From elegant downtown landmarks and breezy lakeside spaces to lush botanical gardens, modern gathering halls, country clubs, barns, and historic estates, Madison and its surrounding communities offer a wedding venue for nearly every vision.

I’ve photographed weddings at each and every one of these venues and organized them by location to help you narrow down your search. I’ve even linked their websites for you! I couldn’t feature every incredible venue that I love, but hope this curated list gives you a starting point for your planning.

Madison

Downtown and Capitol Square

• Monona Terrace — A lakefront downtown venue with rooftop views and flexible ceremony and reception spaces.
• Overture Center for the Arts — A dramatic arts venue with Capitol views, theatrical lighting, and several event spaces.
• Wisconsin State Capitol — A landmark setting for ceremonies, with reservations and event-use rules managed by state offices.
• Madison Children’s Museum — A playful downtown option with indoor exhibits, a rooftop garden, and evening rentals.
• The Madison Club — A full-service venue with historic interiors, lake views, and event packages.

UW–Madison Campus and Near West Side

• Allen Centennial Garden — An intimate campus garden with cultivated outdoor ceremony settings.
• Wisconsin Historical Society — A stately historic building on Library Mall near the heart of the UW campus.
• Memorial Union — An iconic lakeside campus venue with historic rooms and Wisconsin Union catering.
• Café Hollander — A Hilldale restaurant with rooftop seating and spaces for private events.

East Side, Atwood, and Monona

• Olbrich Botanical Gardens — A garden venue with year-round indoor rooms, outdoor garden access, and an intimate conservatory option.
• Goodman Community Center — A welcoming Atwood-area venue with industrial character, catering, and rooms for events of different sizes.
• Aldo Leopold Nature Center — A nature-focused Monona venue with indoor and outdoor spaces and a wooded backdrop.
• Garver Feed Mill — A restored east-side landmark with soaring ceilings, exposed brick, historic windows, and versatile celebration spaces.

Near East Side

• The Tinsmith — A modern industrial venue with historic details and a four-season greenhouse.
• Barnwood Events — A rustic-modern barn venue with indoor and outdoor spaces on an accessible property.

Stoughton and Southeast Dane County

• The Fields Reserve — A private Stoughton property with separate ceremony and reception barns and wooded scenery.
• The Lageret — A restored Stoughton tobacco warehouse with brick walls, timber beams, and a flexible industrial layout.

 

Windsor and North of Madison

• Lake Windsor Country Club — A golf-course venue with bright reception rooms, outdoor ceremony options, and on-site coordination.

Destination Venues Within Driving Distance

Edgerton

• Over the Vines — A vineyard and wine-barn venue serving couples from Madison and southern Wisconsin.

Janesville

• 10 South — A downtown Janesville venue with a historic main hall and private courtyard.

Monroe

• Ludlow Mansion — A historic mansion and event property with indoor and outdoor spaces for celebrations of many sizes.

Choosing the Right Venue

The right venue should feel beautiful, practical, and true to the celebration you’re planning. As you compare options, think about guest capacity, the flow between ceremony and reception spaces, weather backup plans, accessibility, parking, catering requirements, and the amount of travel involved for your guests. Offerings can change, so contact each venue directly to confirm current pricing, policies, availability, and what is included before you book.

Good luck and happy wedding planning!

-Hillary

 

Creating a Wedding Day and Photography Timeline

Choosing the time for your wedding is a crucial part of your wedding planning. Since you will want to get pictures of the wedding party and close family, you will need to take the time of day and your desired pictures setting into account.

For example, if you want beautiful outdoor photos, you should not plan for your ceremony to start at 7pm unless you want to take your photos before the ceremony. However, if it’s cold outside and you intend to take your formal pictures inside anyways, then you only need to figure out how much time you need between the ceremony and reception so the food is served on time.

To plan and organize your photo timeline, here are some questions you need to ask:

1. Do I want outdoor pictures or pictures that require natural light? If so, what time does the sun go down at that time of year?
2. When do I want the formal pictures taken? Before the wedding, between the ceremony and the reception, etc.
3. How much time will I realistically need for these pictures? Make sure you plan a little extra time because unexpected delays almost always occur. It’s better to be a little ahead of schedule than to be late.

