RMNP Elopement

Colorado Wedding Photographer - Best of 2019

I know, I know. It’s March (almost April) and we are in the midst of an coronavirus pandemic, and now is when you choose to post about 2019?! Let’s be real here though. 2019 is looking like an ocean view suite in Maui compared to the under the highway hourly motel that 2020 is shaping up to be. I typically like to look forward, and in reality, there is no point in holding on to the past. But now more than ever I am finding reasons to celebrate and be grateful for what was, in hopes that we can one day soon be there again. I feel so much for my 2020 brides because this is uncharted waters for all of us. We can pretend to be fortune tellers all we want, but the truth is we don’t know how this year is going to turn out, but I for one want to do my absolute best to not put joy and celebrating on hold. As one on my lovely brides put it, we can’t postpose everything about life. It keeps going and threatens to leave us in the dust if we don’t keep up. We’ll slow down, quarantine, hopefully flatten the spread, and pray for the best, but eventually (and I of course don’t mean within the next couple of months - isolating is a must right now!) we will need to soldier on, perhaps with new extra sanitized and social distanced ways of living, but we’ll have to move on nonetheless. And with all the dire news lately I am feeling more than ready for reasons to celebrate again.

2019 was quite a year of growth for me, in the best of ways. When I first started my business 10 years ago, I didn’t know a single thing about being a business owner. All I knew is that I wanted to take pretty pictures for people because that’s what made me truly happy. If the last decade has shown me anything, its that The best part about this entire journey of mine has not only been to see my business grow and flourish, but also to learn about that side of me - the side that has been able to figure out the ins and outs of being a one woman show. It’s been scary at times, trying to rely on myself completely to put food on the table. But I’ve also found that I am stronger than I thought, and that ability to surprise myself has been priceless.

Thank you for taking the time to scroll through my 2019 weddings. I want to mention here that I shot this entire wedding season pregnant, with my last wedding of the year being 3 weeks before giving birth to my daughter Margot. Not to toot my own horn or anything ;)

YMCA of the Rockies Wedding - Overlook Chapel - Estes Park Wedding Photographer - Maria & Chris

When I met Maria and Chris for the first time during their RMNP engagement session, I knew this was going to be a fun wedding. I think we laughed the whole time, and even Maria admits they’re not your typical mushy PDA-y kind of couple. They’re constantly poking fun at each other (in the sweetest of ways, of course), laughing with each other and genuinely having fun together. And let me tell you, thank god for that kind of attitude, because their wedding day was CRAZY.

Let’s start off with the morning of, which was actually kind of perfect - it was freakin beautiful, the sun was shining, and it wasn’t ungodly hot, which is pretty common in the middle of summer. We knew there was going to be a storm later, but being Colorado we all just assumed it would rain for a bit and pass. Once we got up to the Overlook Chapel at the YMCA it started coming down, but nothing crazy. Then the wind picked up and all hell broke loose - I’m talking lightening, hail, torrential downpour, all of it. And yet we still managed to get some fun photos (despite everyone, even Maria & Chris, getting soaked to the bone - somehow my gear survived). Finally we had to call it, and Maria and Chris decided to have a quick faux ceremony at the top before heading back down to their reception area to have the full ceremony. Both were fun and intimate in their own way. On the one hand we had rainy ceremony, where everyone was just kind of laughing over the ridiculousness that is Mother Nature. On the other we had this super intimate ceremony by the fire place, where everyone was cozy and got to enjoy a cocktail as they watched. Both were great, and overall I’m glad that despite things not going according to plan, Maria and Chris enjoyed their day and embraced all the madness!

All of the amazing vendors:

Venue/Caterer: YMCA of the Rockies

Ceremony: Overlook Chapel Wedding at YMCA of the Rockies

Dress: Suburban Bridal

Hair & Make Up: Kristina De Chavarria

Flowers: Floral Design of Europe

Videographer: Cat Lemus

DJ: DJ Connection

Wedding Planner: Nicki Burke

Cake: Button Rock Bakery