Ginjer and Matt's largely Do-it-Yourself style wedding—with help from the wonderful Amy Deering—was another wedding very much infused with the couples' personalities in every way. Ginjer is a longtime competitive sailor, Matt's a cowboy. Thus the theme "Boats & Boots" was born and everything extended from that. The ceremony itself was held at the North Flathead Yacht Club, followed by everyone adjourning to a friend's property just a short hop-skip-and-a-jump from the lake. But not without a stop at Del's along the way for the couple and me.
I bet you're getting a sense of Deja Vu, thinking "Didn't I just see a couple named Natasha and Aaron on this blog? Didn't they look an awful lot like this couple? And you would be correct!
After their possibly unorthodox—but totally awesome—"day before" portrait session, we met up all over again at Whitefish Mountain Resort for their actual wedding day. I met them all at a vacation rental there on the mountain where they were all getting ready. We then made a quick trip to the Hellroaring Saloon to drop off items for the reception, and then we made our way up to Chair one to the summit for the ceremony.
I'd been wanting to try a particular photo here that I'd not had the opportunity to do yet, where I have the couple embracing while mountain bikers bomb down the mountain right behind them. Natasha and Aaron were game for trying it, but bikers were getting few and far between as it was nearing the last chair. Thankfully, a large group came up about 15 minutes prior to the ceremony starting so we made a mad dash a little ways away and they obliged us perfectly. So much fun coming up with silly/crazy ideas and having a couple down to try them.
While I myself did not take the plunge, from the look on the faces of everyone who did, there is no better way to end a hot summer wedding with tons of dancing than ending the night in a lake. Wedding attire and all.
This has been a theme this summer, but with the majority of my couples this summer they themselves, and so many of their guests are what I would call "my people." The "people" I'm referring to are art school graduates. Illustrators, Photographers, Dancers, Musicians, you name it. And it just feels like the people I spent so much time with in college when I was pursuing a BFA in graphic design. And it just feels right.
This wedding had everything from the requisite copious amounts of love to interpretive dance, to songs written specifically for the couple. And the aforementioned plunge into Whitefish Lake to cap it all off.
Another beautiful—if hot—summer day at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake for an intimate wedding. Natalia & Ben were having a lovely small wedding with their families and closest friends and enjoyed an absolutely amazing evening on the shore of Whitefish Lake. I didn't stay too far into the dance party however as they opted to spend their budgeted time on an adventure portrait session in Glacier a couple of days after the wedding. The results of which you'll see in the next blog post.
Oftentimes at The Lodge, the couple can take a quick ride around the lake in a vintage 'woody' boat The Lodge keeps. Unfortunately, it had stopped functioning literally minutes before we were to hop on for some photos. Natalia and Ben took it in stride, however, and we simply took photos in it there at the dock. Serving as a reminder of one of my best tips for enjoying your wedding day plans. Things are unlikely to go exactly as planned, just roll with it as best as you can, and everything will turn out.
I always get hyped up for photographing a wedding. Doesn't matter if it's big, small, or medium-sized or where it might be taking place. I get doubly hyped up when it's a couple I've been fortunate to do their engagement portraits beforehand. Since we've already gotten to know each other ahead of time over a couple of hours, it's just like attending the wedding of long-time friends.
Emily and Logan's wedding was unique for me personally because they grew up and traveled from the very same area where I grew up in Central Texas. The weather didn't exactly cooperate 100% with the whole evening—it rarely does in Montana—but it did for their private vow recitation in a secluded area of Glacier National Park and the ceremony at the wedding pavilion at Glacier Raft Company, and didn't really bother us with rain until everyone was under the aforementioned pavilion for the dance party.
There is nothing quite like spending an amazing day on the doorstep of Glacier National Park with a little over 100 of your friends on the happiest day of their lives. You might think I'm referring to Paige and Christopher, but the reality is I'm talking about myself.
I meet the most amazing couples, and at the end of the day—literally and metaphorically—weddings are one big party. That doesn't have to mean loud music and wild dancing during the reception, but it certainly can mean those things.It's easy to make friends when you're surrounded by happy people though, and by the end of the night, I'd made some new, sure-to-be long-time friends in Paige and Christopher.
I'm really not sure there are enough words in the English language to fully encapsulate what this wedding felt like and meant to me to be a part of. As usual, everyone was so unbelievably kind and more than anything else I felt like a guest that was so fortunate to witness this event.
A big part of why it felt so special is just about every aspect of the two days I was there—rehearsal dinner through wedding day—was so unbelievably intentional. There was nothing that was part of the proceedings that was overflowing with the individuality of Anne and Alex.
From the Stetson "hat bar" Anne had for her attendants the evening of the rehearsal dinner where each woman got to customize a hat with branding and other accouterments, to the 'cow bells' on the guests' chairs to represent that both bride and groom were avid competitive ski racers, to the mountain bike brake disk table centerpieces and cake topper. The presence of an antique Honda motorcycle they've been restoring.
Finally, all of the guests stayed on-site in the lodge or cabins at Holland Lake Lodge or the adjacent national forest campground lending a feeling of a long weekend camping trip with friends.
Megan & Curtis' love story is so amazing, though I won't share all the specifics here because it's simply not my place. What I will discuss is some of the wedding planning and what it took to get to this amazing day at Rugged Horizon in St. Ignatius, Montana.
Megan is from Ireland but had gone to university in Missoula, which is when she met Curtis. However, after their engagement, Megan was back home overseas at a time when people from Ireland were not allowed to enter the United States due to COVID. So my first meeting with them prior to them securing my services was via video call while they were at a resort in Mexico—where Megan could travel and hang out for two weeks in quarantine—before entering the United States.
The original plan was for a simple, intimate ceremony on the shores of Flathead Lake at some property in Curtis' family, but the prospect of doing so without Megan's family really weighed on them both, and they made the decision to postpone the wedding until the following summer to a time when hopefully everyone they would want to join would be able to safely—and just as importantly—legally.
Fast forward to a blisteringly hot summer day surrounded by friends and family, and you have what amounted to just about the most perfect day one can imagine. Well, I'd have imagined staying hydrated wouldn't have been so key to success, but that's a minor quibble. Once you see the photos, I think you'll agree.
Xaviera and Adam make their second appearance on the blog today with decidedly warmer weather than the last time their smiling faces showed up in front of my camera.
I was fortunate to follow up their frigid, winter engagement portrait session in West Glacier and Glacier National Park with an unseasonably warm summer wedding at the always beautiful Lodge at Whitefish Lake. Xavi and Adam kept everything very intimate and low-key with their immediate families and some very close friends which made it all the more special and humbling to be included in the day.
One of the greatest compliments a photographer can receive is to be referred by past clients. I was introduced to Unique and Luke via Sarah and Dom and I simply cannot thank them enough. And while it's not unheard of for grooms to take the lead on hiring the photographer that was the case here, and I actually didn't speak with Unique until the week before the wedding when we all met at Snowline to talk wedding logistics.
This is so far the largest wedding I've ever photographed, with close to 300 guests all told, but it honestly didn't feel too unwieldy thanks in no small part to the lovely Snowline Acres wedding venue, and to just everyone being so nice.
