Wedding Photographer | Real Photography

The Inn at Palmer Divide Wedding – Palmer Lake Colorado

Jul 20, 2011

Warning–this is a long one! Emmy Jo and Garrett were married earlier this month at The Inn at Palmer Divide in Palmer Lake. They had beautiful weather, beautiful details, and beautiful moments. A perfect wedding day!

Venue/Catering: The Inn at Palmer Divide Florist: Beautiful Expressions Cupcakes: Mya Bella Cupcakes

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Check out the shoes!!

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These two are ridiculously cute.

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After their first look they took a moment for prayer.

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The Inn at Palmer Divide was wonderful to work at–I hope we get to shoot another wedding there soon!

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Their getaway car made the perfect photo prop–it couldn’t have been more perfect for their aqua and red wedding colors!

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I’ve always loved the ‘kiss in the rearview mirror’ shot!

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Their wedding party was huge and fun and had not one but two celebrity look alikes (I’ll let you decide who.) :)

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The last kiddo wedding attendant I saw RUN down the aisle was my Willie (at 18 months), so it made my heart happy to see the flower girl take a similar approach to her big walk.

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The ceremony set-up was a little different than usual, so I was able to get some really great angles on Emmy’s walk down the aisle. I love these moments with her dad!

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I normally don’t blog family formals, but this one is just too cute!

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I can’t see a cupcake without wanting to stick a ring in it!

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Get ready, DIY brides–one of the cutest place card and dessert table ideas I’ve ever seen. The place cards were strung in front of a framed engagement portrait, so as they were removed, you could see more of the photo. The dessert table had a quilt as the backdrop with a window in front of it to act as a frame, vintage linens as a table cloth, and beautiful cupcake stands!

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The best man’s toast had everyone alternating between laughter and tears.

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The bride’s parents watching the first dance. So sweet.

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Whenever the DJ has colored lights like the ones in this shot, I’m a very happy photographer. I know the reception photos will be fun and awesome when we have great lights to play with!

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You know I love a good garter/bouquet toss shot. At this wedding I got dozens. So. Much. FUN!

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Here’s the reach for the garter…

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…but even in the moments before Garrett actually tossed the garter the guys were hysterical!

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Here’s Nic’s shot of the bouquet toss win…

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…but my favorite is mine from seconds earlier. Bridesmaids are only united in friendship until the bouquet toss. ;)

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Back to the party!

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Everyone started to gather at one end of the dance floor and I could see the groomsmen getting into some kind of formation. Having no idea what was going on, I was just trying to be ready for whatever it was they were about to do, when I heard Garrett say politely “excuse me, I’m going to jump” as he angled me out of the way.

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And then we had this.

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We felt so lucky to photograph this wedding. As you can tell from the pictures, we had a LOT of fun!

Emmy Jo and Garrett’s Wedding Details Venue/Catering: The Inn at Palmer Divide Florist: Beautiful Expressions Cupcakes: Mya Bella Cupcakes

Posted in Wedding Photographer

colorado springs wedding photographers – heidi and aaron

Apr 12, 2011

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Heidi and Aaron were married last month in Colorado Springs at the Charis Christian Center with their reception at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and first look and portrait time at Garden of the Gods. They were an amazing couple to begin 2011 with–full of excitement and fun and emotion. I cried like a baby during the mother-son dance, and we were having so much fun with them during the cocktail hour portraits that we could have easily kept shooting for another hour and forced all the guests to go hungry!

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After getting ready at the Charis Christian Center, they rode separately to Garden of the Gods so we could do their first look there. We got sooo lucky on the weather–middle of March, and it was in the high 60s and sunny! That brought out the tourists, so there were plenty of witnesses for the first look!

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After the smiles and hugs and kisses and tears we took some pictures of the wedding party.

Bride with bridesmaids in green dresses at Garden of the Gods

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Groom with groomsmen at Garden of the Gods

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Wedding party with view of mountains at Garden of the Gods

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More proof that a first look doesn’t spoil the ‘down the aisle’ moment. Here’s Aaron as he watched Heidi and her dad walk down the aisle toward him.

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Heidi and Aaron planted a tree together during their ceremony–one of very few traditions I haven’t seen before!

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Bride and groom after the wedding ceremony

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Bride and groom exit Charis Christian Center church with bubbles

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Since their portrait time before the ceremony coincided with the most harsh light of the day, they’d also made plans to have more ‘couple only’ portraits taken during the cocktail hour. It was a good thing, too, since right after we got the pictures of the wedding party, the wind kicked up in epic fashion, and when we returned after the ceremony the wind had died down to a respectable level. The light was perfect, and we could have spent hours clicking away!

