It's no doubt that we live in a beautiful area. With the shores of Sandusky and Port Clinton giving beautiful views over the bay, to the nice open fields heading into Norwalk and Monroeville, or the wooded hills surrounding Milan. Surely, we all would love to get beautiful photos on our wedding day in these areas. However, with the hectic schedule of a wedding day, it can be hard to find the time to squeeze in some of the wonderful locations we've written about. However, that doesn't mean that you can't achieve beautiful wedding photos right on your wedding venue! This list is just a few examples of some of the best wedding venues in Sandusky, Huron, Norwalk, and more that have excellent environments for photography right on-premise.
Sawmill Creek has been a staple in the area for many years. The best thing about Sawmill, besides being recently renovated, is that they have enough amenities for just about everything right on the property! With a golf course, a private beach area, gazebo, bridge, and of course the massive resort, which includes small garden areas, there are so many options for places to take photos right around your venue!
Sandusky Yacht Club is, of course, right up on the shores of Lake Erie. This makes it ideal for a couple that wants photography with a beachy waterfront setting. There's a beautiful garden out back along with plenty of gorgeous windows for portraits indoors, making this a great option for a few snaps right at the venue.
Plum Brook is up there to be the prettiest golf course in the area. With plenty of trees, grass, hills, bridges, and other amenities, it provides plenty of opportunities for fantastic photos.
Located in Castalia, just outside of Sandusky, this venue is one of the most gorgeous places we've had the pleasure of shooting at. With a beautiful driveway that's flanked by trees, a creek in the back, and the sprawling, open property, there are endless possibilities when using this location for your wedding photography.
As per the name, this is a sister location to Millsite Lodge, located just down the road. Equally as beautiful, it is a fantastic, more rustic place for your wedding photographs.
In our opinion, Kilkerrin is one of the most underrated venues in the area. With a large barn, fields, and a large pond on the premises, it has everything you need for a great venue for both a ceremony and wedding photographs. See our blog post about it here.
The BGSU Firelands Campus has two locations that they do weddings, the Cedar Point Center as well as the Firelands Arboretum. Both of these locations are within a few minutes walk of each other and there are incredible opportunities at each for wedding photography. With ponds, flowers, trees and bridges, you can knock out all of your wedding photos right inside the arboretum. It's by far our most used spot for photos.
If you love rustic, Palm Tree Barn really is the perfect setting. Located on a spacious property with a large barn and plenty of trees, wood, a neat siloh and even some props, like a truck, it has a little bit of everything for the couple that wants something simple and rustic. You can check out some of our work on it here.
Right down near Cedar Point, Lyman Harbor is one of the premiere venues in Sandusky, known for it's spacious halls. It also has one of the best views in town, and the harbor makes a fun and relaxing place for some couples shots, and the large glass windows provide some great window light for indoor group shots.
Only available to Milan Residents or family members of Milan Residents, this massively underrated venue is one of the classiest looking places in town. To boot, it's directly across the street from the Milan Town Square, giving you a great place to go and take some classy photos. See the video we shot here.
There is a chance that you may not want to do your wedding photography session at your venue. Perhaps you'd like to go somewhere else! In that case, check out our list of some of the top places to take photos!
Maddie & Kyle are two extremely adventurous people. In the past year that I've known them, they've moved cities more times than many people do their entire lives! But they had their summertime wedding back in Maddie's stomping ground at Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
I first met Maddie when doing her best friend Amanda's wedding. Maddie told me that after seeing how excited I got about my work while we were shooting, she knew that she had to have us capture her day as well. I'm so happy to have had that opportunity!
Because of their love for adventure, the entire inspiration for their wedding was nature. Their favorite activities involve hiking, backpacking, scuba diving (Maddie is a diving instructor!) and camping. Nature, being such a massive part of their lives, made it an easy choice for the central theme of their wedding.
Of course, the best place to plan a nature-inspired wedding is at a Nation Park! They chose Cuyahoga Valley National Park because it is the park that Maddie grew up visiting, and she just knew that she wanted to get married in her home park! She told us that she's "obsessed" with the park and was so happy to have her wedding there.
