Search Results

A few years ago I shot a wedding video that was very meaningful and special to me. A very close family friend was getting married, obviously special, but what made it a true magical story was what they had overcome to get there. If you'd like to read their wedding story click HERE And now their story is just getting sweeter and sweeter, because now they are a little family of three! And of course again they had to overcome some medical things to get here, little baby Audrey had to be in the NICU for about a month I believe. So when I came to shoot their baby photos, they hadn't even been home from the hospital that long, so between that and covid, I was one of the first people who got to see their little bundle of joy, I felt so special! OMG she is so cute, and already as I write this she has gotten bigger and cuter. It was so much fun capturing this new little family, this new cute little face. When I first got to the shoot, little Audrey was still very sleepy, so we got some cute snuggly sleepy shots. But soon enough she started to wake up more and her little personality started to come out. Audrey's grandma had made an adorable little cow hat for her, because Erin and Gus live on ranch land a little ways out of town with lots of cows! I could NOT take enough photos of this girl in this hat, she was making a new cute or silly little face every second. I swear culling this shoot was sooo hard because she just made so many different little faces. Congratulations Erin and Gus on making such a wonderful little person, I cannot wait to see her personality grow and take shape more and more!!!

So I have to admit, I was not having the best day before I went to Dana and Derek's elopement. I was frustrated by technical difficulties in editing, then I found out the school behind my house might be rebuilt in a way that is very upsetting to me, and overall I was just pretty frustrated and down. I even tried breathing and smiling exercises on my drive to their venue, and they didn't seem to be helping. I knew I would be able to capture everything beautifully, but just really wanted to be in a better mood. Well now I know that it doesn't matter if I am in a bad mood if I have an amazing couple to work with, because all those negative feelings melted away instantly the second I saw these two love birds! I just became overwhelmed with their adorableness and joy! I was filled with happiness and excitement the moment they stepped out of their car and all worries evaporated immediately. If only I had an amazing beautiful little wedding like theirs to pick me up any time I am down. Dana and Derek had the most beautiful little ceremony, super intimate and fun. The weather was amazing, the mountains looked beautiful and the aspens even without their leaves were magical and stunning! (Aspens are beautiful year round!) There was a beautiful crispness to the air, but not cold, and everyone was just buzzing with happiness and excitement! The joy in the air was palpable. Cascade's meadow overlooking the twilights and engineer was breathtaking, the flowers by Adela Floral were stunning as always, and Dana and Derek just looked beautiful together! We started off with bride and groom portraits, and then a pre ceremony toast. Everyone gathered around to share a moment before the ceremony began, it felt so beautifully calm and excited all at the same time! Their adorable fur baby had on his formal tie. Dana was wearing a beautiful a flower from her mother's wedding dress in her hair and her grandmother's pearl earrings. Her dress was so beautiful and cute at the same time, elegant and fun, and to me everything just vibed together so perfectly! Their ceremony was beautiful, put together with the help of multiple family members if I understood correctly. Every story, blessing and reading flowed together wonderfully and gave you a peek into the lives and loves of this beautiful couple. After their ceremony we got to celebrate with another champagne toast that was popped and sprayed in celebration with everyone in the background cheering! It was a short one for me, but there was no shortage of joy, beauty and love! Congratulations Dana and Derek on your beautiful union!

I met Mason James when he reached out to me about an internship. Mason goes to Animas High School, and Animas has such a cool program where they have their students go out and find internships in fields they are interested in, to get some experience before heading out into "the real world" Of course things were a little different this time with covid, so most of Mason's internship with me was over zoom, but I still think it went great! So great I guess, that when time came for Mason to get senior photos, I was the first person he called! We got to shoot Mason's portraits behind James Ranch, where he lives, in the giant cottonwoods that were full of color! I LOVE fall, I LOVE color, and these trees looked so amazing, so I was so excited! Thank you Mason for reaching out to me, both about your internship and your senior photos, I had such a great time getting to know you and work on photos with you!