 

Here is an example of a mid summer timeline here in Wisconsin:

1:00 Getting ready photos with bride and bridesmaids/ groom and groomsmen

2:00 First Look + wedding party photos

3:00 Immediate family photos

3:30 End photos, prepare for ceremony

4:00 Ceremony

4:30 Ceremony Ends

Extended Family Photos-any additional immediate family-Bride and Groom Photos with guests

5:15ish Bride and Groom enjoy cocktail hour

Detail photos of reception space/guest candid photos

5:30 -Start seating for Dinner

Grand March/ Cut Cake

Welcome Toast/ Speeches

6PM Dinner

7-7:45 Sometime during this timeframe, go outside for sunset photos-depending on the time of sunset

8:00 First Dances

9:00 End photos

 

 

Winter/Late Fall/Early Spring Weddings

12:00    Getting Ready Photos

1:00        First Look/ Photos in and outside

2:30        Finish up photos and prepare for ceremony

3:00        Ceremony

Family photos afterwards

5:00        Dinner

5:30        Sunset photos

6:00       Walk around, chat with guests. Table shots with Bride and Groom

7:00       First Dance

8:00       End Photos

 

I will work with you to create the perfect timeline for you big day!

 

Why should I get engagement photos taken?

For many couples, the exhilaration of wedding planning begins the moment he pops the question. Now that you’ve said yes, it’s time to capture the passion and excitement of this special time with an engagement session!

Engagement sessions are a great way to help couples get used to being in front of the camera, and comfortable around us. That way on your wedding day, you’ll feel relaxed and carefree—and isn’t that the way it should be?

And, of course, engagement sessions are great for getting photos for your save the dates, sign-in books or as framed displays at your reception—and they’re a beautiful reminder of the time before you were Mr. & Mrs.!

Designed to be as unique as you, our engagements sessions are individually developed to match the individual couples’ style. Whether it’s a fun-loving session in your favorite park, or a stroll through a meaningful neighborhood or simply a beautiful backdrop to set the scene, yours will let your personality shine through!

Engagement sessions are great for many reasons! Not only do they capture this incredibly special time in your relationship and provide you with images you’ll treasure forever, it gives you a chance to work with us prior to the big day—and takes a lot of unnecessary stress out of the wedding shots!

 

Engagement Session Tips

As the bride, your engagement session will be an easy, fun and casual experience. But to maximize your time, here’s a few quick tips to get the most out of your session—enjoy!

• Bring two or three outfits: If you’re having a hard time choosing, bring more and ask for our input once we get “on set.” Steer clear of black tops and dresses, which don’t look as great in the light as brighter tones. And remember to be comfortable—your engagement session isn’t the time to try out those high heels or too-tight pencil skirts. The more comfortable and flexible you are, the better your photos will look.
• Coordinate—but don’t match: Think coordinating color palettes, but not matchy/matchy. Too much contrast (i.e. you in white, him in black) can overwhelm a picture.
• Think props: Have something special that has lots of significance in your relationship? It could be a quilt, a piece of jewelry, a vintage book or even something fun like a baseball shirts/caps from your favorite team. The more unique to your relationship, the better!
• Check out Pinterest: Pinterest is a great spot for engagement session inspiration. While we can definitely help, it’s great to come in with ideas you can easily share—so pin away and share your faves with us ahead of time so we can prep.
• Have fun and relax! Above all, enjoy. This is an exciting time for you as a couple—and this is just the first of many exciting steps!

When you mix together Union South, Camp Randall, Memorial Union and Bucky Badger for a wedding, you’ve got the recipe for extreme fun and wild dance offs.

