rocky mountain wedding photography Archives - Holland Photo Arts

Megan & Chad’s Wedding at Vail Resort & Donovan Pavilion

Weddings

You may have seen Malia & Bryson’s surprise wedding (guests thought it was an engagement party) last week, where I (Bill) guest photographed with our good friend Kent Meireis. We have a couple more to share with you from a full weekend spent shooting two weddings in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. First up is Megan & Chad’s Jewish ceremony held at the mountaintop at Vail Resorts wedding deck. And because it was a Colorado wedding, a dog was involved, natch. I totally fell in love with Kona and nearly brought her home with me. Such a great dog. Callie the cat may not have much appreciated our sudden adoption, however.

Enjoy some of the favorite images from their wedding!

These folks all worked so well as a team to make this event so memorable:
Ceremony: Vail Wedding Deck
Reception: Donovan Pavilion
Flowers: Vintage Magnolia
Catering: The Gourmet Cowboy
DJ: DJ RIPM
Getting ready: Arrabelle Hotel

Wedding dress hanging at Arrabelle Hotel at Vail

Nothing starts a wedding day off right like some ever-so-smooth Macallan 12-year.

Pouring Scotch for groomsmen on wedding day at Arrabelle Hotel at Vail

First look…

First look on wedding day at Arrabelle Hotel at Vail

Bride's dress on wedding day at Arrabelle hotel at Vail

Wedding day flowers at Arrabelle Hotel at Vail

Their ketubah signing was a blast and full of humor. Rabbi Eliot J. Baskin rocked it!

Ketubah signing with family on wedding day at Arrabelle hotel at Vail

Bride and groom gondola ride at Vail on way to wedding deck

Kona took the opportunity to give her mom some love and kisses…

Bride and groom with dog on gondola ride at Vail on way to wedding deck

Bride and groom with dog licking bride's face on gondola ride at Vail on way to wedding deck

Ring bearer with bridesmaids in background at Vail wedding deck

Flower girl with bouquet at Vail wedding deck

Huppah with flowers and aspen branches at Vail wedding deck for Jewish wedding

Wine glasses for Jewish wedding at Vail wedding deck

Bride processes to vail wedding deck

Bride sheds tear as she circles groom during Jewish wedding at Vail wedding deck

Bride smiles at groom during Jewish ceremonyt at Vail wedding deck

You wonder sometimes what goes through the minds of kids during a wedding…

Flower girls appear bored during Jewish ceremony at Vail wedding deck

Couple with Rabbi with mountains in background at Vail wedding deck

You can’t beat these views, really.

Expansive view of rocky mountains during Jewish ceremony at Vail wedding deck

Bride and groom crush glass during Jewish ceremony at Vail wedding deck

Bride, groom, and dog recess with Rocky mountains in background from Vail wedding deck

Views of Rocky mountains from Vail wedding deck

These little boys weren’t even part of Megan & Chad’s wedding. They were simply waiting patiently for the next ceremony at the wedding deck. Still…a cute scene.

Young boys wait for ceremony at Vail wedding deck

Bride's vail flies in wind at Vail wedding deck

Megan & Chad met in the singles line at the Born Free Express lift, so of course we captured a wedding portrait of them there.

Bride and groom wedding portrait at Born Free Express at Vail

Beer bottle caps at Donovan Pavillion

Bagpiper pipes in bride and groom at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Challah bread at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

White decorated wedding cake at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Bride and groom prepare for first dance at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Cake cutting at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

First dance at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Bride laughs with guests at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Groom's mom shrieks with delight during hora dance at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Bride and groom dance with guests at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Megan did a traditional Polish dance with…well…just about every guest in attendance.

Bride hugs friend at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Bride and groom surrounded by friends and family at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

Twilight at wedding reception at Donovan Pavillion

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!