Katie and Clay are just such a joy to be around. I felt so lucky to be part of their special day and to hang out with them and witness all their adorable and goofy moments. I just love how silly and joyful these two are! Their love for each other and those around them is intoxicating. They are so thoughtful and kind and just fun beautiful people. They really made me feel like more than just a photographer. They cared so much about everyone at their wedding, taking all the precautions to keep everyone safe and make everyone feel like an important part of their day. They even planned a place for me to sit during dinner! Not only that but they put me on the decorative seating chart! I automatically assumed they had a guest named Kara when I saw my name on the board under table 7, but no they had just created a space for me! They really just wanted to make sure everyone felt safe and cared for and loved! They had everything at the Silverpick Lodge out near Purgatory. They chose the location partly because they could rent out all the rooms for their guests and nobody would have to get in a car all day, it also doesn't hurt that it is such a gorgeous location! Katie and her girls got ready in the spa area, full of beautiful light and a view of the mountains. Clay and the guys got ready in one of the rooms, and were just having a blast being goofy and hanging out. The atmosphere all through the lodge was just excitement and joy, even when we found out the dinner time might have to be drastically moved up, (which ended up being resolved and fine), there was never a feeling of stress in the air. Their ceremony was socially distanced, they had a seating chart and all the chairs of different pods were placed a good distance from each other. So everyone could sit and safely enjoy their ceremony. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, with a fall forest backdrop and light streaming through the trees! The colors Katie and Clay picked went beautifully with their surroundings, complementing the natural colors around them with pops of purple. Their flowers by Lulu's Petals looked like beautiful waterfalls of color. Katie and Clay's officiant Megan did such a great job, she brought meaning, laughter, joy, and love to their ceremony. Clay's wedding ring is made out of dinosaur bone and meteorite, and right off the bat Megan says something along the lines of "let's talk about dinosaurs" and weaves humor and meaning in based off Clay's wedding ring. She did also point out the irony of the fact that meteors took out the dinosaurs haha. After their ceremony they put on their bride and groom masks to safely mingle with their guests before we jumped into formal portraits. Katie looked so good in her bridal mask, something about the lace peeking over the top made her eyes pop even more! But I was still excited when we went off to do portraits and she could show her beautiful smile and contagious laugh again. Their bride and groom portraits were so much fun, because they just had so much fun with them. I would give them little directions, leaving room for their personalities to come through. One of my favorite moments was when I asked them to walk down a beautiful path of fall leaves and I gave them the direction to hip check each other every once in a while. The hip checking got intense and eventually Katie just pushed Clay into a bush, both laughing the whole time. Then later we did a little switch up and had Katie dip Clay in the traditional dip pose, and it was both hilarious and awesome, but also the photo just looks so good! Really shows off their personalities and their relationship together. Every part of the day had their unique goofiness somewhere embedded in the moment, and they could swing from a goofy social distanced first dance to a meaningful teary dance 5 minutes later and it all just fit. It was all just them, silliness and deep heart string pulling love all wrapped up in one. I can't express enough how much I loved shooting Katie and Clay's wedding and how much I have loved getting to know them through this whole process, from their first inquiry, to their engagement portraits adventuring out in the desert, to working with them through all the date changes, and then of course their beautiful wedding day! Congratulations Katie and Clay, I know you will have such a beautiful life together full of love and laughter! Keep being silly, keep loving hard!

