JAN – APRIL
I don’t normally do an extensive year-in-review, but I decided this year was simply too incredible to not be documented in a special way.
We started 2019 with no idea where we would be (literally) when Dec 31 hit. Geographically & mentally speaking, it was all pretty up in the air. At the turn of 2019 we were brand spankin new at fulltime traveling. Only one month into our new living situation – our family of 3 in a 21 foot travel trailer – and settling down in the Southwest for the coming winter.
A few moments I will remember forever:
There are so many lessons and so many memories I will take from this experience that made me feel I was truly *alive.*Â Full body, life changing experiences. They are also the hardest to put into words. Living on wheels is a challenge for sure, but no matter what happens this way of life for me anyway is **10 times more rewarding** because it creates deeper experiences and really creates a special bonds within yourself and the people who shared in the experience with you. I now get to share so many of them with Alex.
Lastly, I discovered that traveling fulltime is both a beautiful blessing and curse. When you’re going at it fulltime, you don’t always have the mental capacity to pause and reflect and truly appreciate these experiences the way they deserve. You’re too focused on the schedule ahead and the next experience. As incredible as it was to be traveling months on end, I am now a firm believer in doing everything in moderation. Even when it’s a good thing, you need to take mental breaks, and every once in a while you just need to come home 😉
MAY – AUGUST
After spending our share of time in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, back to Arizona, then New Mexico – it was April and time to head back to Wisconsin for wedding season <333! We were fortunate to work with 15 lovely couples + meet many more 2020 couples.
We kept our “home on wheels” travelin’ life still going strong back home in Wisconsin, using each week’s wedding location as our home base for that week or two until the next came along.
Although I likely won’t do it again because it required tons of extra planning and coordination during an already busy wedding season, I am glad that we gave one summer on wheels a go. We were able to check off so much on our bucket list: Apostle Islands, Upper Michigan, the charm of Lake Geneva, +Â finally got to check out Duluth where Alex used to live (pics of our Superior trip later down in this post!) We were able to see so much of our home state of Wisconsin + Midwest that we never saw before and might have never had the proper chance.
SOO without further adieux, here are 2019’s loveliest **newlyweds!**
KIM + NICK | CATHEDRAL ROCK | SEDONA, ARIZONA (FROM MARCH 30, 2019 )
MEGAN + DEREK | BLACK SWAN | MILWAUKEE WI | MAY 4 2019
KELSIE + JASON | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | MAY 24 2019
ALI + FATIMA | SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN | WHITEFISH BAY WI | MAY 30 2019
AMBER + RYAN | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | JUNE 7 2019
LEXIE + JASON | ST JAMES FARM FOREST PRESERVE | WARRENVILLE IL | JUNE 13 2019
LAKE SUPERIOR TRIP
This was the summer of work hard / play hard. During the off-weekends we made the most of it by checking off some long overdue bucket list items. We took a two week trip dedicated to Lake Superior, and involving three different spots: 1) Duluth, MN 2) Apostle Islands, WI and 3) Porcupine Mountains, MI.
Favorite memory: Chasing all the cargo ships coming into Duluth + biking Madeline Island after one two many drinks…but we stumbled upon the quintessential Apostle Island view!♡
We then got ourselves stationed at Neshonoc RV Resort near La Crosse – our favorite of all the WI Thousand Trails membership locations (pssst, if you’re going to be doing some fulltime RV traveling I highly recommend looking into a yearly membership through them) We enjoyed the view of the lake and got ourselves ready to photograph wedding #1 of 3 at Burlap and Bells this season. So many of our couples chose the forest to say “I do” and we could NOT have been more on board!
CAITLIN + ROBERT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | JULY 27 2019
DANIELLE + ANDREW | WHITE OAK CHAPEL | BRILLION WI | AUGUST 3, 2019
GLACIER & BANFF
August marked 3 years of marriage & 10 years of Alex and I being together. I forced myself a year ago to block off this whole entire month so we could set aside time to take a major trip. We went with Alex’s location of choice and lifelong bucket list item — Glacier National Park. I won’t get too much into our time here because I wrote ALLLL about our trip in this blog post here. But basically, this place was insane. Definitely the highlight trip of the year and our new favorite place on EARTHHH. We’ve seen a lot of cool shizz this past year but if I could recommend just ONE place you see, it’s Glacier. HOLY LIFECHANGING.
SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER
We came back from our Glacier trip refreshed & ready for a fully packed fall season. 6 weddings in the month of September alone + meeting soo many of my new 2020 couples! I still need to get these lovely weddings on my blog so stay tuned this off season while I play catchup!
CARLY + DAN | MAXWELL MANSION | LAKE GENEVA WI | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
BEKKA + NATE | BUBOLZ NATURE PRESERVE | APPLETON WI | SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
SARA + ADAM | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
CHRISTINE + MYKAL | HARTMAN CREEK STATE PARK | WAUPACA WI | SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
AUBREE + ELLIOT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
JORDAN + ZACH | CASTLE FARMS | CHARLEVOIX MI | SEPTEMBER 29, 2019
During this trip to Charlevoix for Jordan & Zach’s wedding we also made a few stops along the way to Mackinac Island and Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (but don’t go all the way down to the water, unless you want to spend two hours getting back up or pay to be helicoptered out!)
We had a month to play catch up on all the editing, and then last not but least we celebrated:
EMILY + DUSTIN | BRIGHTON ACRES | OSHKOSH WI | OCTOBER 26, 2019
+ SHOT MANY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS AT SOME RAD PLACES
+ SHOT AN ANNIVERSARY SESSION WITH AMANDA + JOE BACK WHILE WE WERE IN BANFF
+ DAPPLED WITH A FEW FAMILY SESSIONS
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER
With the cold weather moving in Alex and I started discussions on what to do next. Another adventure down south, or put the travel trailer in storage and find an apartment around here to bunker down for the winter. For months we weren’t seeing eye to eye and it was so difficult to know what to do. I didn’t want all good things to end. I could have seriously lived on wheels forever. I didn’t know it a couple months ago, but now I know for sure that pauses are good and breaks are necessary. All good things must end– at least temporarily.
Alex has been simply amazing, always. He has encouraged me try out a lot of the things I wanted to do this past few years — like start up a biz and join me in my travel lifestyle, and now it was my turn to ask him what he needed – which was some serious structure and routine. In October we signed a year long lease to an apartment and although I went through a little identity crisis and may have cried a little (read: actually began SOBBING in a Best Buy parking lot on our way to get our cable router LOL), my anxieties quickly subsided when we began actually living in our new space and I realized how NICE it was to have things like a washer/dryer, full size fridge, stove, oven, SHOWER, couch to spread out our legs and hallways to move our feet from one room to the other. The finer things in life 🙂 Boy, looking back at this past year we were REALLY slumming it.
The first few days in our apartment (of course had to add in all the adventure decor/feels as possible).
SPONTANEOUS TRIP TO ARIZONA
My newfound love of bunkering down in Wisconsin for the winter was put to the test when our nephew Daniel asked us to join him in a road trip to AZ for a week. Part of me was worried I wouldn’t come back haha. But I am SO happy that we decided to do it. We stayed at the cutest hotel in Scottsdale for the weekend and checked off the Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks on our way back home in Santa Fe (we happened to miss this gem while traveling through last year)! After Santa Fe I was actually missing home and just so anxious to get back and start decorating our new home for Christmas + get into the holiday spirit. And just to simply enjoy a season of REST.
Right before we left for our trip to AZ we celebrated Alex’s 32nd bday at Lambeau Field (our first time seeing actual STARTERS play!) & ended up being a high scoring and *winning* game vs the Raiders. My sister and I also took a day trip to Madison to see Lana Del Rey, which is now about the only music I listen to while editing. After we got back from Arizona we celebrated my Grandma’s 80th birthday at the casino (and she won big!) and enjoyed the perfect Thanksgiving meal, plus Black Friday + Small Biz Saturday with the girls.
We started this Christmas season with a new tradition, Alex and I went to get us our first real tree. We spent a wonderful holiday with family and friends and it felt TWICE as merry as usual (to make up for our last doozy of a Christmas :P)
2010-2020, WOAH you were a crazy decade in the best way possible. I met the love of my life, graduated college, adopted our fur child, had multiple career changes, married the love of my life, started a business, took a chance living on wheels, and saw more places in this beautiful country of ours I never knew I’d see in my lifetime. People always ask older people “what were the best year’s of your life?” Well…my 20’s were simply the best + most rewarding years of my life thus far. But I’m hoping (and have a good feeling) there’s still more to this story 😉
Thank you so much to all the friends, fam, couples and vendors that I have worked with this past year and decade! You are all so loved and appreciated! Cheers to the NEW 2020 DECADE!
