Real Weddings
Ceremony Location: Fossile Trace Golf Club, Denver, Colorado
Catering: Three Tomatoes Steak House and Club
David and Jessica’s Denver, Colorado Wedding was really amazing. The weather cooperated to create the perfect combination of moody skies and perfect light. Everything about the wedding was amazing, and I was so fortunate to have the chance to photograph it.
To see more photos of this wedding, visit www.pictage.com/1417587
Location: Breckenridge, Colorado
Venue and Catering: High Country Lodge
I love Breckenridge in April. April offers the best of both worlds; warmer spring days and still plenty of snow for skiing. Because the weather in Breckenridge this time of year can easily go from a 60 degree day to a winter snow storm in the blink of an eye, photographing can be challenging.
Kristin and Mike’s wedding was an intimate affair filled with family and close friends. In many ways, these are my favorite weddings to photograph because I love photographing the closeness of the guests. Four generations of family attended this wedding, and one of the highlights for me was photographing the children with their great grandparents.
Breckenridge, Colorado
Venue: Copper Station at Copper Mountain
I love weddings that are a little out of the ordinary. When Ben called me and asked, “I have a question about wedding photography. Can you ski?” I was pretty intrigued. Having to ski to photograph an event is nothing new for me, but I have to say I was pretty impressed when I saw Ben and Caroline skiing with their friends. This is the first time I actually had to work pretty hard to keep up with a wedding party. I think it was worth it, because this was one of my favorite weddings.
Chris and Michelle met in Breckenridge, Colorado at the infamous Gold Pan Saloon. When you consider how much they love the outdoors, camping, and traveling together, it was no surprise that they chose to get married outdoors at the gorgeous Black Canyon Inn and rustic Twin Owls Steakhouse in Estes Park, Colorado.
To see more from this wedding, visit www.pictage.com/1276948
One of my favorite things to do is to photograph the weddings of friends. I met Karen over ten years ago when I was in graduate school at Northern Illinois University. At the time, I was the graduate assistant for the Outing Centre, the university’s outdoor adventure program. I hired Karen to work as a backpacking and climbing guide back in 2000. Since then we have shared many adventures together mostly revolving around rock climbing.
I love the story of how I met her future husband, Cliff, back in 2009. I was sitting in a small internet cafe in Kathmandu, Nepal, and decided to check my Facebook page. Which I can assure you, is no easy task in a city that only gets electricity for 8 hours per day, and it takes a little luck for the internet and electricity to be on at the same time. I just happened to notice a post on Karen’s page that said she was sitting in a different internet cafe also in Kathmandu. I had no idea she was even in that part of the world, let alone on the other side of town. I sent her a message suggesting we should meet the next day before I left to return home. The next day, we met up for lunch, and that is how I met Cliff for the first time.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had too many opportunities to spend time with Karen and Cliff in the last few years because of busy schedules all of us being on the road a lot. The one time I did get to see them was on our 2010 attempt to climb Mount Rainier. Unfortunately due to an injury on our team, we turned around a few thousand feet from the summit, but spending several days tied to each other on a rope team is a great way to get to know someone. Either you end up hating each other or become fast friends. Fortunately my experience was the latter, and I was thrilled when Karen told me that her and Cliff were engaged, and that they wanted me to photograph their wedding in Leavenworth, Washington.
To see more images of this event, visit www.pictage.com/1201307.
Lauren and Barry’s Silverthorne, Colorado Wedding
Ceremony Venue: St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Reception Venue: The Silverthorne Pavilion
Catering: Gilchrist Catering
Lauren and Barry are an amazing couple from Colorado’s front range who decided to have their wedding in the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado. I had a chance to photograph their engagement photos almost a year ago. They are both really fun and made for great photo subjects.
Church weddings are such a rare treat for me. 95% of the weddings I photograph are outside, so it is always exciting to photograph a wedding in a church. Barry and Lauren were also excited about my black and white film photography, and I was really happy with the film images from inside the church.
Venue: The V3 Ranch
Catering: Ridge Street Kitchen
I have to say, I really like Jim and Lindsay right of the bat. We had a lot in common. For starters, just like my wife and I, Jim and Lindsay are also from the Chicago suburbs. Jim is a chemical engineer, and Lindsay is a school teacher. I spent the first few years out of college as a chemistry teacher, so I am pretty familiar with both fields. Jim is also a photographer, and really appreciated the out of the box ideas that I sometimes have. Jim is also an amateur photographer, so we had something else in common.
Lindsay and Jim had a really well balance schedule with a lot of padding to account for the unforeseeable delays that happen in every wedding. It made the entire day relaxing and stress free. One of the things that I really liked about this wedding was Lindsay’s two dresses. The dress she wore for the ceremony was the same dress her mother and her grandmother was married in. I loved the idea of three generations sharing the one dress. However in order to preserve the dress and have something a little more modern for dancing, she changed into a new dress that was equally as lovely for the reception. All in all, a really fun day in Breckenridge.
Laura and David’s Breckenridge Wedding at Ten Mile Station
Venue/catering: Ten Mile Station
Videography: Elegant Productions
Florist: Petal and Bean
David and Laura traveled all the way from Omaha, Nebraska to have their wedding in Breckenridge, Colorado. They chose to hold the ceremony and reception at Ten Mile Station. Most people who visit Breckenridge in the winter are familiar with Ten Mile Station being at the restaurant at the top of the Quicksilver Chair, but in the summer the building is transformed into a beautiful Colorado wedding venue.
David and Laura are a really fun couple. They were really interesting in creating some more abstract and interesting photos. One of my favorites was the two of them sitting in front of Ten Mile Station as the full moon tried to peak through the clouds.
Chris and Heather’s Vail, Colorado Wedding
Hometown: Frisco, Co
Venue: The Donovan Pavillion
Caterer: All Seasons Catering
Videography: Susan Metcalf Video
Heather and Chris live in the next town over from me. They had a gorgeous wedding at the Donovan Pavilion in Vail. I loved this couple’s laid back attitude, while still managing to do a lot of planning.
I met up with them shortly before the wedding at the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa. It is a great location in West Vail along Gore Creek. The hotel made for some great getting ready images before we took a short drive over to Vail Village. The ceremony was back at the Pavilion. It was a typical Colorado summer day with the 5 minutes of light rain before opening back up to beautiful blue skies.