Kristie and Luke snagged one of the most popular 2020 wedding dates, 10-10-2020, and I am so glad they did! Kristie and Luke are such a wonderful, laid back, sweet and caring couple. They rented an AMAZING air bnb out in the mountains. It was a beautiful rustic mansion, surrounded by colorful, glittering, fall trees. The moment I arrived Luke was there to greet me, we had only met virtually before that, and he was ready to introduce himself and help me any way he could, at his own wedding! Everyone there was so helpful and kind, ready to do anything to help Kristie and Luke's day go as flawlessly as possible. I found Kristie getting ready in a beautiful large room overlooking what may be the best mountain view I have ever seen in Durango. She was just finishing up her hair and makeup, just about ready to get into her gorgeous dress and start her first looks. We set up two first looks for Kristie, first was the father daughter first look. We set up her dad in the beautiful backyard (backyard doesn't even seem like the right word for the colorful forest behind this house), and when he turned around to see his daughter, in her gorgeous dress, in this breathtaking setting, and I can't imagine the joy and happy tears emotions that hit him. But next was the groom's turn, and wow! When he turned around to see his beautiful bride, you could see the happiness overwhelm them both, they both looked so amazing! Now everyone was ready for their intimate beautiful ceremony! They had a beautiful arch decorated, with the mountains in the background, in front of the house. They had Kristie's brother officiating, adorable little nieces and nephews throwing petals and carrying important ceremony items, and I swear half the guests were crying before everyone even got down the aisle. I seriously love these personal intimate weddings! Kristie and Luke each had their own individual vow book, matching their wedding colors. After their vows, and rings, they had a unique addition to their ceremonial events, a celtic handfasting ceremony. Handfasting is an ancient Celtic ritual in which the hands are tied together to symbolize the binding of two lives. They wrapped their hands in beautifully colored chords and then left the chords tied together where their hands had been, allowing them to keep this symbol of literally tying the knot for the rest of their lives! (I love unique unity rituals like this!) Even though we had gotten so many beautiful photos of the bride and groom together after their first look, we had to go get more after their ceremony because the scenery around their wedding location was so amazing and breath taking, but also because they were just so dang cute I couldn't stop! They were definitely one of those couples I took too many photos of because they just wouldn't stop being cute long enough for me to put the camera down! I am so glad that Kristie and Luke found me to capture their amazing day, and I feel so lucky that I get to have these glimpses into such personal and meaningful moments in the lives of so many wonderful people like these two. Congratulations Kristie and Luke, I know your forever will be just as beautiful and magical as your wedding day was!

Emma and Cameron are such a wonderful, down to earth, fun couple. Emma is an independent introvert and Cameron is a curious and kind hearted individual. They love to travel with each other, experiment with healthy meals, and listen to electronic music. They are adventurous spirits, so getting married in the mountains of Colorado was a perfect fit! They wanted to celebrate their day right, but also didn't put too much pressure on anything. I really had the vibe that as long as they were married at the end of the day that was really all that mattered, and that is the best vibe for a couple to have. They had a beautiful ceremony up at Cascade Village in their gorgeous meadow surrounded by beautiful mountain views and yellow fall aspens, their arch and aisle were lush with beautiful fall florals by Natalie at Adela Floral. They could only have 15 close friends and family at their ceremony, making it extremely personal and intimate. After they shared their beautiful vows (seriously, they are wordsmiths, beautiful vows!), exchanged rings and kisses, after we took many beautiful photos of them and their guests, we headed down to the Glacier Club for their reception. We were welcomed in by a beautiful welcome sign made by Cameron's brother, each place setting was decorated with a beautiful little herb bundle made by Cameron's mother. It was all very beautiful and elegant. Cameron and Emma's bride and groom table was placed right in front of a gorgeous fireplace. On their table were beautiful antique champagne glasses and ice bucket from Cameron's grandmother. Overall the feeling in the room was just warm, friendly, and joyful! It was very clear Cameron and Emma were extremely loved by their friends and family. The number of people who got up to toast them, telling beautiful and funny and meaningful stories, really showed how important Cameron and Emma were in their guests lives and how much their guests shared in their joy. Congratulations Emma and Cameron on a beautiful wedding day, and I hope you have the most wonderful life together!!!

Jacklynn and Joey's engagement session was so much fun! Beautiful views of mountains and lakes, all wrapped up in the golden glow of fall! They were instantly naturals in front of the camera, just laughing and snuggling and being so cute I could hardly put my camera down! I am so excited for their wedding in November at River Bend Ranch, I can't wait to photograph this adorable couple again for their big day!

