Check out this beautiful spread that I have to brag about! Jesse and Melissa’s wedding that I shot last September made it into this season’s knot’s “real weddings”.

One of the things that I love most about weddings is the raw emotion that goes along with the day—be it laughter, tears of joy, anxiety, etc, etc.  I can’t think of a sweeter occasion for priceless moments of true bliss!   Karen and Nate are no exception here—Their wedding day was simply flooded with emotion—and I couldn’t have had a happier shutter!  Clearly these two are in love, and are ecstatic with the fact that they will be spending the rest of their lives together.  It was a beautiful, perfect wedding!  congratulations, Karen and Nate!

Karen and Nate are hardly traditionalists.  They hung out all morning together, until Karen went into the bathroom to put her dress on.  This certainly didn’t spoil the  moment of the two of them seeing each other for “the fist time”, in their wedding garb.  It was as if they hadn’t seen each other for days!

Ahhhhhh….. my favorite shot of the whole day—the groom’s face when he see’s his bride walking down that aisle!

Another one of my favorite parts of a wedding day is the toasts.  I always get to learn new things about my couples, and of course it’s always another good moment for laughter and tears!

First of all, I have to apologize for the amount of images I posted with this wedding! But it’s not very often that I get to go to another country to photograph a wedding, and especially with such a rad couple. I had so much fun last weekend with this bunch, I walked away feeling like I have a new set of pals. Everybody was super cool, and the ceremony and reception were simply stunning. I was crying from the rehearsal dinner until the very last dance—seriously.

I am so excited to share all these images with you… enjoy!

These images were taken at Sarah and Mike’s rehearsal “dessert”. It was so surreal—like a house party on the beach. It was amazing out—about 75 degrees with a nice sea breeze…. A perfect way to kick off the wedding celebration!

The weather channel predicted rain, so i was scared to get out of bed to find a rainy Mexico day, but instead, I went out to the balcony to find this as my view. It was gorgeous! And I loved seeing the ceremony site from this perspective.

Sarah and Mike had their aunts as the flower girls—it was pretty hilarious!

One of the things I love about Playa del carmen, is all the bars seems to have swings instead of stools! Brilliant! We had to stop here on our way to the beach for some shots and shots….

I got this shot from Sarah’s Dad’s room…. another gorgeous view—this time of the reception site.

The reception was one big party—with lots of laughter and tears—and a ton of dancing! Jesse even got out onto the dance floor with me! Wish I had a shot of that!

When Deborah, Gretchen’s mother called me Thursday to tell me that due to the blizzard, the location of Friday’s wedding would be moved, I thought that this day may end up being a stressful one—not for me necessarily, but for the bride and groom.  But stress was the last thing that I witnessed at this intimate event. Despite the location change, the three feet of snow on the ground and a few missing guests,  it was a day full of celebration and of course a few joyful tears.  There were all of 15 people present at the wedding, and I felt so honored to be a part of it!  Congratulations, Gretchen and Erik!  And thank you for truly making me feel like I was part of the clan!

The connection that Gretchen has with both her mother and her mother-in-law is precious.  It was hard to know who to keep the camera on!

And I adored Deborah—she radiates warmth!  What a wonderful mother Gretchen has.  She even insisted that she make me a salami sandwich just 30 minutes prior to the ceremony!  Chips and all!

With fresh snow on the ground, the ceremony being at 3pm and surrounding windows, the ceremony had the most amazing backlit  glow.  I love backlight—it always looks so dreamy, doesn’t it?

Dawn and Ted were incredible to work with—super laid back, fun-loving and classy. They held their wedding at the Wildlife Experience out in Centennial—and the entire event was eye candy! The colors, the toys, the art, and of course Dawn’s hot shoes and bird cage veil kept me shutter happy for hours! I generally know when it is time to go home, but I completely lost track of time at this wedding and gave them an extra hour for free! To top things off, both Ted and Dawn are artists, so they let me run wild with creativity. Dawn is an talented hairstylist and Ted is a fellow photographer!

Forget the blushing bride and give me some tears, and I’ll be a happy photographer! Dawn lost it just rounding the bend with her father!

…and kept them flowing through most of the ceremony. She is such a sweetheart!

We shot some of the wedding party photos in what is probably Colorado’s largest elevator!

I don’t know much about Nintendo, or Xbox, or whatever the latest video game technology is, but I thought it was pretty cute that Dawn and Ted set up guitar video games for their guests (and obviously for themselves as well).

…. I don’t know, Ted. You’re looking pretty devious!

Dawn has four nieces and one nephew who were all a part of the wedding. They were seriously the best behaved children I have worked with at a wedding—maybe ever. But, it was a long day for them!

I love this image of Dawn’s older sister watching Dawn, her father, and her daughter all dancing together…. so sweet!

Ashley and Nate have been amazing—are amazing!  I can’t believe how patient they have been with me in terms of this wedding turn around.  Nate sent me an email while I was in Paris and told me to “not to worry about editing their wedding and to enjoy my vacation.”  I did just that, and am just now getting to blogging their wedding day—which was absolutely stunning, by the way!

It was a photographers dream—fog, autumn colors, deer, and an art deco theme!  I also couldn’t have had more fun with a wedding party.  The last images posted here are my favorites.  Photographing this crowd was cake.  They were hams!  I didn’t have to do a thing–they simply played and I stayed back and documented.

Thank you, Ashley and Nate, for being such a super cool couple!  From the engagement photos to the sparkler departure, I was thrilled to be working with you!  What a great end to a wedding season….

I’ve known Andrea for a long time. Her brother Alan is one of my best friends and I even shot Andrea’s senior portraits about 6 years ago–(one of my first seniors, actually)! Andrea and Brian are high school sweethearts and I am so happy for them—they are truly a perfect couple—they are best friends and exude life when they are in each other’s presence. This wedding day was full of so many emotions—excitement, humor, a few tears and an abundance of love. Congratulations you two! It was such a pleasure to be a part of this day! Can’t wait for our premier on Friday!