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Elizabeth & John’s Colorado Wedding in Leadville

Weddings

Back in late Summer we had a kinda crazy weekend. Crazy scary and crazy awesome. We photographed Lisa and Elaine’s wedding in North Carolina on Saturday and then attended, as well as photographed, our dear friends Elizabeth & John’s wedding on Sunday back here in Colorado! Normally we would not attempt such a feat, lest we tempt the travel gods, but we just couldn’t miss either one. And that’s what planes are for anyway, right? Well, our journey involved not only planes, but trains and automobiles (if you count DEN’s monorail).

We really thought it through…to speed things up, we parked in daily parking right next to the terminal (no economy lot for us this time!), charged batteries after Saturday’s wedding, already had our wedding clothes hanging in said automobile and changed in a hotel lobby on the way up through the Colorado Rockies. Thanks to our good karma, said travel gods smiled upon us and we made it to J&E’s wedding in plenty of time, ahead of both the bride and groom in fact! And we’re so glad we did.

Talk about a perfect day for these two. We loved every minute of it and since John’s a fellow photographer, we were especially honored to be asked to photograph it, even though there would be other photographer friends in attendance with their cameras. Perhaps one of the craziest parts involved the weather. On Saturday we were ahem, “glowing” in hot, steamy North Carolina and on Sunday, shivering at 10,000 feet where it didn’t make it much past 50 degrees! After some early clouds though, the sun came out just in time for their ceremony and bathed us all in some sweet, warm sunlight reflecting off the mountain lake behind the couple. Guests were asked to bring their camp chairs for the lake side ceremony and lots of other friends volunteered for various jobs, like catering and reception music playlist. E&J met each other among the trees, each with one of their pups and walked to meet their guests together hand in hand. The intimate ceremony they designed was officiated by Elizabeth’s Mom and included readings from several family and friends, as well as a serenade from John to his bride. At one point, they asked their guests to say and share a “word of the day”, which is a tradition E&J started where they share a word each day with one another that is meaningful in some way. Such a cool idea! Needless to say, we love these two and are tickled pink (do the kids say that anymore these days?) to have been a part of it. We also can’t thank them enough for the patience in understanding our crazy travel schedule! With that, on to the photos!

Venue: Leadville National Fish Hatchery

colorado-rocky-mountain-wedding_JE-1710-03x colorado-rocky-mountain-first-site colorado-rocky-mountain-processional colorado-rocky-mountain-recessional colorado-rocky-mountain-sneak-peek And then he turned the camera on us. Not everyday we wear jeans to a wedding!

Oh, those Colorado skies…

colorado-rocky-mountain-wedding_JE-1836-36x We wouldn’t mind if more weddings ended with a campfire.

Congratulations, E&J and thank you so much for your faith and trust in us. We love you guys!

xoxo,
…a&b

Lisa & Elaine’s Wedding at North Carolina’s Umstead Resort

Weddings

Holland Photo Arts is built on relationships and always has been. We were glad to recently hear from former client Lisa, whose wedding to Dee Dee we photographed in 2003 (Dee Dee unfortunately passed away some years later). Lisa had since found love again with Elaine, were now marrying, and oh, would we be available to fly to North Carolina to document her wedding? In five weeks? We were so grateful to be available, get to see Lisa again, meet Elaine and of course, their children –two girls and a boy between them! Their wedding party (many who had amazing memories of the last time we all gathered together those many years ago), made up of dear, longtime friends were especially ready to party and celebrate these two dear souls.

We get to return East for a good number of weddings, and loved how at this wedding, it was all about families (despite a rather large 300-count) guest list, with 71 kids. Wow. And the celebration reflected their influence. So. Much. Fun.

Please enjoy some of our favorite moments from the day below, then visit their gallery to see their complete wedding. The password is Lisa’s last name and is case sensitive.

The wedding team:

Venue, Catering & Cake: Umstead Hotel & Spa
Flowers: Watered Garden
Ceremony Music: Arioso Strings
Reception Music: Sleeping Booty

Bill’s faves of Anne’s:

Anne’s faves of Bill’s:

Some lovely details:

getting ready

ceremony

ceremony2

bouquets

cake

party

umstead

Dear l&e,

Some of our favorite moments from your wedding celebration include:

Sharing a quiet moment, just the two of you, a few moments before walking down the aisle. But…but before getting Cooper “in the mood” to lead the way. All the shenanigans with your wedding party before and after your ceremony. They were like kids, as if you didn’t quite have enough there. Mason, trying in vain, to get Cooper to calm down and “behave like an adult” during family portraits. Lily donning her flower basket atop her head and balancing across the stone walkway. Privately enjoying a sip of whiskey for the first time, Elaine, with your new wife. That hug…when Dee Dee’s dad tightly embraced you both, it sent shivers down our spines. The looks of anticipation on all those kids’ faces as you cut the cake, almost as if they were expressing, “Hurry up, already!” The gentleness with which you each treated each other all night (except that raucous moment on stage with you both, heehee), showing everyone around just how much you loved one another.

Congratulations, you two!

xoxo…
…a&b