Meredith and Matt are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They are so sweet, caring and loving. It was such a joy working with them and capturing their special day! They had a very intimate ceremony at Blue Lake Ranch, and although it was a small group, and I had met none of the guests beforehand, I felt like more than just the photographer the moment I arrived. Everyone was very welcoming and bubbling with excitement. They had rented the Upper and Lower Spring House at Blue Lake Ranch, and got married just outside with the mountains, lake and fields as their backdrop. We hardly even had to move after their ceremony for all their beautiful portraits because the surroundings were so gorgeous! All the fall colors were in peak condition! Their officiant was Meredith's father, making the ceremony that much more personal. I am sure Meredith didn't stop smiling and Matt the whole time (seriously, my eyes prick as I write this just thinking about how adorable these two are!) They finished off their ceremony in a shower of rose petals as they walked back down their tiny aisle, husband and wife at last! Their friends and family had an abundance of petals to throw and it looked just as beautiful and magical as they had hoped it would. I had so much fun photographing them during their bride and groom portraits, all the beautiful fall colors just reflected the joy and warmth these two exuded. Then when it was time to head to their reception, we just had to follow the winding forest path to a magical little clearing that Blue Lake had decorated in the most fairytale-like fashion. There were lights and chandeliers strung up in trees above the long elegantly decorated table, serious fantasy fairy vibes. Meredith and Matt had also put together an awesome slideshow of images of them throughout their relationship, traveling and exploring so many beautiful national parks. Seriously, I stood there watching their slideshow for a good portion of dinner and they have gone SO many beautiful places and taken so many amazing adventures together! I really can't express enough how much fun this wedding was for me to photograph, the energy and the joy coming from every person there was intoxicating! It was such a beautiful day, a beautiful evening, for a beautiful couple! Congratulations Meredith and Matt!!! I am so happy for you two to start out on this new adventure!

I LOVE watching my friends grow little families, and I especially love being able to capture their journey along the way. Courtney and I have known each other... I don't even know actually, a long long time, and her husband Josh and I used to be locker buddies in middle school, so these people have been in my lives a long time. I was lucky enough to shoot their wedding, and now I was lucky enough to shoot their adorable family ON little Craig's first birthday! Thank you so much Courtney and Josh for letting me be a part of so many beautiful milestones in your lives!

Samantha and Tu definitely went through the Covid Wedding Rollercoaster this year. Their original wedding date was in March, they were my first wedding couple to deal with the decision to cancel or not. We were so sad, they had a whole snowboard down Purgatory in their wedding attire plan, I was so stoked to capture their epicness, and over the year we had been in contact since they hired me we had become friends. So I was sad for them as their photographer and their friend. After that they had multiple different wedding dates, each with its own issues and drama, eventually they just cancelled all together. So I was so excited when Samantha reached out to me about transitioning to an adventure elopement this year and a family and friends celebration next year! She mentioned Ice Lakes and I got even more stoked (stoked is our word haha), this was going to be an adventure!!! If you have never hiked Ice Lakes, first of all you should because it is amazing, but also you should know it is a 8 mile round trip hike. I know that doesn't sound very far, but it is the elevation gain you really need to be aware of. There is over a 2,600ft elevation gain throughout this hike, so it may be on the shorter side but it is straight up the whole way. Our main goal was to avoid the afternoon storms that tend to roll in up in the high country, especially in the fall months. So we woke up at 3am to start our adventure! We began hiking with headlamps at 5:30am, and in not too long the sun started peaking over the mountains. Between the fall colors and the beautiful sunrise we had such a beautiful hike up to the lakes, tough, but beautiful! My husband Natan came with us to help haul all my equipment up, so it was just the four of us, Samantha, Tu, Natan and I. Wedding days are normally so hectic, there isn’t time to just hang out and chat, but we had so much time hiking to chat and get to know each other. Enjoying the beautiful scenery, pep talking each other up the especially difficult parts, and laughing together along the way! Once we reached the top, if felt like we were the only people in the world! Normally this trail is packed and there are tons of people around the lake, but this early in the morning it was just us and a few distant tents. We pulled out our delicious Bread bakery sandwiches and rested up a bit before our last leg from Ice Lakes to Island Lake where we planned to have their beautiful intimate ceremony away from all the hikers who would inevitably be showing up at Ice Lakes very soon. Once we had eaten and felt refreshed, we hiked on over to Island Lake. Samantha set up a little getting ready location near a rock and did her hair and makeup beautifully. She and Tu got dressed in their beautiful wedding attire, and we started their wedding ceremony on the edge of the lake under the epically beautiful mountains. Samantha and Tu shared their vows, stories, laughs, happy tears, rings, and kisses, and it was the cutest little ceremony ever! Then Natan and I pulled out a surprise toast! We gave them each their own little bubbly bottle to celebrate! After their beautiful ceremony and our little celebratory toast, we started our photo adventure around each lake capturing both the beauty of our epic mountain surroundings and our epic new married couple. Once we wrapped up our photo adventure, Samantha and Tu changed back into their hiking attire and we started our way back down the mountain. By the time we reached the car (around 5:00) we were all pretty exhausted, but also still riding the excitement of the day! So we decided to all have dinner together in town at 11th Street Station. It was so great getting to sit down and decompress together about our grand adventure. At this point we all felt like we had been friends for a long time, and that is what I love about what I do! The relationships I get to build with these amazing couples!!! It was such an amazing, beautiful, epic day! I cannot express how awesome and special it was, and I am so glad the Samantha and Tu finally got the marriage celebration adventure they deserved!

