What a beautiful wedding!  The bride, the setting, the decorations, the weather, the friends and family gathered there…it was just beautiful all around!  This was our first wedding at Lakeside Ranch, and while lighting was beyond tricky, it is one of our new favorite places for weddings.  It was a pleasure working with all these very nice folks, Nakagawas and Herrins alike.  The vows were touching, and I saw more than a few tears going on in the first few row.   I was too eager to get home to put my little one down and missed out on the cake, which looked super yummy!  Sean and Jessica, if you saved the top layer for your first anniversary…you’ll have to invite us over for a piece!  Hope you two are having an amazing honeymoon in Maui…Aloha from us!

Well, after much ado, I finally got to photograph the postponed by one year wedding of Mary and Dave…and baby Sarah!  Mary was the first bride I’ve ever had who booked her wedding (that means paid her retainer and signed her contract and everything) BEFORE she was actually engaged!  Talk about the pressure (both for Dave and for me!!!) I was probably more nervous than Mary was on the big day, so afraid was I that I wouldn’t be able to deliver the goods!  But Mary was stunning, and, as her sister said, looked like a WWII bride, and vintagey and soft and beautiful.  And Dave was as handsome as ever, and then there is baby Sarah, who is seriously one of the happiest, sweetest (not to mention absolutely most ADORABLE) babies ever…so how on earth could we NOT capture great photographs of these folks?  So here are some of my faves from their special day, with a video to come later.  My only gripe of the day?  I was so excited to munch on some of their famous Dive cookies at the reception (love those cookies way too much), but they were tiny little imposter cookies instead.  Grrr.  I think next visit to the Dive I’m demanding a free cookie, darn it!

Dustin was a groomsman in a wedding we shot this summer (Justin and Jaymie Lewis), so we were thrilled to photograph his wedding Thanksgiving weekend in Great Falls. When I first saw Dawn on the big day, I commented on how relaxed she was and she said, “Marrying him is easy.” She was so thrilled to start her life with Dustin, ever the southern gentleman, it was just heartwarming. That’s really the best part of photographing weddings…seeing how much the couples love each other, their excitement to begin their futures together, their blinding devotion. Sigh. Love it. Congrats to you both. Enjoy!

And the video:

October weddings in Montana are always a gamble…it might be snowing and 20 degrees out, or it might be sunny and 78, you just never know!  Kelly and Grant really wanted outdoor photos, so we prayed for good weather.  What we got was very strong freezing winds that about knocked the breath out of us!  But I’m looking at these photos and I can barely even remember my fingers almost falling off from the biting wind.  They just look in love (and warm!), and Kelly’s absolutely glowing and radiant.  There are a few images where you can see her hands clenched into fists while denying the cold, but other than that it could’ve been a summer day in Helena!

Anyway, the wedding was at St. Paul’s and the reception took place at the Great Northern.  There were tons of fun folks to celebrate the day, and it was a beautiful affair all around.  Thanks for including us, Mr. and Mrs. Todd!  Enjoy the video and the images.

Daisy and Jordon win our “Artsy-ist Couple of the Year Award’! Fresh from a cool little liberal arts college in Vermont (okay, folks, I have no idea about these things, I was an engineer, after all!), they had lots of great ideas of how their wedding day would flow. And flow it did! I can’t recall anything at all going wrong, I am pretty sure that between them and their families they had every little detail planned out and perfected. From the carriage drawn by adorable mules to the special dress Daisy changed into before their rehearsed dances (no one could see her fancy footwork with that big ol’ wedding gown on!) to the candy buffet straight out of Martha Stewart and the beautiful flowers and favors (handmade by Daddy Dyrdahl). I was in detail heaven!!! The ceremony and reception took place at the Elkhorn View, so the scenery was gorgeous, and all their fun family and friends with their groovin’ dance moves made for some great photo opps! And mixed in with all the perfection of their day, Daisy and Jordon are so very much in love, too, in case I forgot to mention that!

What an amazing couple…as you can see from their photos, these two are so full of love and laughter, it was absolutely contagious!  We had a bit of every emotion on this day…from teary eyes (mainly Justin ;)), to kooky and zany and everything in between.  A beautiful Cathedral ceremony was followed by some fun bridal party images and a super crazy reception at the Great Northern.  Jaymie’s Irish dancers performed during dinner (they were awesome!) and an insane DJ entertained like a circus act–complete with red jacket, wacky hat, and a tambourine?!?!?!  The themes of the day were military mixed with coastal (Justin and Jaymie are from opposite sides of the country, one from each coast), so we had some cool saber stuff and fun beachy decor, too!  Thank you for including us in your celebration, Justin and Jaymie.  You both rock!!!! 

I had a blast with Lauren and Graham in downtown Helena for their engagement session.  Here are a few of my faves.

We were delighted to be a part of this holiday wedding and to work with the Gobbs family again. Abby’s sister Sarah married Sean a couple of years ago and that was one of our very first weddings. When Susan called and said Abby was getting married and they had to have us photograph the event, there was no way I would’ve turned it down (even though is WAS over the 4th of July weekend–no boating with my family again this year!)

Abby was beautiful and she and Haven were glowing and looking very in love! We left as the party was getting started, but it looked like it was going to be a late night for everyone. Red white and blue was the theme for this celebration all around. Thanks for including us and we hope you had a great time in Vegas!

This was Keith’s first wedding by himself. Here’s what he had to say:

I am so grateful to Zach and Sami for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their wedding!  We had a great day, even with the downpour, and I am so glad that I could share this time with them.  These are my favorites (except for some of the formals, solely because of Josh’s expressions, but you’ll have to wait for those).  Z&S, hope to see you soon!  Enjoy.  KJ

Justin and Jaymie are both so incredibly sweet.  Well, okay, at least Jaymie is ;)  Kidding, Justin.  Justin’s hilarious, or at least HE thinks he is Winking at ya again, Justin.  Okay, truly, though, I am so excited for their wedding in August.  These two are just GOOD people, and I really enjoy being around them.  Can’t wait to meet their friends and family and see what kind of a celebration they put on (IRISH, of course!!!)  Here are a few from their engagement session…I am pretty sure they had a good time!