Detroit Winter Wedding Photography

Detroit, Michigan winter wedding photography featuring favorite places to shoot indoor winter wedding photos as well as popular Detroit outdoor winter locations.

Yes, that lovely reflection of the church IS ice!

Turns out brides and grooms get married in the Metro Detroit area all the time in the very late fall and all throughout our long, long winter. So what is a couple to do when they want outdoor photos and the temperatures are hovering near or below freezing?

Go out and enjoy it! This is the ONLY time in 1,000 weddings I’ve had a couple ask to go out in the snow!

Well, most couples that choose cold weather weddings don’t mind the frigid temps. If they do and are looking for warm places in the Detroit area to take nice wedding photos, they usually plan their entire wedding and reception for picturesque indoor venues. There are many that offer wonderful photo opportunities indoors in the Metro Detroit area for wedding venues. Some of my favorites are;

All things Henry Ford, including the  Henry Ford Museum,

The Dearborn Inn
The Colony Club,

and a couple of art museums as well.
Cold weather wedding at University of Michigan’s Museum of Modern Art

With pre arranged permission, we were able to shoot inside the Detroit Institute of Art.

But not everyone can afford these nice, pretty and warm Detroit wedding venues during the winter. So I am often asked, “Where can we go to take our winter wedding photos in Metro Detroit”? The funny thing is, other than the occasional tell tale splotch of snow, for the most part you would never know these are photos taken in the winter. Most couples that can brave the freezing temperatures head downtown Detroit for photos at the old train station.

If you’re having a hard time telling the difference between dead of winter photos and late fall photos… well, these are ALL winter photos!

Only the snow tells the season.

Note the variation of skin tones – it was -30 with wind chill and perfection in posing simply was not the goal!

Another great option is to head to Comerica Park when the Tigers are out of season,

This doesn’t look too cold does it?

But this is what was going on behind my back!

Heading into downtown Detroit for with all the iconic landmarks and freezing gusts of wind in another great option!

 

I shoot wedding photography downtown Detroit year round. There is little difference in the look of these places from season to season. It’s all about the architecture. So most of the place look the same in summer and in winter. Of course, I love catching fun photography moments that break the illusion that it isn’t freezing. So be fore warned. If you want me to take outdoor photos, you’ll end up with lots of photos showing the reality of the day as well as wonderful, non season specific portraits. While the wind took the bride’s veil,

her bridesmaids huddled for warmth!

So if you do want to head out into our chilly Michigan weather for wedding photos, here are a couple of things to keep in mind…
Bundle up! Bring lots of coats for the ladies since they wear little and will need coats. It helps to have ones that you can set down (in the snow or mush) and not worry about.

This was the coldest day of the year – hovering at 10 degrees BEFORE wind chill is factored in! We could have used some windows on this Model T!

 

Often brides will find some sort of wrap they don’t mind ending up in their photos.

 

Little kids get cold extra quick. So bring something for them to keep warm with and keep their time outdoors to a minimum.

 

We can only be out for a matter of minutes. Like 5-10 at most at a time. If we’re lucky!

 

Nature’s own joke is that it tends to be windy on cold days, so be prepared for windy weather photos. It’s the norm rather than the exception.

 

In most photos you would never know how cold it actually is. The only tell tale signs are red (or worse, white) hands. I work very quickly, but once your nose turns pink and starts running, we’re done! No amount of photoshopping will make snot look hip or attractive!

The fantasy photo above.

Verus the reality photo. I’m adjusting my lighting, but you can see how red the bride’s nose is getting as they listen to me. We were outside for a total of 7 minutes!

Always try to find a great indoor back up for your winter wedding shoots. That way we can keep shooting, warm up and still get fun photos. Some of my favorite indoor Detroit locations to take indoor wedding photos during the winter are; the DIA,

The Guardian building,

The Henry Ford Museum

and the Conservatory on Belle Island.

 

These all need to either be arranged in advance and some do require a fee. Nobody likes to turn down a woman in white on her big day, but improvising with a cold wedding party isn’t a great option. So track down what’s involved so you won’t have any unhappy surprises on your wedding day.

If you have fun, specific requests, make sure your photographer knows ahead of time so they aren’t improvising in the cold. It helps to have everything worked out in advance so the wedding party spends as little time as possible outdoors. Here are some fun, kitschy photos that were specific to the bride and groom’s taste and requests. They’re fun, but do take a bit more set up time to pull them off. Because of the freezing temperatures, we talked about what the entire party needed to do BEFORE we got out of the limo so we were all on the same page and could pull these off with only a few minutes of skin exposure.

 

 

 

And lastly, here are a couple of wedding photos also taken during our harsh Michigan winters. You’ll see right away that some of the wedding photos look like they are obviously shot in the winter while others don’t seem to suggest any specific season. They were all shot from in Michigan mid November through March! Enjoy!!