Winter bridal sessions can be a hard sell.  Snow, cold, and your very best, most expensive dress, haha.  But they’re so PRETTY!  Fortunately, I didn’t have to convince these two, they suggested it!  Yay!  These guys are troupers and rock stars!  We were up the canyon carefully walking around in snow when a guy came along on his snow mobile and offered it up for our use, too bad he didn’t let us have it!  We gladly jumped on for some, for fun, shots.  Check out these pretty formals, and get ready for wedding which will be along shortly!

Ahhh finally.  Here is the previously teased and mentioned wedding.  Get ready for a picture overload!  Jeremy and Shelli are so sweet!  I had the greatest time working with them and they made my job easy.  They are at ease with each other, totally in love, and they don’t mind showing it!  This was a gorgeous wedding.  They really worked with great vendors and put a lot of thought into their day, and it shows!  We went out for some cold and blustery and snowy pictures during the day, but dang that makes for cuddley images, which I don’t mind!   Give these two some comment love, cuz seriously… how cute are they!?

Way back in October you saw Jeremy & Shelli’s engagement shoot.  Shelli wasn’t living close during the engagement period, and she was in school, so since she had to fly to Utah for shoots, we did her bridals just two days before the wedding. Shelli is a smart, highly educated, fun girl. But I told her that she may also a have a modeling career if the whole PhD thing doesn’t work out, haha.  It was also late in December and freezing.  But, I don’t think it could be any prettier out!  Well stay tuned for the gorgeous wedding of these two to follow, but for now enjoy!

This post actually represents two different days, but I thought I’d put them together to show the whole event.  Justin and Kristal got married on black Friday.  In one of the coldest days I’ve been on the temple grounds ever.  And it gets cold up there on that hill!  THANK HEAVENS we’d done formals earlier.  All we wanted to get done this afternoon was just some temple shots with them in front of the temple.  We’d have been thoroughly miserable trying to stay any longer than we did.  And I include myself, and I wasn’t the one in a dress!  Poor cold cold Kristal!  Good thing she had Justin for heat!   Their reception I covered was up in Idaho a week or so later.  What a crew, what a fun event!  Thanks guys!  Check em out and leave them some love.  Many happy returns!

Ahh, Miss Megan is really pretty easy to photograph.  Sure, she’s still a kid and they have challenges, all of them, but Megan is so HAPPY!  Well, until you put stuff on her hands, as you’ll see…. but I can’t say I blame her, I’d freak too.  I hate anything, but especially anything remotely sticky, on my hands.  But what I ask you is cuter than a picture of a little kid crying over birthday cake.  CLASSIC!  Love this girl, what a sweetie… enjoy!

So there’s obvious times up at a temple wedding when I know it’s going to be busy.  Saturdays,  during school breaks, Pretty much every Friday/Saturday in May and June, haha.  I was surprised by this day.  It was packed up on the grounds with brides and family and FREEZING!  This couple had love keeping ‘em warm, but their family was sure was cold!  Bryndel and Stephen kept their smiles on their faces, cold or no.  The rest of us were purple!   This is an out of state couple, so I didn’t get to know them really well, but their love just radiated and they were a joy to watch together and with their families.  Have a million happy memories you guys, this as one of many!

Ahhh, Tori and Garrick.  I actually just got back from this wedding.  What a cute couple.  They’re well suited to each other and a lot of fun.  It’s actually pretty difficult usually to get people to laugh during photoshoots.  There’s a natural instinct to hold back when you have that camera in your face.  Even if they laugh, and I’ll try my best, lots of times  it’s nervous laughter.  Tori just laughed and laughed.  No camera can hold her back from enjoying herself!  We ended up having a nice and mostly warm day this week half way through November.  We were very pleasantly surprised about that.  And ended the day with a gorgeous sunset… sometimes you just get lucky I guess!

Usually I am contacted and consult with brides.  But, it’s not totally uncommon for me to be contacted by a groom.  The reasons range from it was a delegated task from a busy bride, it is a groom I personally know, it is an area the groom has a strong opinion about, or the groom has expertise in the field the bride relies on.  Tyler was the person in this case who contacted me.  He asked all the appropriate questions, he did have informed information about photography.  I never did ask what category he was in from the above, but I’m glad he called and he was lovely to work with.  I hadn’t talked to Sadie till the wedding, but I was sure she was going to be great, and she was.  She’s sweet, she had a bit of a cold, yet you’d never know because she powered through and had natural, real images! Great couple, lighting was so nuts that day, but it all worked out in the end.  I always tell brides and grooms that, whatever it is, it is, but we’ll make it work!  (But FYI, if you have the ability to do formals, that is one serious advantage, it’s much more within our control!)

Dan and Dani are my last October wedding.  It was a bit chilly but gorgeous on this day.  The couple wasn’t going to let a chill dampen them at all… I think Dani would have turned blue if it meant getting good pictures!  My kind’o trouper!   They also put up with my incessant coughing as I recall!  Haha… Ironically I think this is the only illness I got through my very busy fall & winter wedding seasons… fortunately the only thing it messed up was my voice!  I adored Dani’s bouquet.  I don’t know my flowers, admittedly, but I like the wildflowery look of these… are some of these wildflowers?  Anyone?  Anyway, these two headed off cross the country (literally) to start a life together… and a very great area of the country…  Good luck you two, you’re awesome, fun and totally gorgeous!  May you have a million great years together and a million great big blue-eyed babies! (I usually don’t push kids, but I can tell you’ll have cute ones… fly me out and I’ll do newborns free!  hehe)  

Andy and Brianne had a lovely wedding day this last October.  The weather was delightful, the details were very carefully thought out by the bride and groom, the family was joyous and the couple was so excited to start a life together.  I share something in common with this couple’s courtship.  We both dated our future spouses long distance.  So I know how it can be rewarding, challenging, strengthening, and truly can only be attempted by people who are very serious about loving each other!  These two I’m sure found a similar journey and yet they found each other here on this important day, and so I hope they also find like I did that the joy of being together from here on out is only escalated because it can be done from the same house!  Congrats you two!  Hold on to the way you felt this day forever!