Hilltop House Wedding – Rochester, Minnesota

Hilltop House is a stunning wedding venue in Rochester, Minnesota that doubles as an Airbnb.

It’s SO convenient when you can have everyone stay onsite. The historic 1930’s estate has a ton of unique nooks and crannies that made detail and getting ready shots a photographer’s dream. Joe and Casey’s Hilltop House wedding started out as a rainy day but ended up being a beautiful celebration with the people that mean the most to them.

This couple had a Hilltop House wedding.

This Hilltop House wedding took place in June.

The Hilltop House wedding venue has space for everything you need in one place.

About the Hilltop House Wedding Venue

The grounds of Hilltop House are gorgeous, with amazing nature vibes and a beautiful view of the city. It has several rooms for the bride and groom, as well as family, to stay in before or after the wedding, which is so convenient and can cut out a lot of stress on the wedding day. It’s a perfect blank slate for couples who want to design an epic wedding that’s the perfect reflection of their relationship.

As a photographer, I recommend using the first and second floor for photos. The bridal suite on the second floor is stunning and spacious! We actually ended up using it for a lot of photos since it was raining early on in the day. The groomsmen space is in the basement, which I didn’t feel was a space that was designed with photography in mind. Keep that in mind if you’re interested in a Hilltop House wedding!

Joe and Casey took full advantage of using their wedding venue as an Airbnb. Along with their family, they stayed the night before and then had a place to crash after their wedding day. The venue even let them host a small welcome party the day before the wedding! It was so nice to have all the festivities in one place.

The Hilltop House wedding venue has stunning views.

The bridal suite at the Hilltop House wedding venue is a great space.

The Details

I met Joe and Casey at Hilltop House and started taking detail and getting ready photos. It was raining on and off until about 20 minutes before the ceremony started, so a lot of moments had to be captured inside.

Casey did a first look with Joe and her dad, which always make me cry, but with Joe and Casey being such close friends of ours, I was even more emotional.

Once we had a break in the rain, we headed outside to take a few pictures with their doggo, Ruby. I LOVE when couples include their pets in their wedding day!

After we were done with Ruby, we focused on taking photos of just Casey and Joe. We intentionally scheduled time to do these before we met up with the wedding party. Once you get that many people together, it’s super easy for the couple to get distracted, and we wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to just focus on each other.

The rain cleared up right before the ceremony, and we had beautiful weather for the rest of the day!

During the reception, Joe and Casey ran around and did photos with each table. It was a super easy way for them to get a picture with every single person at their wedding. I loved it! It took less than 10 minutes, so they had plenty of time to party the rest of the night.

The Hilltop House wedding venue allows dogs onsite.

Must Knows

This was an eight-hour wedding day, which allowed me to capture the end of the girls getting ready in the morning and stay through the beginning of dancing at the reception.

Casey and Joe planned their day down to the last detail with me. I love an organized couple! That said, the photos I really adore from their wedding are the candid shots, the ones that weren’t necessarily included in the timeline. It’s super important to give yourselves room to breathe during your wedding day so special moments can happen.

Hilltop House is a newer venue in Rochester, Minnesota, and they were so great to work with. It’s less than five minutes from downtown Rochester, which made it super easy for guests to get to from the hotel. They’re currently booking for 2026 and 2027 weddings!