We're glad their wedding was there, too! It turned out absolutely gorgeous. Maddie & Kyle, it was an honor to be able to capture such a beautiful day. We hope that our work lives on in your family's memories for many years to come.
We had the absolute joy of being able to both photograph and film Samantha & Jon's incredible wedding day at Landoll's Mohican Castle in central Ohio. And talk about breathtaking! This castle has every bit of the charm and character that you could imagine in your fairytale wedding day. Pair that with live music and a cute outdoor ceremony, and you couldn't ask for more!
The weather couldn't stop this couple! Originally, they planned to have their ceremony outdoors at the archway near the waterfall at Landoll's Castle, but due to impending rain, had to move it at just the last second to be underneath the a roofed deck nearby. Regardless, the wedding day couldn't have been better!
Located right on the shores of Lake Erie, Vermilion-on-the-Lake is an absolutely incredible location for any wedding. Located in a 100 year-old log cabin with an extensive history, this location is sure to be a gorgeous backdrop for your wedding. How do I know? I’ve shot over a half-dozen weddings at this venue and this is the venue where I personally got married!
The cabin was built in 1919 from the logs that were cleared from the same property to be named the Vermilion-on-the-lake Clubhouse; a location where the local bands would play for crowds of dancers who were looking for a fun night. During The Great Depression, the property would become a place for high-rollers to hang out, and later the property was handed over to an association specializing in the handling of the property as the landscape of the area changed.
After a serious decline in the health of the building, the board of the association set out a single goal – to renovate and preserve the health of this historic building. In 2003, they set out a plan to restore the property to its original glory. When you book your wedding at Vermilion-on-the-lake, the profits go directly into this very project.
The building is built from large, old logs and is perfect for a rustic summer or fall wedding. There are 4 main areas to the building, with a single large common room and 3 side rooms. One of these side rooms faces the water, overlooking the lake, which is absolutely gorgeous around sunset. In one side room is a bar, which is available for couples to use for serving drinks at their weddings, as well as a small prep kitchen. The venue doesn’t have a full kitchen, so catering and drinks must be provided by your own caterer. There are so many options in the area, such as Blue Ribbon Catering out of Huron.
Looking to have both your ceremony and reception at the same location? There is an adorable gazebo outside in the lawn, which is perfect for this smaller, intimate ceremonies. Then, you can head straight into to enjoy your reception and your guests don’t have to worry about traveling to multiple locations or having long time periods between the ceremony and reception (side note; this is what we did for our own wedding!)
VOL is one of the most popular venues on the coast, typically booking over a year in advance on Saturdays. They also host weddings on Sundays as well, for which availability is a little more common. According to their website, Saturday rates for 2021 start at $2400 and Sunday’s start at $1000, which makes this an affordable option for anyone looking to book a naturally beautiful and historical location.
Building #1 at the Erie County Fairgrounds right off of Columbus Rd. in Sandusky is an unsuspecting white building from the outside. However, after shooting over a half-dozen weddings at this venue, I can say with certainty that every single one of them turned out absolutely incredible! This venue is actually the perfect canvas for your wedding day, whether it’s a smaller gathering or you’re topping 300 people, this is a perfect building to spend your evening.
The property sits right on the middle of the fairgrounds, right between the Erie County jail and the Erie County National Guard. The property has parking for tons of guests, with an overflow area in the event you fill up the main parking lot.
Inside building #1, you’ll find two rooms. The first is a vestibule, which is perfect for setting up guests books or card boxes for your guests to interact with, as well as seating charts or table designations if you have them. In the main room, there is a lower ceiling area and a higher-ceiling area, both stretching parallel to the end of the building. At the end of the lower ceiling area is a bar that backs into a prep-kitchen for your caterers to use, such as Catering By Design. The main area can be set up any number of ways, but the most common is to use the back side of the long wall for the wedding party’s table, with the area in front of it open to the dance floor.
The size of the building makes it the perfect size to have a large dance floor and the ceiling height is ideal for putting up tule or décor on the ceiling to really give the venue your own personal touch. And you can afford to, because this building rents for as little as $1500, making it the perfect choice to go all-out on your décor!
At OneUp Creative, we can make sure your wedding day is captured from makeup to closing time. We want to help you tell your story.
