Sarah & Joey's fairy tale adventure

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen these photos go up last night/early this morning because I could not wait to share them with Sarah. I posted one as an impulse post and then the flood gate was open.

Sarah & Joey got married in Niagara Falls, had a friends and family reception here (which I photographed but had not blogged until now) and then we went and did what Sarah really wanted: an adventure through Tree Tops Park in their wedding best.

I apologize in advance as this is going to be a looooong post. I promise it's worth it.

September [project 12]

Challenge #1 - Lots of pencils, more and more books – Take a photo illustrating "back to school" or the word "return".

The 1920s classroom in the Davie School.

Challenge #2 – Everyone knows a good teacher makes all the difference – Take a photo illustrating the word "teach or teacher".

I arrived early to photograph a friend's wedding and got to witness the groom teaching his niece how to dance.

Challenge #3 – The weather is getting cooler and it is getting dark earlier – Take a photo with the theme "signs of fall".(If it is not Fall in your part of the world, go ahead and take a photo with your current season's theme.)

Doug's lime tree, Matilda, doesn't know it's fall and is blossoming like crazy.

Challenge #4 – Red, green, gold and brown are the signature colors of Fall – Take a photo with a Fall color scheme.

Matt & Carrie's wedding

To catch up on the events before the wedding, click here.
The events for the wedding spanned the entire weekend and ranged from a wet and windy drum circle to a sunny, sedate brunch with a dreamy wedding as the focal point. Words really don't do these events justice; I can only hope my photos will.


The weekend kicked off with a barbeque on Friday night at Roaring Forks Country Club. It was nearly impossible to capture how beautiful the river was so I cheated a little and made an HDR composite image (a blend of 3 shots at different exposure levels so I could capture all the highlight and shadow detail).




After dinner and a slideshow of photographs of Matt & Carrie's travels, it was time to clear space for the drum circle. We were originally supposed to drum around a fire pit but the weather kept us in the tent. Truthfully, I could not imagine it any other way. There are a bunch of photos on Facebook (which you can only see if we're Facebook friends) from the drum circle but there was only one that made me me stop in my tracks.



Saturday after our trip to the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, it was time to get ready for the wedding. Doug, Cassie, and I went up early so I could get some photos of the venue before the guests arrived. I am so glad I went because the view was amazing!


On and off throughout the wedding, a curious deer kept sneaking down to watch the proceedings. Our guess is that it liked the string quartet.




The groom was insistent he was not nervous but I know he was waiting impatiently to see his beautiful bride.


The wedding was in a meadow with a stunning view of the mountains around it.


The bride was just stunning.


The kiss!



As they walked down the aisle, everyone shook aspen branches. It was beautiful.


The reception was so much fun. It started with a rather calm cocktail hour but all the guests certainly knew how to party.


The fun also extended to the garden, where all the lovely ladies piled on to an old cart for a group shot to end all group shots.


I don't think there was a moment where the dance floor wasn't filled.






Sunday morning, the bride's parents threw a lovely brunch at their house. The view was just incredible, not to mention the fact that I got to have breakfast with some hummingbirds.




The bride and groom arrived fashionably late in a gorgeous vintage car that the father-of-the-bride rented for them.






After the brunch, we hitched a ride down to Denver with some of the bride's friends.