I’ve been wanting to feature the work of JESSICA LORREN for a long time now so I’m thrilled to share this beautiful Wisconsin celebration with you today. You would never know looking at these beautiful images that the heavens completely opened up right as the first bridesmaid began to walk down the aisle. I love the soft pastel tones of the bridal party ééò so pretty! Annie shares more of their story belowééò
Ephraim is a very special place to me as my family has lived there for three generations. We hosted our ceremony and reception at my parent’s home (which was once my grandparent’s home and my great-grandparent’s home before that). The name of their house is ‘Skye’ after the Isle of Skye in Scotland where my ancestors originated. We planned for an outdoor ceremony and reception and anytime we would start to discuss a rain plan my dad would say, ‘it isn’t going to rain,’ and that was the end of that! I had heard of a tradition where one month before the ceremony you bury a bottle of bourbon upside down in the exact location that the bride and groom will be standing for the ceremony. Supposedly, it keeps the rain away. Well it didn’t work. It rained and it rained hard. Our ceremony was at 5:00pm and at 4:59 as the first bridesmaid started down the aisle, the rain began and my mom stood up and calmly told everyone to come into the house. As the last person entered, there was an absolute monsoon. I sat upstairs in my parent’s room with my dad (in his kilt) and my bridesmaids. Chris tucked into my room with all of his groomsmen until the storm blew over. This ended up being one of the best moments of the day as it kind of slowed things down and made us appreciate every second. After an hour or so, the rain wasn’t relenting so we made the decision to move everyone up into our reception tent. Unbeknownst to us, our guests took candles from all of the tables and lanterns from our driveway and lit the ground to make an aisle. When my dad and I got to the ‘aisle,’ there was a cheer from the crowd and I have never felt as loved as I did in that moment with my dad at my side and Chris standing in front of me. I think it was the combination of the rain, candles, and bagpipes, but I don’t think there was a dry eye in the tent.
The rest of the evening was such a joyful celebration. We had a traditional Wisconsin ‘brat fest’ for dinner with Wisconsin brats and grilled corn on the cob. Instead of cake, we had ice cream sundaes from the infamous Wilson’s Ice Cream in Ephraim. Since the rain pushed us so far behind schedule, we nixed all of the events we had planned for later in the evening. We were going to do a little ice cream sundae photo-op and a sparkler send off in my grandmother’s old 1932 pickup truck. At that point, everyone was having such a good time dancing that we didn’t want to ruin the glow of the party. We continued to dance late into the night and early into the morning as the rain subsided and the Wisconsin moon shone brightly over the tent.
Photographer JESSICA LORREN / Ceremony Venue PRIVATE HOME IN WISCONSIN
Bride’s Dress MONIQUE LHUILLIER / Bride’s shoes and earrings J.CREW / Bride’s Hair SUSIE BERG / Groom’s Suit HUGO BOSS, Bridesmaid Dresses CAMILYN BETH / Bridesmaid Earrings VINTAGE / Invitations ALEXA PULITZER / Rentals and Set Up VIVA LA COTTAGE / Flowers HELENE INGSTEN ANDERSON OF FLORA / Tent ELITE TENT RENTAL / Bagpiper DENNIS METZ / Ceremony Music MARK PIRO / Reception Music THE RHYTHM KINGS / Catering ALEXANDER’S / Day of Coordination SARAH LOTT / Photobooth SMILEBOOTH
