The McCartneys Fine Art Wedding Photography

FINE ART WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

HELLO! WE’RE KELSY & BUTCH Working together as a husband & wife photography team is an absolute blessing! One that we don’t take for granted a single moment. Our true passion is creating an artful collection of photographs on a sweet couple’s wedding day. In years to come, great-grandchildren will pour over these images as they discover their wedding album, and thinking about that brings the biggest smile to our faces!

Our style is best described as soft & romantic, filled with light and genuine emotion. While we are based in central Wisconsin, we are always hopping around the Midwest & beyond, and our cameras are always loaded with film & ready to travel to where your celebration is taking place!

Getting to know our clients during one of the most exciting & memorable times in their life is an honor that we do not take lightly. It is also one of the most rewarding parts of what we do! The photos & memories that we create with our couples on their wedding day results in an experience that they can look back on and fall in love with over & over again. An experience that we are SO grateful to be a part of!

When we’re not taking pictures, we love enjoying coffee in the morning (then finding a coffee shop in the afternoon), traveling, taking walks with our Cavapoo pup, and spending as much time with family as possible.

We are thrilled that you found us and can’t wait to get to know you! Our hope is that you find a smile on your face as you flip through these pages. Every inch is filled with our life’s work, and we would be truly honored if you invited us into yours!

FILM When you ask us about film, you’ll see our eyes grow by three sizes before we start to gush about it!

We fell in love with film all over again while photographing a Saint Paul, Minnesota wedding in November 2009 and, as artists, this overwhelmingly fueled our passion to create timeless images.

The look & feel of photographs we create using film pairs perfectly with the moments we capture and stories we tell on a wedding day. Our goal is to produce the best possible work that we can for our couples and, for so many reasons, film plays a huge role in that. Film photographs are timeless and romantic; soft and classic.

We have all fallen in love wile looking at wedding images of our parents & grandparents. Their pictures have stood the test of time, even after being shared over & over again. That’s the type of family heirloom and story we strive to create for our couples.

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

- Maya Angelou Beyond the connections we are privileged to have with our couples, photography came down to absolutely loving what we’re doing and loving the process. We already knew that we loved photography and wanted the medium which we capture your once-in-a-lifetime moments on to be equally as special. For us, that’s film.

Photographing with film causes us to slow down and truly be present. We are more discerning and intentional with every single image we create. As a result, we are completely connected and in the moment with you. This makes us feel and experience the artistry behind photography — something that is so often overlooked with how easy it is to fire away and take thousands of digital images. Just like a quality piece of handmade furniture or the perfect piece of pottery, we fell in love with the process of photographing with film, and it has become a major part of who we are as artists.

The best part? Our clients fall in love with the warm & inviting feeling of their images! On your wedding day, you can expect a mix of both film & digital photography. Whether it’s creating a beautiful portrait or documenting your gorgeous details with film, or creating digital images to capture all of the smiling faces at your wedding reception, with seven years of experience as full-time wedding photographers, you can trust us to choose the best possible tool to authentically tell the story of your celebration!

We know that we are right where we are supposed to be, and we hope that involves you and your fiancé!

Creating a beautiful piece of art on someone’s wedding day that they will love as much as we loved creating it. If you ask us, that’s one of the best feelings on Earth.

THE WEDDING DAY: GETTING READY The beginning of your wedding day is, in a word, magical. All of the anticipation in the room can be felt, seen, and heard. The “getting ready” moments that we capture often become favorites among not just us, but our couples too! These moments are genuine and the resulting photographs are filled with artfully-captured emotion.

As a husband & wife team, we have a great advantage of being able to capture so much of what’s happening on your wedding day — especially early on when you & your groom are getting ready in separate rooms!

Since there are two of us, it’s almost as if we’re able to be in two places at once; Kelsy with the you and your ladies, while Butch captures your groom suiting up.

There is one piece of advice that we think makes all the difference in your photographs: Where you will be getting ready! Plan for it to be lovely. If you’re getting ready at your parents’ house, find the grandest room you can. Living rooms and master bedrooms are our favorite places to photograph these moments. With beautiful window light pouring into the room, there’s plenty of space for you to soak up all of the attention in the world as you get ready with the help of your most special ladies.

Tips: When you get into your wedding gown, have your bridesmaids already in their dresses. If Mom is available, we love it when she is already dressed as well and helps you put on the final touches!

Makeup. Curling irons. Scattered clothes. Suitcases. Empty Starbucks cups. It’s all part of the day, but when you’re putting on your wedding dress, it’s about you! Your images will be especially lovely if we clear a well-lit area for you to slip into your gown.

