Recently I had the pleasure to work alongside the very talented Kara Pearson Photography to photograph Molly and Eric’s Vail mountain wedding. I worked with the men, capturing them going through all of their pre-wedding rituals before we all met up on top of Vail mountain for a stunning first-look. The day was incredibly beautiful and their outside ceremony and reception at the Donovan Pavilion was a joy to document. Here are some of my favorite Vail mountain wedding photos from their day.
I had been eagerly awaiting Jenny & Dan’s Custer State Park wedding for over a year. The well traveled couple are writers who live in China and managed to wrangle up friends and family from around the globe to watch them wed in a spot Jenny had visited as a child and dreamt of getting married at one day. The Black Hills of South Dakota and Custer State Park are known for their sweeping vistas, glorious lakes and green prairies where wild buffalo still roam.
Jenny & Dan began their fun-packed wedding weekend with a Chuckwagon rehearsal dinner where guests were loaded into cloth covered wagons equipped with straw cowboy hats and personalized bandanas. We all rode through the state park sitting on bails of hay and singing along to old country songs until we reached a remote clearing where we feasted on steaks and buffalo burgers.
Their wedding was another picture perfect day and the ceremony site had an almost surreal backdrop with enormous boulders jutting straight out of Sylvan Lake. The happy couple put so much thought into the readings, music, and their beautiful personal vows, and three tutu wearing flower girls entertained guests with random hugging and high kicks.
The reception was held at the Sylvan Lake lodge where their tables were named after the numerous cities where they had lived from all over the world. Jenny & Dan also chose some of their favorite books as their centerpieces and guests were invited to take them home with them. Emotional speeches, tequila shots, streamers thrown around everyone (a Bolivian wedding tradition), their party was an unforgettable one and so was my time with them.
Sweet words from the gracious bride…
“Kira is wildly talented. She has an amazing eye and frames her shots perfectly. We loved her photojournalistic style from the get-go, and we hired her because we wanted to have clear, beautiful images of our friends and family, and – sure enough – we now have all of these excellent portraits of the people we love. Somehow Kira managed to be completely unobtrusive while capturing everything. We had many great people who helped us to create a wonderful wedding weekend, but Kira was one of the absolute best.”
Piney River Ranch is one of my favorite wedding venues in Colorado. It is not the easiest place to get to and I imagine guests making the hour drive up the treacherous dirt road wonder where the heck they are being taken but when they pull up and see the breathtaking views all of their questions should be answered.
I had the pleasure to get to know Beth & Robbie last fall during their engagement session and knew they were going to be wonderful to work with. A kind, generous and playful couple, I loved capturing them making each other smile throughout the picture perfect day (no pun intended). After we exhausted all the beautiful locations at Piney River the couple joined their guests for a night filled with wonderful food and dancing at the Donovan Pavilion.
Thanks so much to Cori with Cori Cook Floral Designs, Erica at Colorado Occasions, Lisa with L Raymond Styles and Neil with 303 Motion for all your hard work at making this stunning Vail Mountain Wedding a total success.
When it rains in Hawaii they say it’s a blessing and these Hawaiian locals were blessed with a few raindrops, some brilliant sunshine and an all around beautiful day as they promised their lives to each other.
I’m sort of an old-fashioned type of girl when it comes to pre-wedding rituals and think if I ever get married I wouldn’t want to see my groom before the wedding but this couple has me second guessing that. There was something so special, so intimate, so private and honest about documenting Blair & Dave getting ready together at the Hotel Boulderado. Dave gently zipped up her dress and everything was really quiet, really calm and just felt really romantic.
This set the tone for the rest the day thanks in part to the well planned and kept schedule by Spice Jones of Calluna Events. Pale yellow umbrellas were on hand when it started storming before their ceremony at Harlow Platts Park and they came in handy again when the hot sun came out 20 minutes later and provided their guests with some much needed shade.
Blair & Dave recited their vows inside a labyrinth they created out of lemons. They entered separately but walked out together and all those lemons meant fresh squeezed lemonade at their Rembrandt Yard reception where the Bruce Hayes Band serenaded their guests.
Thanks so much Blair & Dave for being so kind, so easy-going and just simply wonderful to be around. Your Boulder Colorado wedding was simply wonderful to document and you have made the start of my season very memorable.
Dana & Mike live in Chicago but met in Colorado and wanted to have their wedding back where they fell in love. Their Vail Colorado wedding was the most intimate wedding I have ever had the benefit to be part of, the day consisted of Dana, Mike, amazing wedding planner Rachel from Talia Events and myself. I was having concerns as I drove up to meet the couple at Avon’s Westin Hotel wondering how we were going to spend their 8 hour day without traditional aspects like family and friends being present, but my fears were squashed when I finally got to meet the beaming couple and the day flew by.
Dana is my first FBI bride! A real life special agent she flirted with the idea of holstering her gun to her leg under her beautiful dress. It was incredible watching the couple so intimately the whole day just enjoying each other’s presence. They laughed, kissed, danced and hugged completely absorbed in what the day meant to them as I happily snapped away. With so much time we were able to make portraits at Eagle River, in Vail Village and finally at Piney River Ranch where they ultimately recited their vows.
I have been ridiculously lucky this season. Not only have I had the most wonderful couples to work with but the weather has cooperated every time. Treacherous storm clouds circled us the entire time we were at the ranch and a drop of rain never fell. The dramatic lighting was heaven sent and I couldn’t believe how willing Dana was to act out all my crazy ideas including trampling through tall grass, up the side of a mountain, in three inch heels so I could get some beautiful shots of them in an aspen grove.
Thank you Dana & Mike!
Words don’t seem to do justice for this couple, my third Regan wedding, and another remarkable day with the warm and loving family I have grown so fondly of. Bagpipes, Irish Whiskey centerpieces at the Della Terra, a plethora of Irish blessings, subtle Broncos colors for the beaming groom and of course my stunning crimson haired bride made this Estes Park Colorado wedding one I will never forget.
I can’t express enough how much I’ve enjoyed working with this family so I just want to send a special thanks to Chris and Ally, who took a chance on me. Kody and Shannon, who kept the tradition alive and Kelly and Sean who completed the trifecta with the same grace and joyous spirit we began this journey with. I look forward to continuing to watch your families grow and it has truly been my pleasure documenting your special days.
One more Irish blessing…
May God grant you always…
A sunbeam to warm you,
a moonbeam to charm you,
a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you.
Laughter to cheer you.
Faithful friends near you.
And whenever you pray,
Heaven to hear you.
