What it costs, what's included, and how I work.

About 60% documentary and 40% editorial. The day is mostly observed — the toasts, the tears, the kids running around, the way your dad reacts when he sees you. The editorial 40% is intentional portraits, where I step in and direct. Both halves matter. Pure documentary skips the portraits your parents will frame; pure editorial misses the moments you'll actually want to remember.

Most of my couples say the same thing in the consultation. The honest answer: this is one of the things I'm best at. When we step into portraits, I'll tell you exactly what to do — where to stand, how to hold each other, what to do with your hands. The engagement session in most collections is partly for this reason. By the wedding day, the awkwardness is gone.

Collection Three is the most common — ten hours, second photographer, album. It covers a full Brainerd Lakes wedding end-to-end without overshooting. If you're planning a smaller day, Collection One is usually the better fit. If you're planning a destination weekend at Grand View or Madden's, Collection Four is built for that.

Collection One is built for couples who are clear about the day they want — usually a smaller wedding close to home. They tend to know each other, know the venue, and don't need the warm-up that an engagement session provides. Collection Two and up include the session because at 8 hours and beyond, the day is bigger, the portrait time is longer, and the couples I'm working with are more often coming from the Twin Cities and want to meet before the wedding day itself.

I cover the entire Brainerd Lakes region with no travel fee — Brainerd, Baxter, Crosslake, Pequot Lakes, Nisswa, Aitkin, Whitefish, Gull Lake. For weddings outside the region, travel and lodging are billed at cost. For destination weddings outside Minnesota or Wisconsin, we'll quote a custom travel package.

A sneak peek delivered to your phone within 48 hours of the reception. The full gallery within three weeks. No three-month waits, no months of silence.

Two camera bodies on me at all times, plus a backup body in the bag. Multiple lenses, multiple memory cards (every shot is written to two cards simultaneously). Insurance, contracts, and 19 years of contingency planning. The practical answer to "what if something goes wrong" is that almost everything that could go wrong, has — and the photos still came out.

Most Brainerd Lakes receptions happen in dim lodge ballrooms or under string lights outside, and the light shifts every hour. I shoot with fast prime lenses and use off-camera flash when the room calls for it — set up to look like the room, not like a flash photo. The reception transition is one of the harder parts of the day; experience matters here.

Reach out and we'll build something around the day you're actually planning. Elopements, courthouse-and-dinner days, vow renewals, and full multi-day destination weekends at the major resorts all get custom quotes. The four collections cover most weddings; the inquiry form covers the rest.