Oh the weather outside is frightful....

Wedding photography, like life, takes place in all seasons and all kinds of weather.  I love sunshine because it gives such a bright and happy feeling and results in really vibrant colors.  I love cloudy days because it creates beautiful, soft and diffused light.  I love rainy days because it reminds me of a musical (I always feel like singing and dancing!), and because the rain clouds can make the most amazing and dramatic skies. I love snowstorms because they are just romantic.  Can't you picture going for a walk in the snow, getting twirled around by the one you love?

...ignore the fact that we couldn't feel our appendages and snow was pelting everyone in the face sideways at 40mph.  Romantic, right?

Because of the weather, we decided to start the formals session with Nicole and Josh indoors at Heritage Gardens.  Their reception would be held there the next day and we were lucky to have access to it.  It's a beautiful location, and if you are looking for a venue, I definitely recommend it.

Nicole's dress (from David's Bridal) was beautiful!  I especially loved the texture of the pink band around her waist.  It always helps to bring some more color into the photos.

After Heritage Garden we shot a little bit at the LDS Timpanogos Temple where they were getting married.  The lights on the grounds and the snow just made it a magical setting... it was AMAZING.  Nicole and Josh were such troopers with the snow.  We would jump out and shoot for a few minutes, and jump back in the cars to thaw;  the temperatures were freezing, but the Nicole and Josh were just wonderful!

Take a look at their entire formals session here.

Libraries and Lights

The Salt Lake City library is a beautiful building, and is an awesome modern look for a location.  It was especially appropriate for Leigh and Craig, as Craig is getting his Masters degree in library science, and Leigh works in the library at BYU.  So they were right at home!

This next photo just makes me so happy! I love happy people and showing that giddy happiness that comes from true love.  It's moments captured like this that make me grateful to be a photographer.

The lights around Temple Square were just fantastic, and gave some truly gorgeous backgrounds as it started to get darker....

You can see the entire gallery for Leigh and Craig's pre-wedding day formal session here.

Got their love to keep them warm....

Katie and Steven are amazing.  Really.  They jump to try anything I suggest, and manage to look fantastic in windy, windy November weather. She had to pull out a couple extra bobby pins, but wasn't fazed by what could have been a "my hair isn't completely perfect for my wedding photos" moment.  This formals session was awesome. They are comfortable with each other, and still SO CUTE.  They've been dating since they were 15, but you can still see that sparkle.

Georgette and Gordon- Formals @ Provo Temple and Tahitian Noni Gardens

Whitney Lewis has decided that Provo is indeed one of the best temples for wedding photography.  And the verdict remains true for the Tahitian Noni Gardens ("Morinda Gardens")-  still one of my favorites.  I was introduced to the gardens back in June for Abbey and Taylor's formal shoot, and I was concerned that this mid-November shoot might look dreary and dead.  But low and behold, IT IS STILL FALL!  The photo gods smiled upon us.

Don't Mess With Texas

This wedding had a special place in my heart because it brought me back home, to Austin TX. I enjoy living other places, but I think Austin will always feel like home. Yes... I was the overly-excited freshman at BYU who had a TX flag in my dorm room. I also loved working with Jenn and Jared because they were amazing! Willing to do or try anything (including standing in the middle of So Congress Ave downtown around rush hour). The cars were honking and cheering... it was quite an experience.

These guys were so cute together. You just have to see their faces to know how happy they are to be together.

See Jenn and Jared's full gallery here.

Brittany and Scott's Formals

You might remember Brittany and Scott from the post where I shared possibly the greatest way to meet/marry someone EVER. As it turns out, Scott brought along his "modeling clothes" so we could properly document them for posterity. Blue's a good color for him, right?

Both Brittany and Scott looked great in their formal clothes, and we had an amazing time tromping around Aspen Grove above Sundance. All my clients have different reactions to what I suggest, and I'm always psyched when I say "Hey maybe we could go over there- I think it would be an amazing shot, but we might get the dress a little dirty or it might be a little awkward to walk over there, what do you think?" and they immediately say "SURE!" and start moving on into the underbrush. We got pretty far off-road, but really found some amazing locations.

I really loved the scrollwork and beading Brittany had on her dress. Both simple and elegant.

Check out more of their galleries here.

