Colorful Colorado Wedding Photographer

2019 has been quite the year. For starters it was my first full year as a full-time photographer and it was wonderful. I will always have a place in my heart for museums and the work they do in the community. But the positive changes in my life since quitting the traditional 9-5 job have been monumental.

For one thing, I’m immensely more present with my family. I have the time to take kiddos to daycare and appointments, to make dinner (well, sometimes, lol), to keep up with the house, and to schedule fun activities like swim lessons.

And it feels so good to only be working one job. For the past 7 years I’ve juggled a full-time job with a part-time (though often full-time) photography business. Until it finally reached a point where it just wasn’t mentally or emotionally sustainable. So I took the leap and here we are!

The past year was full of wonderful couples and beautiful moments and I can’t say THANK YOU enough to the people who continue to trust me to document their day.

I’m highlighting my sessions and my year below, but there are so many more moments present at each wedding that I hope you’ll click through and look at full blog posts to get a fuller picture (no pun intended!) of each story.

January and February

The early months of 2019 were my recovery months and I enjoyed my time to focus on the business side of things. I finally had the energy and time to start working on growing my businesses more, so I spent a lot of time on my computer working!

In February, the whole family visited friends in Las Vegas. We timed our trip to correspond with the annual WPPI Photography Conference so I had a day to wander the expo, try out new gear, and listen to speakers. I also co-planned a styled elopement shoot at the Eldorado Dry Lake Beds, 30 minutes outside of Las Vegas. Talk about a cool location with some awesome peeps!

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I also photographed Nicole and Jonathan’s Fraser snowshoeing engagement, which turned out to be my coldest session of the year! It was a whopping 5 degrees out that day, but thankfully the Colorado sunshine made our trek into their back yard tolerable.

March

In March I celebrated with Maysun and Nathaniel at their Denver blanc wedding, which was the culmination of their four wedding celebrations.

And shortly after that, I sat in traffic on I-70 for four hours before meeting Alex and Melanie to hike Mayflower Gulch for their snowy engagement session. The hike to the mining camp on this trail is one of my favorite winter spots now. I am just in love with all the snow covered evergreen trees!

April

April was a fantastic month. Not only did I get to witness Lorena and Farah’s proposal in the middle of a spring snow storm at Sapphire Point, but I also got to travel internationally!

One of my good friends was in grad school in London, so I jumped on some early January sales on international flights and headed across the pond for a fabulous week. I got to explore tons of historical site and museums, eat traditional British food, and catch up nightly with my friend. And y’all: I got to go on the Harry Potter Studio Tour!! I have a blog post on my whole trip that I’m still working on, but this was certainly a highlight!

And to top it all off, I had the chance to schedule two fabulous shoots. It was a joy to meet up with Roxie and Maartje from Once Upon a Journey (a travel blog) in Notting Hill. And then top it all off with Laurel and John at St. Dunstan in the East.

I also connected with Nadia and Michael for their Golden Gate Canyon engagement session and had so much fun chasing the light up the mountain.

May

In May I met up with Cassie and Mark to explore the 40 West Arts district for their colorful engagement session. This art district is up and coming and I loved exploring new murals with an artist in tow (Cassie is a wonderful artist herself!). And then a few days later I braved the wind at the top of Lost Gulch Overlook with Liz and Krystal for their Boulder engagement session.

June

I kicked off my summer wedding season exploring Lory State Park in Fort Collins with Abigail and Jorge. Despite the threat of rain, their intimate wedding went off with out a hitch and they celebrated with their closest family and friends in a field, surrounded by dark skies and beautiful red rocks.

I also trekked up to Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park to photograph Maritza and Steph’s proposal. We coordinated the proposal long distance, and thankfully it went according to plan. Minus the few minutes we got lost off the trail in the snow!

We also took a family road trip to Pagosa Springs for a long weekend. While there I 2nd shot for another awesome photographer, and we hit up the local carnival with the kids.

July

My July was full of intimate moments and mountain tops.

A week before their Sonnenalp Hotel wedding (and mountain top portraits!), I met up with Kelsey and Paul for a trek into Rocky Mountain National Park for their Trail Ridge Road engagement session. We explored Moraine Park and then made it up to 12,000 feet in time for sunset.

