This time of the year, with snow in the immediate forecast, it’s nice to look back and remember a lovely fall wedding where the sun was shining warmly. Lauren and Joey were married at the Villa Parker amidst many, many friends and family. We’ve known Joey’s wonderful family since elementary school, although it certainly doesn’t seem that long ago.  Joey was always the cutest little boy, kind of quiet but always smiling. Lauren is a joy to be around and together they are a wonderful couple.

Lauren chose dark reds and black for their wedding colors. Deep red roses and calla lilies were the perfect colored flowers for her bouquets while the brides maids has white roses. You may remember the amazing Iris wedding dress by designer Matthew Christopher that we show you back in March. That was Lauren’s dress. We didn’t want to say anything because we didn’t want Joey to know who might be wearing it down the aisle.

Lauren’s little brothers weren’t quite sure about the whole event.

Joey’s “little” brother Dustin, is flask-less because he was under age.

Isn’t he handsome…..

Joey’s father, Dan gave the most heartfelt speech… tears all around!

Also, congratulations to Lauren and Joey on their recent announcement that a little baby boy will be joining their family this May. We look forward to meeting the newest member of the Beisel family.

The fifth week of a personal project to photography those little people from train sets!  As always… if  you suggest the title I pick for the photo, I will send you an 8×12 of that photo. Plus, I will add the title and your name to the blog post under the photo.

To see more of this series click here: Miniature Monday’s

I’ve kind of been saving posting this session until we got closer to the wedding date. But today’s email from Kimberly says that she’s “turning into a ball of stress” so I thought now would be a good time to post these photos. We had so much fun this day. In fact, we had so much fun, we stopped for dinner so we could shoot some more after the sun went down! I also have to tell you, Connor was such a good sport given that there were three women all telling him where to stand and what to do!

So Kimberly….. don’t stress yourself out. Your wedding day will be wonderful. Connor is an great guy. You’ve got tons of family and friends who are excited for the two of you to get married. And, in the end all that really matters is how much you two love each other.

That and the fact that you’ve picked out fabulous wedding shoes

Isn’t this cute? Kimberly brought this along for their Save the Date announcements.

A girl after our own hearts…. Kimberly is a shoe girl!

Larimer Square after dark.

When I got married 32 years ago, we were kind of limited to two choices – red roses or white roses. Add a couple branches of babies breath and some random greenery and your bouquet was finished. Sadly, due to the limited floral choices of the day, most weddings tended to have the same look to them. If you chose white roses you could make other color choices for what your wedding party wore. But those red roses… they really limited you. I (of course) picked red roses.

I think because of this I am always excited to see which colors our couples pick to represent their wedding day. When Amanda and AC were in the planning stages of their wedding there was a lot of conversation over what color “marigold” really was. Needless to say marigold didn’t make it into their color pallet! Today the color choices are limited only by your imagination. Flowers are available from around the world or grown in hot houses and shipped to your florist. Fabrics can be dyed to your specific color. No one should ever feel limited again. I’ve been looking at the colors our couples have used over the last couple years. It’s very rare we have couples using the exact same color scheme. While dark purple may be a common choice, one couple may have a purple that’s more red, while the other couple’s purple has more of a blue undertone. The accent colors vary giving everything a different feel. For a photographer it’s very exciting not to have the same thing every weekend!

As I’ve been going through past wedding I’ve been putting together “Inspiration Boards” to post here. I’ve put the Pantone color number on the color swatch so if you see a color you love you can identify it easily. Pantone allow designers to ‘color match’ specific colors when a design enters production stage—regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now allowing for consistency. By the way the Pantone Color of 2012 is – Tangerine Tango. “Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.”

The colors in the Colorado mountains were absolutely stunning this fall. So much so that Caitlin and Ben decided a drive up to Keystone for engagement photos was worth the extra time. If I remember correctly…..  Ben proposed to Caitlin in Keystone making this engagement location extra special.

We met in River Run Village for some shots around the river, the ski lift and borrowed a fun bike from one of the shops. The woman in the store wasn’t at all surprised when we asked to borrow the turquoise Electra bike which makes me think maybe this wasn’t the bikes first photo shoot.

