A Walgreens bag containing orange juice, cough drops and Sudafed proved to Julie, who had a bad cold, that her UW-Madison classmate Kweku was a super-sweet guy. Years later, on Julie’s birthday, Kweku gave her another Walgreens bag. This time, the Sudafed was missing, and in its place, an engagement ring.

Though the couple planned to marry in Saxeville, in central Wisconsin, they stayed local for their engagement photos. “We are both from Milwaukee, so having our engagement shoot here was important,” says Julie. For their springtime session, the couple visited spots that gave their photos a vibrant city vibe, including the public library—“to remind us of our college days when we met,” she says—and the art museum, “a beautiful Milwaukee structure.”

“It felt really weird to have someone taking pictures of me and my fiancé to get the ‘shot,’ but Jeff made us feel really comfortable,” Julie says of their engagement and wedding photographer, Jeff Lazewski of Gravidee Photography. “I think that’s how we got so many cool shots. Jeff even inspired Kweku to get into photography!”

On July 7, the couple celebrated a multicultural lakeside wedding. “I am Indian, and Kweku’s dad is from Ghana and his mom is an African-American from Mississippi, so we wanted to ‘fuse’ all these cultures in one!” explains Julie, who says the attire, ceremonies, music and food included Indian, Ghanaian and Southern elements. And it worked: “The party lasted late into the night!”

Photographs by Gravidee Photography