I traveled to Winter Park to celebrate with Liz and Kristal and their 30 closest family and friends. They rented a VRBO and designed a beautiful, intimate, al fresco wedding experience with phenomenal views. And they featured my favorite caterer and homemade ice cream! It was the perfect day in so many ways.

At the end of the month, I was back in Rocky Mountain National Park for Alex and Melanie’s 3M Curve wedding and Tahaara Mountain Lodge reception. They also chose a small group of their most important people and invited them along for delicious food and an evening of celebration.

And to wrap it up, I traveled to Wyoming for Monica and Tom’s Medicine Bow Engagement session. I hadn’t spent much time in Wyoming before this trip, and I’d never been to Medicine Bow National Park before. To say I was blown away was an understatement. What a beautiful spot in Wyoming and I had the perfect couple to share it with.

Amidst a very busy month, my parents also came to visit for a week! We got to do some hiking, visit some museums, and hang out in the back yard enjoying the kiddos and the summer.

August

I captured three very different weddings in August, all within one hour of Denver. I found myself in Estes Park for back to back weekends to capture Giselle and Josh’s wedding at the Stanley Hotel and Heather and Stephen’s wedding at The Stanley Pavilion. As a venue, the Stanley has a lot of variety, and was the perfect backdrop for these two very vastly different couples.

I also got to spend a magical day with Emily and John at their colorful wedding at the Evergreen Red Barn. It was such a beautiful and emotional day and you could really feel the deep love and respect between these two. Amidst a busy wedding season, their day sticks out to me for all of the right reasons.

Outside of weddings photography, I wrapped up a successful fastpitch softball season in mid-August where my team finished 2nd place in the payoffs of our division. I just love that there are chances to play fastpitch softball as an adult in Denver!

September

September was my busiest month of the year but the weather was (mostly!) so lovely that it was wonderful to get to spend so much time outdoors.

I started the month celebrating with Monica and Tom at Boettcher Mansion. They didn’t let rain get in the way of their dream wedding day and it was so much fun to be a part of their epic party!

The day after their wedding I flew to Seattle for for a visit with Heather’s family. While in Washington we went to the Puyallup Fair (the State Fair), which was hands down the biggest fair I’ve ever been to. I think we spent 10 hours there and I don’t even think we saw or experienced everything!

Back in Colorado I met up with Sidny and Charlie on the Grand Lake side of Rocky Mountain National Park for their fall engagement session. And a short time later, I was back in the park with Lihsia and Lewis to explore the opposite side of the park. I definitely got to see RMNP in many seasons this year, and I’m not sad about it!

Mid-month Hilary and Parker got married in a beautiful, elegant spot (The Annuals Garden) at the Denver Botanic Gardens. They dined outdoors, and I always love that at weddings!

I photographed my one elopement of the season at Brainard Lake with Ashley and Hayden who came all the way from Virginia to elope with their closest friends and family. And shortly after, I hung out with Rachael and Jess in Boulder for their engagement photos.

As the seasons started to change, I headed up to Fraser to capture Nicole and Jonathan’s B Lazy 2 Ranch wedding. Let me tell you, their guests were the best and they knew how to break it down on the dance floor!

And amidst all of this wedding goodness, my family and I took the time to drive up to Georgetown and Guanella Pass to take in the gorgeous fall color. We hit it right at peak leaf season and had a perfect sunny day for our adventures. We even got to take a ride on the Georgetown Loop railroad, which the kids loved!

October

In early October the whole family met up in Wichita Falls, Texas to celebrate Caitlin (my cousin!) and Patrick’s wedding. It was a huge party that lasted late into the night. I’m so honored that they chose to have me photograph their day!

November and December

After a beautiful and fulfilling season, I took a breath in November and December. I photographed a couple of sessions, but otherwise, focused on finishing up the business side of things for 2019. We enjoyed a relaxed holiday season in Colorado, capped off by a visit by Heather’s mom, tons of cookies, and a fun and exhausting week and a half at home with the kiddos.

Cheers to 2020!

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I am a colorful Colorado wedding photographer and I love intimacy. Let’s chat about your wedding vision!

Colorful Colorado Wedding Photographer | 2019 Year in Review