Backyard Lake Superior Wedding

You should hear my voice notes for this wedding. I rambled for 20 minutes about all the fun aspects of this wedding. You can count this as the condensed version. Ha!

If you thought planning a wedding during a pandemic was crazy, imagine having a wedding planned then moving it 1,711 miles across the country. This is exactly what Rachel + Nik chose to do when their August 2020 wedding was postponed. Their original wedding plans included Brookstom Creek, the only venue in the PNW that reminded them of home. So when the opportunity arose, they moved their plans to the family’s plot in Castle Danger.

How did I end up at Ole’s Acres? I was lucky that they loved me enough from their engagement session to take me with them! (Bonus for me: This Backyard Lake Superior Wedding checked off another state on my 50 States Challenge). Don’t you worry, I’ll update on all our adventures in another post.

Ole’s Acres Backyard Lake Superior Wedding

I’m willing to bet you have a special place that holds a lot of memories from childhood too. Maybe it’s your grandparents house or the park where you used to take Sunday picnics. Wherever it is, you’ll understand why Ole’s Acres was THE PLACE for Rachel + Nik to tie the knot. Nik’s Grandma Wick lives on the property and it happens to be the same plot of land where his Grandpa was born, raised and lived out all his best days. Grandpa Wick is still hanging out on the property in spirit, at his favorite spot overlooking the lakeside cottage and across Lake Superior.

It wasn’t lost on me, that Grandpa Wick had a straight view line to the ceremony space or that he was a very special man to this family. They toasted him (the adults with whiskey and the kids with coke) as they do at every family function. If you were quiet for a minute, you could feel his presence. Nik requested doing some photos up near Grandpa’s site, so we headed up when the light was perfect and the newlyweds danced where he could see them.

Minnesotans go all out when they plan weddings. Rachel + Nik’s ceremony took place on the edge of Lake Superior by the cutest cottage with a bright yellow door. (I’m a sucker for yellow… our house is yellow). The ceremony was positioned so the aisle pointed directly to Grandpa Wick’s spot on the hill. They rented a tent so everyone could get out of the sun and cooked the best BBQ buffet possible. (I don’t know who made the Mac-N-Cheese, but I’ll be mentioning it in another post because I went on a rave about it in my voice notes). Anyone walking in off the street would believe they were running a wedding venue. It was beautiful and no detail was overlooked.

Dirt Road Dancing

Many people think the best part of the day is the ceremony, and while that’s probably right, my favorite moments are during sunset portraits. As the sun is setting on your wedding day, it’s incredibly romantic to take some time and soak in the last few minutes of sun on your wedding day. Walking out to the red dirt road leading to Ole’s Acres Nik mentioned this was the road he learned to drive on. So we wrapped up our day with a sunset dirt road dance.

Rachel + Nik, it was a joy to follow you home to Ole’s Acres for your wedding day. We look forward to many more adventures and seeing where they take you. Love you both!
xoxo, Mj + Jake