Diana & Matt held their wedding ceremony last weekend at Hudson Gardens in Littleton, CO.  I have photographed a few weddings before at Hudson Gardens but this was my first one in Monet’s Place, so I was pretty excited about that.  Monet’s Place is a ceremony area all the way to the end of the gardens that is secluded, shady, and romantic…and I personally much preferred it to some other parts of the garden I’ve photographed in which are more open, sunny, and not nearly as private.  Around Monet’s Place there is even a small secret island (Pictured to the right) that you have to know a back way around to get to.  Diana & Matt’s wedding was beautiful, and her brother’s sermon was was of the most meaningful & entertaining I’ve heard in a long time.   After the ceremony the bride & groom jumped in a town car for a drive over to there reception, but before they were whisked away I had them do their “teapot” pose, which they told me about during their engagement session and I was so glad I did because during the toast the whole story of the “teapot pose” came out & it was simply hilarious!  ( inside joke for those who don’t know).  The reception was held at the Sons of Italy, which was a charmingly elegant hall and a perfect fit for Matt’s Italian family.  It was also another new place for me and if you can’t tell I love shooting at places I haven’t photographed before! Their wedding reception had me laughing all night, like when Matt took out a head lamp to retrieve the garter from under Diana’s dress (shot of this in slideshow), or when the father showed off his killer dance moves, and put use to that head light (pictures of that to come)!  I had a great time at Diana & Matt’s wedding and was so glad they found me & I got to be a part of it.  Enjoy their picture preview.

Renee & Kevin had a beautiful August wedding at Mt.Vernon Country Club in Golden, Colorado.  Mt.Vernon is nestled in the foothills near Lookout Mountain and has incredible views of the Denver skyline.  Unfortunately, we did get one of those common CO summer showers that forced us to move the ceremony inside, but we were able to at least have the ceremony along the huge picture windows and luckily it at least stopped raining before sunset so I was able to still get a few shots of the couple outside.  They do say rain on your wedding day is good luck, so hopefully Renee & Kevin will have many more lucky years of marital bliss to follow.  Check out a few shots from their wedding day below….much more to come!

Kat & Dan held their wedding ceremony in Bejing, China where they have been living.  However, they wanted to make sure to share the celebration with friends & family back home in Colorado, so they held a wedding reception in Denver as well at the Green Gables Country Club.  I absolutely loved Katherine’s wedding dress, which a friend actually made for her inspired by a Vera Wang design.  It was accented perfectly with the custom touch of a plum purple ribbon.  Their wedding reception also included beautiful flowers by Bloom by Anuschka, a lively band, and a unique dessert bar with flaming ice cream & hot ice.  They also had some quite entertaining toasts & dancers which inspired lots of smiles and laughter.  I have many more pictures to come, but for now enjoy this picture preview:

The video option on my new camera, the  Nikon D300s, has been exciting to play with.  I couldn’t resist taking it out for Lauren & Seth’s wedding 2nd line parade.  Following their wedding ceremony at Jackson Square, the bride & groom surprised their guests when a local New Orleans band showed up to lead the group into a second line parade around the French Quarter and to their dinner location at Galatoire’s.  I still have so much to learn when it comes to video, and certainly don’t intend for it to at all interfere with my photography, but I’m just excited for this new element of technology that now exists on my D300s.
Oh, and if you are a fan of The Real World New Orleans on MTV, then be sure to look on the wall of their mansion for my fine art photography (found in 2 of the bedrooms…ooh la la).   Limited edition prints from my New Orleans art series can be found online here, or you can find the actual pieces from the set now hanging at First Cup Cafe, located a few blocks away from TRW house in New Orleans.

Hila & Mike got married at the beautiful Green Gables Country Club. The last time I photographed a wedding there it was freezing cold and snowy, so I was relieved we had dry warm weather this time. Hila & Mike had a traditional Jewish ceremony consisting of the signing of the ketubah, the breaking of the glass, and the hora….which is my favorite – a fun dance consisting of guests circling around the couple as they are lifted up in their chairs (I wish I could have had that for my wedding)!  I also liked how they had their cocktail hour first…as I’m sure the guests don’t mind a cocktail and hors d’oeurves before sitting down for the ceremony. The ceremony was absolutely gorgeous along the lake and I it was a nice touch to have the friends and family come up to do the 7 Blessings. Matt with Elite DJ did a great job getting the party started, and I absolutely loved the custom made crossword puzzles that quizzed guests on how well they knew the couple. Congratulations Hila & Mike, and thanks for having me be a part of your day!

