Katelyn & Tommy’s Door County Getaway Wedding

A beautiful black-tie wedding in Sister Bay, Wisconsin

A Central Park Proposal

Katelyn and Tommy have known each other since their senior year of high school. In 2014, Tommy asked Katelyn to be his girlfriend. “She actually said no at first,” Tommy laughs, “but after some convincing, she gave it a shot! Seven years later we are married!”

Tommy proposed in October of 2019 in their favorite place to visit, New York City. He told Katelyn they had to get up early for a breakfast reservation and that they had to walk through Central Park to get there. “We walked through the park just as the sun was rising.” Tommy had a photographer waiting to capture the proposal. “To my surprise, Katelyn was in complete shock and it worked out beautifully! The park was practically empty and it turned out to be the best weather we had the entire week we were there. We spent the rest of the morning taking pictures around the park and exploring.”

A Door County Wedding

The happy couple planned a Door County wedding weekend in October of 2021. Both the ceremony and reception were held at Northern Haus in Sister Bay. “Our favorite thing about planning our wedding was choosing to get married on a Friday,” they say. “We got to spend the whole weekend with family and friends and had an absolute blast.”

“Most of our guests came up on Thursday and spent the whole weekend, so it was really neat to see everyone before and after the wedding. We had a Saturday morning brunch and bloody mary bar with everyone at Tommy’s parents’ Airbnb. We also did the drive-in movie theater Saturday night with friends and family.”

A Black Tie Theme

Katelyn and Tommy made their wedding a black tie event. “We had all of our guests wear black formal attire, as well as the bridesmaids and groomsmen. We wanted a modern, classic black tie event with a bit of a boho twist.” The colors of the day were black, gold, and white with maroon accents in the flowers.

Katlyn found her AlenaLeena Bridal gown at Strike Bridal Bar in Milwaukee. It was the first dress she tried on, and even though she tried on about 10 more, she knew that first one was it. “It felt like ‘me,’ if that makes sense,” she says. “I loved how it looked and I just had that feeling that this was going to be the dress I get married in.” Katelyn’s rings were custom designed by Tobin Jewelers in New Berlin, while Tommy’s rings hailed from Tiffany and Co.

Long-Distance Wedding Planning

While wedding planning, Katelyn and Tommy say that they soon realized just how vital good communication can be. “Being from the Milwaukee area and coordinating a wedding 3+ hours away in Door County can be tricky. You can’t always be there in person to see and sign off on things.”

To help with the planning, the couple hired Danielle of Rosewood Intimate Weddings as a partial wedding planner and day-of coordinator. “Our special day would not have been what it was without Danielle. She did such an incredible job at handling the day-of setup and communication with vendors. She was kind, professional, and great at her job.”

An Outdoor Ceremony in the Forest Retreat

With both the ceremony and reception held at Northern Haus, the ceremony itself took place outdoors in the Forest Retreat area of the venue, surrounded by tall trees and fall colors. Guests could enjoy a welcome cocktail and were invited to choose their seat rather than sit on the bride or groom’s side.

“We were married by a close family friend and had about 85 people in attendance. Our favorite parts of the ceremony were being surrounded by our families and closest friends as we said our vows to each other. Being outdoors made it so much more romantic and special. Fall is our favorite season, and we had such a perfect sunny and 65-degree day. The leaves were actually falling off the trees as we walked down the aisle as a married couple.”

Photos by Kaleigh Rae Photography

With such a gorgeous venue, all photos were taken right there. “Kaleigh Rae Photography does incredible work. She is a wonderful photographer and an even better person! We met in New York when she did our surprise engagement photos. She moved back to Wisconsin and has handled all of our photography since. She has become a great friend of ours and does such a magnificent job at capturing our moments and editing them to perfection.”

Cocktail Hour + Extras

The reception was held both indoors and outside at the venue. As guests exited the Forest Retreat, they were greeted by a champagne wall. Cocktail hour began right away with passed hors d’oeuvres. “Our passed hors d’oeuvres included bacon wrapped water chestnuts, glazed potstickers, caprese skewers, and goat cheese lingonberry bruschettas. Our personal favorites were the potstickers and bruschettas.”

There was a large fire pit for guests to cozy up to and socialize, as well as yard games and a covered patio with rocking chairs. In the venue’s upstairs loft, there was an interactive photo booth. “Guests could take stills, boomerangs, and gifs together, and share via social media. We also had a polaroid camera for our guest book so people could snap selfies and stick and sign them in the book.”

To bring some extra pizazz to the event, Katelyn and Tommy worked with Alpha-Lit Green Bay for the large custom marquee letters outside the front of the venue and Sketch & Etch for the custom neon sign behind the head table. “Alpha-Lit Green Bay was phenomenal to work with! They had some of the best communication and the marquee letters were a huge statement piece at our wedding. They set them up just as we envisioned in a quick and efficient manner. They were very courteous and friendly throughout the installation and removal at the end of the night.”

Dinner & Dessert

Dinner was a plated meal that began with a salad of feta cheese, dried fruit, fresh strawberries and a raspberry vinaigrette. Entrees included a filet mignon cooked medium rare, served with a cabernet bordelaise sauce on the side. There was also a chicken breast topped with a Door County cherry barbeque sauce, organic bourbon glazed carrots, and baby red mashed potatoes with horseradish and garlic. On each table were fresh-baked rolls, too.

Dessert came courtesy of The Cupcake Couture in De Pere, Wisconsin. Guests enjoyed an assortment of four different flavors of mini cheesecakes: caramel apple, blueberry, original, and Oreo. At 9pm, there were late-night pizzas catered by Wild Tomato. “We had dozens of different types of pizza to enjoy from classic pepperoni to specialty pizzas like pesto sausage.”

A First Dance to Remember

One of the best moments of the night for Katelyn and Tommy was their first dance. “Being more private people, we decided to sneak away, just us and our photographer, while guests were dancing and socializing to have our first dance alone in the forest retreat under string lights. We brought a portable speaker out while the sun was setting and had such a beautiful, private dance as newlyweds with only our photographer there to capture the special moment.”