It might feel like you simply cannot wait to say your “I do’s,” but spending the morning laughing, toasting and primping with your favorite ladies is a time to be enjoyed!

HEIRLOOM ALBUMS Individually hand crafted by artisans, our heirloom flush mount albums are a crucial element to preserve the investment you make on your wedding day. Your heirloom album will last for generations and is completely customizable to suit your style. After your wedding, we will present you with a beautiful design that we think best tells the story of your wedding day as the first proof of your album. With input from you, we finalize your album design and send it o to be handcrafted and prepared especially for you.

FROM NOW UNTIL YOU SAY “I DO” INITIAL MEETING/ COMISSIONING US

We always prefer to have the two of you over to our home so we can meet in person, but if distance is an issue we can plan a Skype date! From there, we work together to find the best collection for you. If we’re a great fit, the booking process is completed by signing our digital contract & sending off a retainer payment to secure your wedding date with us!

THE ENGAGEMENT SESSION

We absolutely love engagement sessions! This is the perfect time for the four of us to get to really know each other, and for you to feel comfortable in front of our cameras. These images also make wonderful custom save the date cards!

WEDDING DAY TIMELINE

It’s especially important for us to be involved in the making of your wedding day timeline. We’re with you every step of the way and understand how long each part of a wedding takes. Once you complete our online questionaire we email you the first draft of your wedding timeline, then work together to perfect it.

1 MONTH TO GO

Your wedding timeline should be finalized, so at this point we really have a feel for how your wedding day will flow! Having a solid timeline as well as a list of family portraits will allow you to relax & enjoy your wedding day knowing that everything is well-planned.

THE WEDDING DAY

We arrive and immediately start with your bridal details. We’ll photograph your dress and all the getting ready details you put so much thought into! If you’re getting ready in the same location, often times we’ll split up so Kelsy is with the ladies and Butch with the gentlemen. The timeline we create together keeps us moving along so that your day is lovely and stress-free!

YOUR WEDDING FEATURE

As soon as we get your film back from our lab, we dive into preparing your wedding photos for our blog. We are literally watching and smiling from ear-to-ear as each image downloads to our computer! The first time you lay eyes on your wedding photographs will be on our blog about 3 weeks after your wedding!

YOUR GALLERY OF IMAGES

Your online gallery of all final images will be ready for you to view & share with family and friends within one week after your feature on our blog. Your collection will include the digital negatives for printing, but the gallery will be where family & friends can get their hands on the prints, canvases or albums.

WEDDING COLLECTION DELIVERY

After your approval, we send your wedding album design to its artisan maker and typically receive it within 4-6 weeks. Then we wrap everything up, put our stamp on it, and send it off for you to love and cherish for the rest of your lives (& then some!).

PRESS Each of our couples pour their hearts into making their wedding day a reality. We find it so exciting when blogs & magazines throughout the wedding industry feature all of their hard work!

Style Me Pretty, Style Me Pretty Living, Snippet & Ink, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Southern Weddings, Wedding, Chicks, I Love Farm Weddings, Wisconsin Bride, Minnesota Bride, The Knot, Beloved Darling, Little Bellows, Lemonade & Lenses

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY INVESTMENT When it comes to your wedding photography, we try to keep things as simple as possible. We want to give you everything you’ll need in order to hold onto your wedding memories for generations!

We know every wedding is different, especially the wants & needs of every couple. For that reason, we offer a set of collections that may turn out to be exactly what you are looking for. Each is tailored to include what we found to be our most requested elements and price points.

Travel is considered complimentary throughout all of Wisconsin and the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

International destinations will receive an individual quote as well as 3 hours of complimentary rehearsal dinner coverage. We adore traveling to photograph weddings and want to make it as seamless as possible to give you the wedding photography you’ve always wanted!

All of our wedding collections include a lovely hand made proof box with 400 prints, and the USB with all of your finished wedding day images.

Weddings collections start at $4600. We can’t wait to find the perfect collection for the two of you!

Words from this bride’s mom “I am crying in sheer joy as I am writing this to you. The pictures are truly AMAZING as I get to relive this special day. WOW it is all I hoped for and more. Jen looks so BEAUTIFUL as does everyone and smiling from ear to ear. Your comments that you wrote were so special. It is a good thing you do this for a living as you are truly blessed at this ART. Thank you soooo much for capturing this wonderful day. Thanks for the pictures of the decorations too, as there was love and time put into those. WOW I am still crying. Just love them.”

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The McCartneys are husband & wife wedding photographers based out of Wausau, Wisconsin and available for travel worldwide. See more of their work at: MEETTHEMCCARTNEYS.COM