turner farm style shoot (buena vista wedding photographer)

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with several local wedding vendors and my friends at the Chamber to put together this fabulous styled wedding shoot at the Turner Farm.  We decided at our last meeting to try to put together a styled shoot, and somehow we pulled this thing off with less than a week's worth of planning.  I'm amazed it worked out!  It was so fun to have all my fun vendor friends working together in the same place, and I can't begin to explain how much I love the Turner Farm as a quirky, rustic, cozy, historic venue.  I mean, really - who doesn't want to get married in an apple orchard at a historic Colorado farm house? For more information about booking the Turner Farm for your own wedding, contact the Buena Vista Heritage group!Our wonderful vendors included:

Attire from Love's Bridal

Flowers by Mountain Meadows Flowers & Gifts and Buffy's Flowers

Linens, tables, & place settings by Antero Event Rental

Delicious treats by Michelle at The Kalamata Pit

And a huge thank-you to Kathy from the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce, and of course, our amazing models Danica and Brad.

Two wonderful bouquets from two wonderful florists:

Apple aisle = my totally impromptu idea.  I'm so proud.

Brad and Danica both happen to be friends of mine.  At one point, Brad asked, "So, what made you choose me to model for you?"  Aside from the fact that his style just makes me happy, I knew I could count on Brad to be utterly fabulous in front of the camera :)

Danica - you are GORGEOUS.  Seriously.

There are supposed to be all sorts of tricks to photographing food.  I don't know any of them.  That's how good The Kalamata Pit's food is.  Doesn't this look amazing?

A GIGANTIC thank-you to everyone who made this shoot amazing!  I can't wait for the next one :)

lindsay & aaron (salida wedding photographer)

What began as love between a handsome bearded fisherman and a Katrina-refugee artist developed into this fabulous eclectic wedding and will continue on to a beautiful marriage as Lindsay & Aaron begin their life together.  Seersucker suits.  Louboutins.  Cruiser bikes.  Pedicabs.  Balloons. Two amazing dresses, paired with two amazing veils.  Live jazz band.  One amazing historic art deco home.  I loved absolutely EVERYTHING about this wedding!  I know a lot of you have been anxious to see the results of this fabulous day - enjoy your preview!  The rest of your images will be ready soon :)

Lindsay, you are absolutely radiant!

Lindsay looked especially lovely, thanks to my dear friend Peter at Mr. Beauty.  Oh, how I love working with Peter!

Lindsay & Aaron's families stayed at the Heister House in Salida - this totally amazing art deco home that's available for rent (and listed on the National Register of Historic Places!)  I love love LOVED shooting there.  And how crazy amazing is this gigantic bow veil?  I could have NEVER pulled it off - which is what makes me love Lindsay even more - she totally can :)  This girl has some serious style, in ways that I can only dream about.  Both veils were custom made by Sara Gabriel.

Love the Heister House and love dress #1 from J Crew!

One of the wonderful things about Salida is how most things are within walking and biking distance.  Since the ceremony at First United Methodist is only a few blocks away from the reception at the Salida Steamplant, most of the guests rode their cruisers, and Lindsay and Aaron took a pedicab :)

Guestbook?  Nah.  A signed paddle is way cooler :)

Dress #2 : A custom tea-length creation by the utterly fabulous Stephanie James.   I really cannot begin to explain how much I love the blue tulle.  I'm tempted to try, but my love for this dress is totally beyond words.

We had perfect lighting.  Perfect.

At one point during the reception, I overheard Lindsay & a guest talking about me.  Lindsay referred to me as " this awesome indie photographer".  This totally delighted me.

I always love shooting at the Salida Steamplant! What an excellent venue.

Unsuspecting dude catching the bouquet = do-over.

Lindsay & Aaron - you guys are wonderful!  I absolutely loved your wedding and I was thrilled to be a part of your festivities :)

stacy & josh (colorado wedding cinematographer)

Here's a little bit o' cinema from Stacy & Josh's wonderful Mt. Princeton Hot Springs wedding :)[vimeo 14788016 w=400 h=300]

Stacy & Josh Hansen wedding from Cedar House Cinema on Vimeo.

stacy & josh (nathrop wedding photographer)

Stacy & Josh had literally * the mellowest * wedding I have ever been a part of. Their destination wedding at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs was lovely, calm, intimate, simple, and wonderful. 30 or so of their closest friends and family made their way to Colorado from Iowa (and beyond) for their ceremony, and I was honored to be a part of such an event. I will remember Stacy, in particular, for being a woman who exuded such a calm, intense beauty on her wedding day, and I LOVED the guys' combo of Sanuks and cargo shorts. Even an ominous thunderstorm in the distance didn't get in our way :) Thank you, thank you for such a refreshing day, and congratulations! You guys are wonderful!

There's something about this image that just draws me in.  Stacy, you are GORGEOUS!

Signing the marriage license on the hood of a Jeep... classic Colorado :)

craig & bernadette (leadville wedding photographer)

This was one of those shoots that was just meant to happen.  Craig is an old friend of a friend and we haven't seen each other in years, but when he and his fiancee Bernadette booked me to shoot their 2011 wedding, I was thrilled!  We scheduled an engagement session for the day before I was supposed to leave to shoot a Seattle wedding.  No problem, I thought.  I'll just get home late, I thought.  Craig and Bernadette and I talked a little bit about the engagement session and came up with some great ideas and still had everything under control for the first part of the session, which we shot at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville.Then, for the second part of the shoot, we headed up to Turquoise Lake near Leadville.  It turns into a dirt road, nothing extreme, but I drive a little VW Golf.  With not the best clearance.  Also with not the best history of keeping oil pans intact.  I heard a big thunk and my stomach dropped and I thought "Oh CRAP.  I hope that wasn't what I think it was."  So we get down to the parking area for the site and I drop to my hands and knees and look under my car... sure enough, lots of fat black drips of oil.  Yes, friends, I hit a rock and cracked my oil pan.  Again.  A few hours before I'm supposed to drive to the airport.  Honestly, my first reaction was just to start laughing hysterically.  So I'm sitting in the middle of the dirt road, just cracking up, and Craig reminded me that we should, um, you know, probably get going.  We sped back to town, and in the ten or twelve minutes it takes to drive from Turquoise Lake to downtown Leadville, I lost almost HALF of the oil in my engine.

"Well," I laughed.  "It's not like I'm going anywhere... we might as well head back and finish the shoot!"  So they were kind enough to lend me a mixing bowl to stuff under my car, and I hopped in with them, and we produced one hell of an epic shoot while my car was slowly bleeding to death.  When we got back to the house, Bernadette slapped some chewed up gum on the crack and I bought like six quarts of oil and just kept pulling over every ten minutes to pour some more back in.  All in all, it was a great night :)

Seriously - these two are so kind, so laid-back, so flexible, and so so great in front of the camera.  This has to be one of my favorite engagement sessions ever.  Turquoise Lake is gorgeous, but so is the intimate, playful  love that Craig & Bernadette share.  I know I'm blogging WAY out of order but I sort of felt like I owed them :)  I am so thrilled to be a part of their wedding!  Congratulations!

Yay!  What a great great shoot.