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Bride and groom on stone bridge with Colorado Springs mountain view

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There were a handful of little kids having their portraits taken, and they kept heckling Heidi and Aaron with cheers of “kiss, kiss, kiss!” Until Heidi and Aaron REALLY kissed, at which point the cheers turned to “EEEEEW”

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Bride and groom closeup

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Bride and groom laying on a quilt

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Wedding portraits at Garden of the Gods

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After one of the most relaxed and fun portrait sessions we’ve ever had with a bride and groom, it was time to head to the reception. A reception I was very excited about, because you know who was catering?! TEXAS ROADHOUSE, THAT’S WHO!!!! (And if you don’t know why I’m so excited, you’ve clearly never had their rolls and butter. )

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White homemade wedding cake with green ribbon.

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First dance photo

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Mother son wedding dance. (At this point, I was crying so hard I could barely see what I was shooting.)

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I’m pretty sure (if I was following along correctly), this shot is a grandson dancing with his grandma and his mom dancing with her dad. PRECIOUS!

Heidi and Aaron, thanks for kicking off 2011 with a wedding so full of love! We know you have a wonderful life together ahead of you!

Posted in Wedding Photographer

hudson gardens – christmas wedding – denver wedding photographers

Mar 22, 2011

A long long long overdue blog post with my last wedding from 2010. I had so many favorites from this wedding that I knew it would take me hours to blog, so I’m forever leaving it for another day. But not anymore–this wedding is getting blogged today!

Morgan and Cale were married two days before Christmas and they were soooo wonderful to work with. No matter what I suggested, they were game for it. Their church was in a suburban neighborhood, but as my second shooter and I drove around the neighborhood looking for potential first look and portrait spots, I spied a little hill and figured that if we were careful with our camera angles, it could look like an epic spot with a view of the mountains. Now, to most people it just looked like a weird mound with a busy road on one side and sea of houses on the other, but when I told them about it, Morgan and Cale didn’t hesitate to trust me and head on outside on a cold December day!

It involved a bit of a walk in her wedding dress, but again, Morgan was game. And when I asked her if she would sit down on the dirt and dried grass and prickly stuff for some awesome pictures, again she was in for the adventure. If Morgan had been worried about her dress, we wouldn’t have been able to get these incredible pictures. So future brides take note! If you’re not worried about a dirty hemline or a wrinkle here or there, your photographer can get some AMAZING images!

I love pictures of brides getting ready. Morgan was positively radiant. She was so happy and full of all the cutest exclamations!

The first look. Nothing better than a bride and groom in a field!

They had the sweetest first look. They smiled, they cried, they kissed, they chatted. The above shot is part of those first look undirected moments! I felt awful when we finally interrupted to begin the portraits.

I love the dramatic sky and lighting in that shot!

I will love Morgan forever for being willing to sit down on that field in her dress!

This mistletoe is such a sweet story. Cale produced it from his pocket toward the end of our shooting time and asked if we could use it for a few pictures. (He also ran around with it on the dance floor during the reception!)

Morgan was such a gorgeous bride!

The light just got more and more beautiful and we used up every last second of it before the last of the sun slipped behind the mountains.

I love this shot by Holly (my second shooter for the day)–such a fun behind the scenes angle!

The ceremony at Abiding Hope Lutheran Church in Littleton had everyone alternating between tears and laughter.

If Morgan’s parents look familiar, it’s because we photographed her sister Meredith’s wedding in June!

Little kids watching the ceremony.

The reception was held at the Inn at Hudson Gardens. It was such a fun spot for a Christmas wedding because the Hudson Gardens was all decorated for their Hudson Holidays light show.

I’ve learned three things about Bowlin weddings. #1: I’ll cry during the toasts. #2: The party will be awesome and a total dance party. #3: The interior will be gorgeously decorated. (Dave and Gerri, can you guys maybe have some more babies so I can keep photographing such incredible weddings?) :D

The blue uplighting, silver and blue centerpieces, and the subtle Christmas touches like the glass ornaments in the centerpieces made it such a winter wonderland!

Their family friend makes the coolest videos to play at the beginning of the evening. She interviews the parents of both couples as well as the couple and splices in photos. I’m stealing the idea for when Ellie and Will get married!

Sisters. :)

First dance!

And then the party began!

Posted in Wedding Photographer