Hannah and Brian were married right in the heart of Badgerland and surrounded by family, friends and many fellow UW-Madison alumni. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was ready celebrate these two 9 years after first meeting in high school! Their love of the outdoors and drinking beer with friends make them a really fun couple to be around. One of our very important stops was at the Memorial Union to hang out for a bit at the lake! Every single person in the wedding party was fun and nice and very good looking. We definitely had a lot of fun taking some crazy pics in addition to the traditional ones.

A few memories that really stood out for me were when Hannah first put on her dress and walked out in front of her bridesmaids, the first look when Brian lost it a little (so frickin cute) and also when Hannah walked down the isle! But right before that, Hannah and her dad took a shot before going in. I had my second shooter, Angie capture that moment while I was up front with the groom. I didn’t hear what kind of shot it was but hopefully something to make their breath smell good for the big moment 😉 Maybe fireball? Haha I know that was going around on the bus. Speaking of the bus ride, I had the song “Lick my neck, my back” stuck in my head for a full day after the wedding! Lol. Anyway, it was so much fun and to top the night off, there was a donut wall with Greenbush donuts and Bucky made an appearance and danced with everyone until it was time for me to go. I took my donut home because I was still full from the delicious dinner. Union South has a wonderful catering staff and really handled  a 300 guest count with ease.

Hannah and Brian did such an amazing job planning and designing this wedding! Their list of wonderful and trusted vendors who helped the day run so smoothly are below:

Second Photographer: Angie Stroud  // Venue: Union South  //  Rentals: EZPZ Marquee  //  DJ: Jukebox Bandstand Tom running the ceremony and Austin at the reception  //  Floral: Sweet Pea Floral  //  Hair and Makeup: Liz from Lovely Elegance  //  Grooms Attire: Nedrebo’s Formalwear //  Wedding and Bridesmaid Dresses: Brandi’s Bridal Galleria  //  Transportation: Gallant Knight  // Planner and Designer: Patti Paulin at Union South  //  Wedding Rings: Kesslers  //  Donuts: Greenbush Bakery

 

It was a glorious day for a trip to the zoo to see some penguins…

Emily had one thing she really wanted to do on her wedding day and that was to see some penguins in her wedding dress. It was about 90 degrees and humid but they hung out in their cute little cave in the background and made her penguin dreams come true!

I also had my dream come true taking photos of Michael and Emily in front of the giraffes! And boy did they come out to play! We got some great laughs walking around and hitting up some of the classic spots too. The one with the giant polar makes me laugh every time I look at it. It’s like he is watching over them with loving eyes! Hahahaha, awesome.

Their ceremony took place on the rooftop of Monona Terrace. As Emily and her father walked down the isle, I panned over to see Michael trying to hold back tears but by the time she got up there, it was full on. The groomsmen were also letting loose with the emotions. I love such a close group of friends and family. Everyone was so friendly and sweet and we just had the best day ever.

There were so many moments I could write about like the friendly guy giving us money at the zoo or the other very friendly guy giving Michael pocket snacks but the one that really stands out was during the reception. They had everyone sing happy birthday to Grandma and one of their close very friends, who coincidentally shared their birthday that very same day with my mom and brother! Both of them were very surprised and even more when they each received a special birthday cupcake! I definitely had a tear in my eye!

My favorite part of the evening was when my second shooter, Heidi, and I got to go up to the rooftop with the bride and groom for sunset. We had just enough alone time with them to get some truly beautiful and intimate shots. What an incredible place to have your wedding! In all my years of doing this, I don’t think I will ever get tired of taking photos on that rooftop. Cheers!

It was such a beautiful day and these two did an amazing job planning it. There were so many amazing vendors to make this day so perfect!

Venue: Monona Terrace  Ceremony on Rooftop and Reception in Community Terrace  //  Getting Ready: Hilton Madison Monona Terrace  //  Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid Dresses:  Elaine’s Wedding Center //  Grooms Attire: Nedrebo’s Formalwear //  Floral: B-Style Floral  //  Wedding Cake: The Looking Glass  //  DJ: Jukebox Bandstand  //  Hair and Makeup: Arch Apothecary  //  Travel: Wayne Ace  //  Second Shooter: Heidi Johnson