and trust the plan; Madeline and Sam were.
A candy shop, a brick stairwell, a pine forest in the snow, and a 1937 gymnasium — Madeline and Sam's New Year's Eve didn't stay in one register, and it was better for it.
A Snowy Clearing Before Dark
The signature set of the day was outdoors, in a snow-covered clearing ringed by tall pines. Madeline in a fur stole over her gown, her long cathedral veil trailing across the snow; Sam in a dark suit lifting her into a kiss. There's nothing to compete with out there — no color, no clutter, just the bare quiet of a Minnesota forest at the end of December — and it makes for the cleanest, most timeless portraits of a winter wedding. It was cold, and worth it.
A New Year's Eve Mass at St. Joseph's
The ceremony was a full Catholic nuptial Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Crosby, decorated for the Christmas season — poinsettias banked at the altar, trees and candlelight at the front of the church. The processional came down the aisle in black: a groomsman carrying a sleeping child, a flower girl in black velvet and a floral crown. At the altar, Sam lifted Madeline's veil while her mother watched with her hand to her face. They knelt together beneath an arched alcove holding a statue of Mary, the long veil and train spread across the floor. After the vows and the first kiss, the recessional turned into a moment of its own — Sam dipping Madeline for a kiss in the center of the aisle while the whole church stood and applauded.
A Gymnasium Transformed — The Deerwood Auditorium
The reception was at the Deerwood Auditorium — a fieldstone building put up as a New Deal project in the 1930s, listed on the National Register, and, underneath the decor, a working gymnasium with a basketball hoop still hanging over the floor. You'd hardly have known it. Madeline's mother transformed the space top to bottom: fabric draped along the walls, a low canopy of string lights across the ceiling, a lit Christmas tree, candlelit tables with gold chargers, and a handwritten Madeline party popper at every place. The grand entrance came in with hands raised; the best man toasted with a beer in hand; Sam poured a champagne tower while Madeline laughed beside him. Then the first dance — a long dip at the center of the gym floor under the lights — and the room filled, right down to a little boy in a vest holding a pose of his own. From outside, late, the whole hall glowed warm through the windows.
Planning a Winter Wedding in the Brainerd Lakes?
A New Year's Eve wedding gives you things no other date will — snow-clearing portraits, candlelight, a champagne toast at midnight — and a non-traditional space like the Deerwood Auditorium gives you room to build exactly the room you want. I shoot weddings 60/40 documentary and editorial: most of the day is observed as it happens, with a short directed window for portraits when the light and the setting line up, whether that's a candy shop, a snowbank, or a brick stairwell. For couples doing an off-site Catholic Mass with a community-hall reception, the two-location flow photographs across completely different registers, and that contrast is a feature, not a problem.
This was the first time I photographed this family, but not the last — this past summer I shot Madeline's uncle Anthony's engagement session with his fiancée Abby. If you're planning a wedding anywhere in the Brainerd Lakes, reach out — winter dates are some of my favorites to shoot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Snow makes winter portraits, it doesn't ruin them. For Madeline and Sam's New Year's Eve wedding we stepped into a snow-covered clearing ringed by tall pines — her long cathedral veil trailing across the snow, a fur stole over the gown, Sam in a dark suit — and the quiet, bare landscape did the work. A few minutes of direction and a willingness to be a little cold gets you portraits you can't take any other time of year.
Yes, within each parish's rules — which vary, so I confirm the photography policy with the church and the officiant ahead of time. At St. Joseph's in Crosby I worked discreetly, mostly without flash, and caught the beats that matter in a full nuptial Mass: the processional, the lifting of the veil at the altar, the kneeling before the statue of Mary, the vows, the first kiss, and the recessional. Theirs was a Christmas-season Mass, with poinsettias banked around the altar and candlelight throughout.
Yes. The Deerwood Auditorium is a historic community building in Deerwood, Minnesota — a fieldstone auditorium and gymnasium built as a New Deal project in the 1930s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places — and the city rents it for weddings and receptions. It's essentially a blank-slate gymnasium, which is exactly what makes it work: it takes decor beautifully and gives you room to build the room you want.
Draping and light. For the Deerwood Auditorium reception, the bride's mother softened the gym with fabric along the walls, a low canopy of string lights across the ceiling, a lit Christmas tree, candlelit tables with gold chargers, and a champagne tower. The basketball hoop was still overhead, but by dark, with everything glowing, you'd hardly know it. Photographed at night, a transformed hall like that reads warm and intimate rather than cavernous.
