Emma and Linn: Madison Children’s Museum Wedding

I wrote a little about Emma and Linn in my last post about them (check out their beautiful couple’s session if you haven’t seen it already). These two humans are (obviously) beautiful on the outside and (perhaps less obviously if you don’t know them) seriously beautiful on the inside. I feel SO lucky to have met them and SO lucky to have been the one there with a camera at their wedding.

Generally I try to write something somewhat chronological about a couple’s wedding day. Tell the story as it unfolded. Make narrative sense. But I think I have to start this story with the end of the night.

There we were, my second shooter Ciara and I, standing on the outskirts of a seriously raucous dance floor where people of all ages, sexual orientations, and gender identities were doing some amazing group dance I had never seen before. (You can see some photos of this below). Faces were flushed. Smiles were huge. A general feeling of elation overwhelmed the space. I was overcome with emotion, suddenly, at all of this joy. I felt tears flood my eyes and looked over at Ciara, who was grinning madly as she, too, took in all the queer happiness. I was struck by the question: how can anyone hate us? Think LGBTQ folks are bad/wrong/sinners? That fact just would not jive with what I was witnessing. With the wholesome goodness of this experience. I was grateful for this encapsulated space, where this joy was safe from the not-always-friendly outside world.

This wedding was so. much. fun. The Madison Children’s Museum is such a cool venue for a wedding. So many awesome places to go and things to do for every kind of guest. So much play and opportunities to reclaim something of childhood at an otherwise grownup event.

Before heading there, though, I got to spend some quality time with Emma and Linn in downtown Madison, by and in the capitol building, and at the corner coffee shop where they shared their first date. A friend even brought their dog by for a few wedding portraits, which was so fun. They drew looks everywhere we went, their effortless style turning heads like celebrities do when they enter a room.

Emma and Linn are surrounded by an awesome community and families who are SO supportive and loving. Their toasts had everyone in tears. You can see the love on their faces in every photo I got.

I could go on and on about how special this wedding was to me, but I’ll wrap it up by saying this. Emma and Linn were some of my first photographic muses. Their symbiotic energy, their grace, their intelligence and activism and ease inspired me from the get-go. Their first couple shoot with me helped define my style for myself; since then they have helped me understand who my ideal clients are and what kind of work I want at the center of my career. I adore you two and feel so honored to have been a small part of your story together. Congratulations. You rock.