Venues We Love to Photograph At
Our Favorite Northern Michigan & U.P. Wedding Venues
Six years of shooting weddings together as a couple has taught us something: it's never really about the venue. It's about the light through the trees, the nervous energy in a getting-ready room, the first dance nobody choreographed right. But over those six years, we've also come back again and again to a handful of places that just get it — spaces that seem built for the way real days unfold. Here are the ones we love most, and we can't wait to fall in love with yours too.
1. Personal Home, Land, or Cabin
If we're honest, this is the one we photograph most — and love most. There's nothing quite like watching a family pour love into their own land for a wedding day. These are usually the venues nobody's heard of: tucked back on a two-track, sitting right on the water, holding some of the best views in Northern Michigan and the U.P. that no wedding guide will ever list. And because nobody's running a schedule but you, the best moments just happen — someone wandering the tree line with a coffee, the whole crew piled onto the back patio while the bride gets ready, an impromptu jump off the dock, somebody's uncle telling the same camp story he tells every year. It's not staged. It's just real, and that's exactly why we keep coming back.
2. Ore Dock Brewing Co. — Marquette
Right in the heart of downtown Marquette, Ore Dock has this easy, unbothered energy that we love shooting in. Their 3,000+ square foot space holds 200 seated (250 standing), with a stage, dance floor, and full sound and lighting already dialed in — so the night moves from ceremony to last call without a hitch. Good local beer, industrial-meets-downtown backdrop, a space that's been hosting people since 2012. It just works.
3. Starry Night Barn — Suttons Bay
Out on the Leelanau Peninsula, Starry Night Barn is the kind of restored-not-polished space that lets a day breathe. The 3,600-square-foot Upper Barn (up to 299 guests) has tall windows, twinkle lights overhead, and long farm tables built for a family-style reception that runs late. Step out onto the south deck and you're looking straight down at the creek — we've lost more than one couple out there between toasts. With Century Farm Cottages on-site, it's built for a weekend, not just a day, and it carries that quiet, tucked-away Leelanau feeling we can't get enough of.
4. Mt. Bohemia — Mohawk
Way up in the Keweenaw, Mt. Bohemia skips the groomed runs for something wilder — and that same rugged, big-sky energy makes it an incredible place to get married. Lake Superior stretching out below, a chairlift ride for guests who want the view from the top, a Nordic spa and cabins and yurts for a real destination weekend. Reach out to the resort directly if this one's calling your name.
5. Marquette Mountain Resort — Marquette
Lake Superior on one side, the Northwoods on the other, and zero interest in stuffy ballrooms. Marquette Mountain gives you customizable indoor space plus wide-open lawns, and the Tbar for a drink with a view over the slopes. If you want mountain views without losing that laid-back local feel, this is it. Reach out to the resort for details.
We haven't shot a wedding at these next two yet — but we'd love to. If you're planning your day at either one, let's talk.
Pinecrest Northwoods — Republic
A cozy lodge deep in the Northwoods, built for small weddings and elopements. Say your vows out on the bluff between hundred-foot pines, or by the stone fireplace inside a century-old log cabin. It holds up to 100 guests, with cabins and glamping tents that sleep 24 — intimate, woodsy, exactly what it sounds like.
The Foxglove Farm — Suttons Bay
A private estate with a working-farm heart — barn, patio, meadows that roll right out to the water. Foxglove holds up to 160 guests and comes with a full day of access (8am–midnight), dressing suites, and golf carts to get everyone where they need to be. If you're picturing a true Leelanau farm-and-bay day, this is the one.