JAN – APRIL
I don’t normally do an extensive year-in-review, but I decided this year was simply too incredible to not be documented in a special way.
We started 2019 with no idea where we would be (literally) when Dec 31 hit. Geographically & mentally speaking, it was all pretty up in the air. At the turn of 2019 we were brand spankin new at fulltime traveling. Only one month into our new living situation – our family of 3 in a 21 foot travel trailer – and settling down in the Southwest for the coming winter.
A few moments I will remember forever:
There are so many lessons and so many memories I will take from this experience that made me feel I was truly *alive.*Â Full body, life changing experiences. They are also the hardest to put into words. Living on wheels is a challenge for sure, but no matter what happens this way of life for me anyway is **10 times more rewarding** because it creates deeper experiences and really creates a special bonds within yourself and the people who shared in the experience with you. I now get to share so many of them with Alex.
Lastly, I discovered that traveling fulltime is both a beautiful blessing and curse. When you’re going at it fulltime, you don’t always have the mental capacity to pause and reflect and truly appreciate these experiences the way they deserve. You’re too focused on the schedule ahead and the next experience. As incredible as it was to be traveling months on end, I am now a firm believer in doing everything in moderation. Even when it’s a good thing, you need to take mental breaks, and every once in a while you just need to come home 😉
MAY – AUGUST
After spending our share of time in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, back to Arizona, then New Mexico – it was April and time to head back to Wisconsin for wedding season <333! We were fortunate to work with 15 lovely couples + meet many more 2020 couples.
We kept our “home on wheels” travelin’ life still going strong back home in Wisconsin, using each week’s wedding location as our home base for that week or two until the next came along.
Although I likely won’t do it again because it required tons of extra planning and coordination during an already busy wedding season, I am glad that we gave one summer on wheels a go. We were able to check off so much on our bucket list: Apostle Islands, Upper Michigan, the charm of Lake Geneva, +Â finally got to check out Duluth where Alex used to live (pics of our Superior trip later down in this post!) We were able to see so much of our home state of Wisconsin + Midwest that we never saw before and might have never had the proper chance.
SOO without further adieux, here are 2019’s loveliest **newlyweds!**
KIM + NICK | CATHEDRAL ROCK | SEDONA, ARIZONA (FROM MARCH 30, 2019 )
MEGAN + DEREK | BLACK SWAN | MILWAUKEE WI | MAY 4 2019
KELSIE + JASON | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | MAY 24 2019
ALI + FATIMA | SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN | WHITEFISH BAY WI | MAY 30 2019
AMBER + RYAN | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | JUNE 7 2019
LEXIE + JASON | ST JAMES FARM FOREST PRESERVE | WARRENVILLE IL | JUNE 13 2019
LAKE SUPERIOR TRIP
This was the summer of work hard / play hard. During the off-weekends we made the most of it by checking off some long overdue bucket list items. We took a two week trip dedicated to Lake Superior, and involving three different spots: 1) Duluth, MN 2) Apostle Islands, WI and 3) Porcupine Mountains, MI.
Favorite memory: Chasing all the cargo ships coming into Duluth + biking Madeline Island after one two many drinks…but we stumbled upon the quintessential Apostle Island view!♡
We then got ourselves stationed at Neshonoc RV Resort near La Crosse – our favorite of all the WI Thousand Trails membership locations (pssst, if you’re going to be doing some fulltime RV traveling I highly recommend looking into a yearly membership through them) We enjoyed the view of the lake and got ourselves ready to photograph wedding #1 of 3 at Burlap and Bells this season. So many of our couples chose the forest to say “I do” and we could NOT have been more on board!
CAITLIN + ROBERT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | JULY 27 2019
DANIELLE + ANDREW | WHITE OAK CHAPEL | BRILLION WI | AUGUST 3, 2019
GLACIER & BANFF
August marked 3 years of marriage & 10 years of Alex and I being together. I forced myself a year ago to block off this whole entire month so we could set aside time to take a major trip. We went with Alex’s location of choice and lifelong bucket list item — Glacier National Park. I won’t get too much into our time here because I wrote ALLLL about our trip in this blog post here. But basically, this place was insane. Definitely the highlight trip of the year and our new favorite place on EARTHHH. We’ve seen a lot of cool shizz this past year but if I could recommend just ONE place you see, it’s Glacier. HOLY LIFECHANGING.
SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER
We came back from our Glacier trip refreshed & ready for a fully packed fall season. 6 weddings in the month of September alone + meeting soo many of my new 2020 couples! I still need to get these lovely weddings on my blog so stay tuned this off season while I play catchup!
