The Lodge at Cathedral Pines in Black Forest just outside Colorado Springs is always one of our favorite wedding venues. Peter and Sarah had a special date–not only was September 10th their new anniversary, but it also both of their birthdays! How cute is that?!
Check out their wedding cake. It makes it into the wedding cake hall of fame–the bride and groom on top of a waterfall with their dog at the bottom!
Sarah made such a beautiful bride.
Their wedding color was forest green, so she used a forest green ribbon for the lace in her corset-backed dress. Brilliant!
A few times a year we get a couple where the groom is just as involved in the wedding day as the bride, and I absolutely love to see that. It goes against the conventional thought of the wedding as the ‘bride’s day’ and it always endears the groom to me. Peter is one of those grooms who was 100% present and involved on the wedding day. Just before Sarah walked down the aisle, Peter bowed his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath–really soaking in the moment and centering himself. If I hadn’t had my camera trained on him, waiting for his expression when they opened those doors, I would have missed it. It was one of the most special and unique things I’ve seen in my 80+ weddings.
The pines trees outside the back patio at the Lodge at Cathedral Pines make such a great backdrop for the ceremony.
I love catching more relaxed and affectionate moments like this after the official smiley family portrait.
I admit to having a heart attack for second half of the ceremony, since the sun was getting lower and lower and we were running a little behind and we had yet to take any portraits. But it made for the most incredible portrait time. We only had about 30 minutes, but all of our shots of have this incredible golden hour light!
Our signature wedding party shot. Nic and I refer to it between ourselves as the ‘off to see the wizard’ pose. (We’ve code named most of our poses. We should invent hand signals for them, though, to be like baseball players. That would be awesome. Or we could assign numbers to them like football players. I could be all like “red, 47. blue 13, 26, 84. HIKE!”)
Silly groomsmen are fun.
Ahhh–gorgeous sunset light, big pine trees, a sweet moment between bride and groom.
I love the way the sunlight has hit Sarah’s hair in the top left of this shot.
Peter requested a few shots of him carrying Sarah. (a la ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’)
I love it when a groom looks at a bride like this. It makes me hum love songs while I proof. (Which is good, because usually I just mutter about being hungry.)
We used up every last inch of light before it slipped behind the mountains. Lots and lots of fun artsy flare-ish shots.
Their wedding had so many creative details. Here were the centerpieces–treasure chests with compasses and ‘jewels’–perfect, since Peter is in the Navy.
Toast time. The Lodge at Cathedral Pines always has such a cozy atmosphere for the reception.
End of the first dance–such a cute moment!
Yep. That’s a ‘cake up the nose’ kind of smash.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a behind-the-scenes shot! Here I am with my buddy and tiny assistant. She LOVED my buttons. (And bird hair clip. She got to wear it for a while, too.)
And a line dancing shot to finish off the night!
Peter and Sarah, thanks for sharing your chalk-full-of-love wedding day with us! Your gallery will be up tonight, so you don’t have to wait long for the rest of the images!