Shauna and Andrew- Formals @ Thanksgiving Point

We shot these formals at Thanksgiving Point. It's such a beautiful location, and best of all? We rent a golf cart every time we go to get from one place to another. It's great! (Realistically though, to get to all the good parts a golf cart is VERY useful- the place is huge, especially when one of the party is wearing a big white dress and heels)

There are just so many gorgeous flowers and arches!

Some of my favorite photos are when we're able to get that beautiful light on the background in all the trees and greenery. It gives such a happy, loving feeling to the photo.

Check out the entire album here.

Allison and Darron: Pre-wedding day formals at Santa Monica Pier

I'm originally from Austin, Texas, which I once thought to be a fairly big city. I live now in Lehi, Utah, which is definitely NOT a big city. Neither location really educated me on what "bad traffic" can really mean. I was actually pretty naive when it came to such things, and didn't really understand how horrendous a traffic situation can really be. NO LONGER!

We met up with Allison and Darron at the Los Angeles LDS Temple to shoot some bride and groom photos the day before their wedding (bridals/groomals/pre-wedding-vanity-shoot, call it whatever you like :), and when we finished, we headed on over to the Santa Monica Pier to finish the rest of the evening. It's only a hair over 5 miles from the Temple to the Pier, and I figured even with "bad" traffic we'd get there in about 30 minutes. ...About an hour and a half later we pull into the parking garage a block away from the Pier, and I am ready to pull out my hair.

This was fairly representative of the traffic situation during our trip down there. We fought with "Jeeves" our friendly GPS unit the whole way about whether or not we dared get onto a freeway while we were down there. It seemed like "rush hour" was actually from about 8am-11:30am and then again from 12:00pm-8pm.

Anyways, once we got to the Pier everything was great. Allison was completely gorgeous in her dress (even after close to two hours in the car getting there), and we ended up getting some really fun images. There were THOUSANDS of people around the Pier and the beach, which made Allison and Darron feel a little out of place in their wedding clothes, but they were awesome! Seriously, if I were on the other side of the camera I would have died. We even had an audience that spontaneously started cheering when they did their first kiss for the camera. Darron was so cute about the process- once he realized that we were going to have an audience for the remainder of the evening, he made the joke that he would just tell people that they were models just doing their job. So the whole time, he just said over and over under his breath "It's ok, I'm a model." It made for a fun running joke, and anytime we needed a genuine smile I just had to remind him to give his model face. "Ok, now BLUE STEEL!"

^ Insert cheering here. Yaaaaay....

As I've mentioned before, I am addicted to color, and so I think this ferris wheel below is amazing.

This next one on the left is definitely where Darron the Model shines...

Take a look at the complete set of the formals at Santa Monica here.

Abbey and Taylor's Bridals/Groomals

I seem to say it very frequently these days, but I just had so much fun with this couple. I easily had the most fun shooting this couple that I have ever had. They are happy, super stylish people, and are great in front of a camera. Abbey's mom is a photographer, and so Abbey and her siblings pretty much came out of the womb knowing how to smile and pose for photos. I was also super impressed with how poised Abbey and Taylor were under all the stress surrounding the wedding preparations. We had to postpone the first bride and groom session because the alterations place LOST ABBEY'S DRESS (like, gone-no-more-to-be-found lost), so they had to get an identical dress (which happened to be 2 or 3 sizes too big) and alter it to fit her. Then the day we were supposed to shoot it snowed (late May in Utah? par for the course I guess), necessitating another delay. By now it was the week before the wedding, and my week was almost completely booked. We shifted some things around, got it scheduled and showed up for the shoot. Of course, right as we start, Taylor's tuxedo jacket button pops off. It was just one thing after another, and you would not know it to look at these photos.

We shot at the Tahitian Noni Gardens, aka'd as the Morinda Gardens, and I tell you- if I could go back in time and redo my wedding, I would want a dress and veil like Abbey's. They were both stunning, and so was she.

I love how the colors in this one turned out.

I could have shot in these gardens all day...

After the gardens though, we headed over to a private property owned by a friend of Abbey's family. It was a beautiful location.

We got some really lovely colors in the sky when the sun set.

And then the moon rose... life was good.

To see more of Abbey and Taylor's photos, click here.