CARLY + DAN | MAXWELL MANSION | LAKE GENEVA WI | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
BEKKA + NATE | BUBOLZ NATURE PRESERVE | APPLETON WI | SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
SARA + ADAM | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
CHRISTINE + MYKAL | HARTMAN CREEK STATE PARK | WAUPACA WI | SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
AUBREE + ELLIOT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
JORDAN + ZACH | CASTLE FARMS | CHARLEVOIX MI | SEPTEMBER 29, 2019
During this trip to Charlevoix for Jordan & Zach’s wedding we also made a few stops along the way to Mackinac Island and Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (but don’t go all the way down to the water, unless you want to spend two hours getting back up or pay to be helicoptered out!)
We had a month to play catch up on all the editing, and then last not but least we celebrated:
EMILY + DUSTIN | BRIGHTON ACRES | OSHKOSH WI | OCTOBER 26, 2019
+ SHOT MANY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS AT SOME RAD PLACES
+ SHOT AN ANNIVERSARY SESSION WITH AMANDA + JOE BACK WHILE WE WERE IN BANFF
+ DAPPLED WITH A FEW FAMILY SESSIONS
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER
With the cold weather moving in Alex and I started discussions on what to do next. Another adventure down south, or put the travel trailer in storage and find an apartment around here to bunker down for the winter. For months we weren’t seeing eye to eye and it was so difficult to know what to do. I didn’t want all good things to end. I could have seriously lived on wheels forever. I didn’t know it a couple months ago, but now I know for sure that pauses are good and breaks are necessary. All good things must end– at least temporarily.
Alex has been simply amazing, always. He has encouraged me try out a lot of the things I wanted to do this past few years — like start up a biz and join me in my travel lifestyle, and now it was my turn to ask him what he needed – which was some serious structure and routine. In October we signed a year long lease to an apartment and although I went through a little identity crisis and may have cried a little (read: actually began SOBBING in a Best Buy parking lot on our way to get our cable router LOL), my anxieties quickly subsided when we began actually living in our new space and I realized how NICE it was to have things like a washer/dryer, full size fridge, stove, oven, SHOWER, couch to spread out our legs and hallways to move our feet from one room to the other. The finer things in life 🙂 Boy, looking back at this past year we were REALLY slumming it.
The first few days in our apartment (of course had to add in all the adventure decor/feels as possible).
SPONTANEOUS TRIP TO ARIZONA
My newfound love of bunkering down in Wisconsin for the winter was put to the test when our nephew Daniel asked us to join him in a road trip to AZ for a week. Part of me was worried I wouldn’t come back haha. But I am SO happy that we decided to do it. We stayed at the cutest hotel in Scottsdale for the weekend and checked off the Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks on our way back home in Santa Fe (we happened to miss this gem while traveling through last year)! After Santa Fe I was actually missing home and just so anxious to get back and start decorating our new home for Christmas + get into the holiday spirit. And just to simply enjoy a season of REST.
Right before we left for our trip to AZ we celebrated Alex’s 32nd bday at Lambeau Field (our first time seeing actual STARTERS play!) & ended up being a high scoring and *winning* game vs the Raiders. My sister and I also took a day trip to Madison to see Lana Del Rey, which is now about the only music I listen to while editing. After we got back from Arizona we celebrated my Grandma’s 80th birthday at the casino (and she won big!) and enjoyed the perfect Thanksgiving meal, plus Black Friday + Small Biz Saturday with the girls.
We started this Christmas season with a new tradition, Alex and I went to get us our first real tree. We spent a wonderful holiday with family and friends and it felt TWICE as merry as usual (to make up for our last doozy of a Christmas :P)
2010-2020, WOAH you were a crazy decade in the best way possible. I met the love of my life, graduated college, adopted our fur child, had multiple career changes, married the love of my life, started a business, took a chance living on wheels, and saw more places in this beautiful country of ours I never knew I’d see in my lifetime. People always ask older people “what were the best year’s of your life?” Well…my 20’s were simply the best + most rewarding years of my life thus far. But I’m hoping (and have a good feeling) there’s still more to this story 😉
Thank you so much to all the friends, fam, couples and vendors that I have worked with this past year and decade! You are all so loved and appreciated! Cheers to the NEW 2020 DECADE!
ADVENTURES 2019
Jan 4, 2020
I will be in touch soon.
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