We heading up Loveland pass, on the drive to Keystone we had spotted a grove of aspen trees that were the best yellows and gold we’ve ever seen.  They kind of glowed. We knew they’d make the beautiful backdrop that Caitlin was looking for.

You know how something people just seem to fit together? Caitlin and Ben fit together. Comfortable, relaxed and in tune to each other.

This was one of those heart pounding moments. Caitlin was sooo close to falling in yet managed to hang on!

Aren’t these colors amazing? Caitlin and Ben certainly picked the right location.

We stopped about half way up Loveland Pass so we could get the entire valley photographed.

We love that our job allows us to meet and remain friends with so many wonderful people.  One of the best things for us is to to watch as their families grow. This fall we seem to have had many new babies join us – which we absolutely LOVE! We love photographing another milestone in their family history, seeing our couples again and best of all cuddling a new baby.

Meet…. Miss Lily Joy. We were so fortunate to have photographed her parents wedding in 2009, so being able to meet the newest member of the family is a blessing. Such a cutie with her parents beautiful red hair. (A small cheer for another redhead in the world!) We look forward to watching Lily grow into an amazing and beautiful young lady.

Ross and Lori had such a lovely fall wedding at the Villa Parker. I honestly have never seen a groom so excited to be getting married as Ross. He honestly was jumping with joy as time got closer to the ceremony. Lori however was as calm as we’ve ever seen a bride…. together they make a perfect pair. Through out the evening we heard stories from grandparents about the great breakup while they were dating and how they got back together. It was very sweet to listen to them go on about how much they adored their grandchildren.

Lori picked bright vibrant colors to match Colorado’s stunning yellow aspens and keeping the time of year in mind.

Pumpkins were used as decorations throughout the reception and at the ceremony.

Love the contrast of the purple shirts and ties with the orange of the flowers.

This little guy was very serious about making sure he did his “ring job” correctly.

Ross was so excited that he couldn’t even look at Lori when she first came down the aisle.

I think Lori like the ring!

Still admiring those wedding rings.

Lori’s mom and dad couldn’t have been happier for Ross and Lori.

Bouquet toss went off without a problem but when the garter was thrown it hit against the rough wood beam and stuck. Leaving all the unmarried guys looking at each other wondering who was going to be the brave one to get it down.

Chelly is an actress from New York City, you may have seen her in a local Taco Bell commercial. This fall when she was in Denver visiting relatives she decided it was time to update her portfolio with new head shots. Here’s a selection of what’s she’ll be presenting producers and directors!

We’ve known Jen since middle school so we were thrilled to be asked to photograph her wedding to Jonathan this spring in California. These two where very certain of what style of photos they wanted for the engagement session – Bright and colorful! I think we found that!

A poor unsuspecting grasshopper landed on Jonathan’s pants sending Jen flying!

Beth and Doug’s ceremony at Stonebrook Manor was lovely. The bride was so beautiful, her dress was perfect for her…. made her look like a princess. The groom was handsome, charming and excited to be getting married. Their ceremony when off without a single glitch…. and then the mosquitoes came out in full force. We were itching, the wedding party was swatting, and Beth was trying her best to keep them out of the tulle in her dress and veil. I’m quite sure we’ve never shot formals so quickly in order to get everyone inside as fast as we could! It’s amazing had well everyone cooperates when they are being eaten alive.

Lesson Learned: Don’t leave home without the bug spray!

We are LOVING this new trend of the bright colorful shoes. Adds a fun personal touch.

There was so much laughter that day – everyone was having such a great time!

The first bridesmaid on the left is Doug’s sister Caitlin, we shot her wedding in 2009. She’s about to become a new mommy.

Love this shot of the officiant looking at Doug first seeing Beth. The anticipation was killing him!

Beth had these lollipops at each place setting. I asked one of the older gentlemen if I could borrow his for photos and received an interrogation on where it was going and how soon I would be returning it to him. Having the rings is enough stress but worrying about losing his lollipop on top of that – way too much stress!

A slideshow of Beth and Doug growing up and dating played in the background while they had their first dance.

More photos of Beth played while Beth and her father were having their dance. She was so caught up in the photos there wasn’t much dancing going on.

The groom and grooms men sang (In perfect harmony I’d like to add!) a college song to Beth before Doug removed the garter. Totally caught her off guard.