Every wedding I photograph gets the same attention — whether it's at Grand View Lodge or grandpa's backyard on the lake. Reach out with your date and venue, and let's talk about your day.
The Journal
Real Brainerd Lakes Weddings
Full wedding stories. Real venues. Real couples. Planning guides for your day.
Summer
Family Formals in 30 Minutes — The Additive Shot List That Actually Works
Family formals run long because the set keeps resetting. Build them additively — start small, add people, never subtract — and sixteen groupings take thirty minutes. Five calls that make it happen, including the one person you absolutely need.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
Isabella & Ryan — Two Donkeys, Five Hundred Balloons, the World's No. 1 Podcaster, and America's 250th
A nuptial Mass at St. Francis in Brainerd with Fr. Mike Schmitz, a wedding party made entirely of brothers and sisters, flower-crowned donkeys at cocktail hour, five hundred balloons overhead — and a red, white, and blue dance floor the night before the country's 250th birthday.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
Andrea & Jason — A Birch Arch on Gull Lake and the Lantern-Lit Path
Ten summers ago at Grand View Lodge — vows under a birch arch with Gull Lake at the end of the aisle, tears she didn’t fight, and a dusk kiss on the lantern-lined path beneath the grand staircase.
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Grand View Lodge · Autumn
Kayla & David — Early-Autumn Light and a Pontoon on Gull Lake at Grand View Lodge
An early-September day at Grand View Lodge — a lakeside-lawn ceremony under the pines, pink begonias along the paths, a golf-cart-and-pontoon afternoon on Gull Lake, and golden hour on the lantern-lined walk up to the lodge.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
Lauren & Jeremy — A Morning Wedding at The Chapel at Grand View Lodge
An 8 a.m. start at Lost Lake Lodge, a first look in the woods, an eleven o'clock ceremony at The Chapel at Grand View Lodge, and brunch at Cru — then back to the lake for yard games. Married before noon, laughing the entire way.
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Gale Woods Farm · Summer
A Midsommar on the Farm
A lake-view chapel ceremony, a Scandinavian folk procession of fiddles and bunads, sheep at the pasture fence, and golden hour over Whaletail Lake at this working-farm wedding west of Minneapolis.
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Cragun's Resort · Autumn
Becca & Jordan — A Day That Belonged to the Lake
An overcast September Saturday at Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake — a first look at the end of a long dock, lakeside vows under a floral arch, and a tribute band that turned the reception into a full-throated singalong.
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Cragun's Resort · Autumn
Brittney & Sam — A Day on Gull Lake, From a Dock to a Boat
A bright mid-September wedding at Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake — a first look at the end of a long dock, a church ceremony that ended with both their arms thrown in the air, and dusk portraits in a fishing boat on the water.
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Grand View Lodge · Summer
Lauren & Noah — A Golden-Hour Engagement at Grand View Lodge
Grand View Lodge runs across two lakes. We started on the quiet Roy Lake side — a hidden boardwalk through the tall grass — then headed to the historic main lodge for the famous staircase and a Gull Lake beach at sunset. Mostly, though, it was Lauren's laugh.
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Pine Peaks Event Center · Spring
Snow in the Shade, Fire in the Sky
A cool, overcast April day at Pine Peaks — bare hardwoods, deep-green pine corridors, a birch-arch ceremony, and a gray sky that cracked open over the field into a brilliant dusk.
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Wisconsin Point · Summer
Reeden & Jacklyn — A Wisconsin Point Engagement on the Edge of Lake Superior
A June evening on Wisconsin Point in Superior — the lighthouse breakwater, a driftwood beach, and a boardwalk through the dunes, with two people who could not stop making each other laugh. Next summer they get married at their family cabin near Emily.
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Pine Peaks Event Center · Summer
Under the Pines, Into the Wildflowers
A July wedding at Pine Peaks at the height of summer bloom — a foot-washing ceremony beneath the pines, a wildflower meadow, a string-lit first dance, and a silhouette kiss over the open fields.
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