Straits Chapel Wedding
PhotographerWhistling Straits & Destination Kohler
An all-white chapel above Lake Michigan. Six bells cast in France. Photographed with restraint, and kept for a lifetime.
An editorial wedding house for the most considered ceremony space in Wisconsin
James Stokes & Co. is a luxury editorial wedding studio photographing the marriages held at Straits Chapel and across Destination Kohler. The chapel is unlike anything else in the state — a modern, all-white sanctuary set three miles from Whistling Straits, where the lake is admitted into the room itself through twenty-two-foot windows.
A room of that restraint asks for a photographer of the same temperament. The architecture is the decoration; the light does the work. Our approach is quiet, observant, and unhurried — the way a family wants its most important day remembered thirty years on, not the way an algorithm wants it posted next week.
We photograph a limited number of celebrations each season, as a husband-and-wife team, across Wisconsin and the wider Midwest. Our collections and approach are detailed here.
One ceremony chapel, and the estate that surrounds it
Most couples marry at Straits Chapel and move to one of Kohler's reception properties for the evening. The day asks for a photographer who knows the distances, the light in each room, and the rhythm the resort's event teams keep. We do.
Photographing Straits Chapel well is a matter of light and logistics
The chapel is built around its glass. Light moves across the room through the day, and the most striking frames are written by the lake, not by added equipment. We read that light and let the architecture speak — clean lines, the simplicity of the removable cross, the panorama through the tall windows.
Then there is the distance. The chapel sits three miles from Whistling Straits, and the cliffs over Lake Michigan hold the day's finest portrait light at golden hour. A Kohler timeline has to account for that travel and for the sunset, built in concert with the resort's event team. We plan for it before the day begins, so nothing on the day feels rushed.
"From the moment they arrived, the whole day felt calmer. They were never in the way and never missed a thing — and the photographs feel like the day actually felt."— A James Stokes & Co. Couple
Marrying at Straits Chapel?
We would be honored to photograph your day at the chapel and across Destination Kohler. A limited number of celebrations each season keeps our attention undivided.
Begin the ConversationJames & Katie Stokes · James Stokes & Co. Photographers
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