Zori & Ben’s wedding at The Pines of Genesse was beautiful, emotional, and very entertaining!  Of course no weddings are perfect, and we had a little of a late start when the limo driver accidentally went to The Westin Hotel in downtown Denver instead of Westminster, but luckily everything else worked itself into a perfect night.  We had great weather for the ceremony, held outside under the aspens & pine trees at the beautiful site of The Pines of Genesee.   The ceremony ended with a Bulagarian tradition of toe stomping…according to custom whomever gets their foot over the others first is head of the household, and Zori won that battle!  Then the reception started off with a tear jerking emotional series of toast, which would have even made me cry if I didn’t have to keep my eyes dry to focus on the shots.    After dinner, there was lots of dancing (boy can Ben really cut a rug on the dance floor!), including another Bulgarian tradition of the chicken dance.  And no, this is no American chicken dance with flapping arms and cheesy music….but a dance entailing a real chicken and some kind of tease and contest involving money as well.  I didn’t really catch the meaning of that one, but it sure was different & very entertaining!  You can catch a shot of their “chicken dance” in the slideshow.  Zori & Ben are now headed off to Bulgaria for their honeymoon & to attend her maid of honor’s wedding.   I’m anxious to get through my edit and relive the joyous night, but for now here are a few pictures to enjoy:

Chey & Mike had an absolutely beautiful wedding last weekend in Winter Park.   When I left Denver that afternoon it was super sunny & steamy hot, but thankfully up in Winter Park we had perfect summer wedding weather, warm & mostly overcast.  I met the bride at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge where the girls where getting ready,  then we headed up the ski lift to Sunspot Lodge where they held their ceremony & reception.  The views were breathtaking, the guests danced non-stop, and everything fell right into place for a perfect wedding.  Thank you soo much Chey & Mike for entrusting me to document such an incredible day!   And thank you to my wonderful 2nd shooter & assistant Ashley & Andrea for your help.  As you can see in the last shot of us about to board the gondola to go back down the mountain, we had a great time!  Oh, and thanks for not freaking out when I almost ran out of gas on the way home =)  Many more pictures to come!

Anika & Chad’s wedding was like a perfect scene from a romantic comedy set amongst the beautiful foothills of Boulder.  They had me in tears, the guests in laughter, and the wedding vendors excited about all the unique details, like the mountain climbing cake toppers.   I have met with Anika & Chad numerous times over the past year so I was quite excited when their wedding day finally came around.   I knew when Anika & Chad started jumping in water fountains during their engagement session around Denver that I was in for a fun wedding day!   They thankfully didn’t jump in the raging river waters, but  certainly knew how to have a good time and the DJ kept them dancing all night.  It was the kind of wedding that reminded me why I love my job so much & made me anxious to kiss my husband when I got home.
I even had to warn my new intern and the novice coordinator working with us not to get used to this…because weddings this simple, easy, and 30 minutes ahead of schedule is not the norm!  However, I must say that not only was the family great to work with but if it was not for the awesome crew of professionals then things may not have come so easily.  I must give a BIG thanks to Anika & Chad for sharing such an incredible day with me & for trusting all the vendors I recommended – amazing flowers from Tussie Mussie,  Red Lion Restaurant, DJ on Demand, & Brier Grimes for help holding it all together with her fab coordinating skills!  And it certainly helped me to have my awesome intern Andrea & amazing 2nd shooter Molly whom did an incredible job, still crawling on the ground for the perfect shot at 5 months pregnant!  I had so many incredible shots from their wedding that I also posted more in my Face book photo album.

It’s always exciting to see your work in print, and recently one of my summer 2009 Vail weddings was featured in the Colorado Weddings Magazine.   To read the full article you will have to pick up one of the magazines, or stop by my studio for a copy.   Allison & Brian were super excited to be featured as well, and they sure do deserve it!  There wedding day was full of so many unique events & details that I knew it would be good magazine material! Allison & Brian had a beautiful mountain top ceremony at the Summit of Cordillera, and a wedding reception at the Singletree Pavilion in Edwards.  There wedding was so fabulous I had to create 3 blog entries for their wedding pictures!  To see the full story of their wedding day Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3