✨Emily + Ryan’s Maternity Session✨
Remember Emily & Ryan’s Wedding from a few years ago? Well, as it happens, I recently was on another photo session with them - this time to celebrate their pregnancy! One of my favorite parts of being a Milwaukee wedding and family photographer is reconnecting with couples as their stories continue, whether it’s for maternity photos, family portraits, anniversaries, or even headshots. It is fabulous to see where their love and life have taken them since their wedding.
Emily and I go way back (to before I was a professional photographer), so seeing her success and joy is especially rewarding.
I don’t post enough family sessions, let alone maternity sessions, but I do take them.
🌿Locations🌿
South Shore Park - Bay View
Forest Exploration Center - Wauwatosa
County Grounds Park - Wauwatosa
*You can jump to a specific part of this post listed above or check out their photos in motion through the Instagram reels linked to the right. Also, tap any tag above (below the blog title) to explore more vendors, venues, and cool locations!
South Shore Park:
We initially planned Emily & Ryan’s entire maternity session for South Shore Park in Bay View. South Shore Park had one of my favorite unknown beaches in Milwaukee, but alas, the masses have discovered it, and the entire beachfront in the park has been altered to include it. The beach has now been opened up with an expanded sidewalk and public access, which makes it beautiful and easy to reach, but I’ll be on the hunt for a new secret beach. Tragically, a thunderstorm rolled in a few hours early, and we only had about 15 minutes of our shoot before calling it off and rescheduling for the next day.
Want to learn more about South Shore Park?
Forest Exploration Center - Wauwatosa
Since we managed to grab a few Lakefront photos before we were “Wisconsined” by the weather, we decided on a different location when we resumed our shoot. This time, we chose the Forest Exploration Center in Wauwatosa. I love this spot and use it for many family and engagement sessions. There are numerous options, including: Deer, trails, hills, tall grass, trees, flowers, and more!
It looks especially stunning through golden hour and sunset, and because it’s so close to parking, it makes for a very accessible maternity photo location.
County Ground Park - Wauwatosa
Just across the street from the Forest Exploration Center is County Grounds Park. I usually treat them as one location collectively, but County Grounds has lots of cool nature trails and a hidden-away corner that I will share about another time. I love it for sunset and twilight shoots because it’s just high enough to get a great view of the sun descending in the sky - and if you turn around, you can see the sun’s rays over Milwaukee in the distance. I also love the purple wild flowers that grow here most of the summer. At the top of the rise, there is a cool stacked stone wall for sitting (or walking on if you are named Ryan).
We had a few emotional moments here as the couple reflected on the upcoming changes to their life together, standing in the purple flowers while basking in the final rays of the day. I am glad I had a camera for it.
So that’s it! Emily and Ryan are going to be fantastic parents, and their little one is lucky to enter the world into a home waiting to see and love them. Stay tuned - I hope I get to post many more updates in the future!
There is more to see:
PLANNING YOUR OWN Family or Maternity Session?
I would love to help capture all the Love, Laughter, and Moments that Matter for your family!