Brittany and Tom got married at Deep Creek Ranch, which also happens to be where they live, making it the most beautiful, meaningful place for them to get married and it was perfect! Brittany and Tom, like many other covid wedding couples, had a much larger wedding originally planned, but I think this intimate little wedding ended up being the perfect celebration for them! They had their ceremony under a beautiful arch, in a beautiful little patch of trees, the whole thing had this midsummer nights dream fairytale nature feeling. Brittany wore a dress she could dance in, that both highlighted and distracted from her beautiful little baby bump. Tom wore a stunning blue suit that was delivered tailored to him earlier just that day! Something else I didn’t mention about their ceremony spot is that they were next to their alpaca enclosure. As they started their ceremony the alpacas all gathered at their little fence, as if they wanted to be part of the celebrations. (It was so awesome!) They shared beautiful vows, they shared rings, they shared laughs and tears and kisses, but they were not the only ones to share as part of their ceremony. After Brittany and Tom had promised themselves to each other through vows, rings and kisses, they sat down with their family. In the center of the seating was a rock covered in numerous little objects. One after another each family member got up and shared what object they had brought to give the newlywed couple. They shared meaningful stories behind each object, what it meant to them and what they hoped it would bring the bride and groom in their new life together. Some objects had rich personal histories, some had special symbolism, and some just represented an idea. I will say one little sharer stole the show, Brittany and Tom’s daughter, who is around 5 years old, got up to share her object. Since she hadn’t actually brought an object or planned anything ahead of time, she would just grab something from the ground and continue to tel the most beautiful, adorable, made up meaningful stories about the history and meaning of these found objects. It was really amazing because she obviously had taken mental notes through everyone else’s stories and incorporated those ideas into her own, things like “a long time ago when I was little, we were hiking, and my dad gave me this rock…” and is was just so dang cute! Once all the beautiful stories and sharing was over we transitioned to a bit of food and drink before planting Brittany and Tom’s wedding tree!!! I love this idea, planting a tree to symbolize your new union, something that will grow and change along with your relationship. But this was not a small tree, it was pretty large already actually, so it took help from everyone to get it planted, which I thought was another great bit of symbolism! One thing that was so beautiful to me about this wedding, was just how calm and organic and go with the flow everything was. It never really felt like going from one event to the next, everything just flowed into the next thing, and I hardly even needed to pose anything. Brittany and Tom could just dance through their day and I got to just capture them where they were doing what they were doing, because they just kept being cute and cuddling and loving on each other the whole time. Plus everything was beautiful from every direction! I will say I asked them to go stand or dance in certain places, sometimes the light was really good in that spot, or there was a beautiful frame, but after that I would just give them a little bit of direction and then just let them be themselves. All day just felt so carefree and joyful, exactly how you’d expect a beautiful intimate wedding on a family ranch to be. Congratulations Brittany and Tom on such a beautiful union!!!

When on vacation in the beautiful Colorado mountains, you have to get some family photos done! Especially in the fall, and especially when you come from Phoenix where there are almost no trees and no fall leaves. I was so happy to give the Kaufman's a visual reminder of their time in Durango. They were so fun to work with, their little girl was so full of energy and fun to shoot with. If you are visiting a beautiful location so different from your home town, family photos are always a great plan!