One Montana Wedding. Five Montana brides.

If you would like to see all of their photos please visit their gallery: http://nashanclients.com/RedCart/index.php?gnum=256

Shana Behr and Priscilla Foster recommended me to Christi when she was looking for a photographer. Thank you both for the recommendation, first for the business, and second because I have loved getting to know Christi and Drew! Kara Zurliene did the wedding coordinating and did a great job making sure everything flowed just so. Yesterday when I spoke to Christi to tell her that the photos were online she told me that it truly was the best day of her life!!

Christi came to my office with her mother just a few weeks before her wedding and decided to hire me to photograph her wedding at the Springhill Pavilion. She and Drew were probably the most spontaneous and fun couple that I have ever photographed.

Amber from Bloom did all of the floral arrangements which were simple and beautiful. I love the ribbon flowing off of the wreaths on the doors of the pavilion. (There are a few other photos of the flowers in their gallery that I think really show off what Amber does so well!)

Drew and Christi had ALL of the children at the wedding participate in the ceremony. They were given these little bags of flowers or bells to walk down the aisle with.
Christi's boots. Love them on this old wood burning stove in one of the barns!
The ladies in blue with the matching pans on the side of the building.

Drew and Christi with their two dogs.


In all of the years that I have been photographing weddings I have never seen a man combing a little girls hair. I just love this photo.

Here is Drew just moments before the ceremony with all of the kids.

Once they walked up the aisle they all sat on quilts that were stocked with snacks to keep them occupied.
I love this perspective from over Christi's dad's shoulder.
One of the bridesmaids and her daughter who did some outrageous flips on the trampoline!
This exemplifies Drew and Christi's zest for life! (Even though Drew is holding two bouquets!)


Billy Costigan of Poindexter's took care of the sound for the ceremony. Billy is one of my oldest and dearest friends. If you need anything done related to the audio visual world just give him a call.

The ladies at the Daily Coffee Bar made this beautiful and delicious cake.
(There are some sweet cake assembly photos in their photo gallery.)

Sweet.So, back to the title of one wedding, five brides. I have been a 'Montana Wedding Photographer' for 18 years now. As I shoot more and more weddings, there are more and more of my previous brides and grooms at the weddings. Here are Beth and Cooper. Their wedding is still up on my RedCart shopping cart: http://nashanclients.com/RedCart/index.php?gnum=89
Erin and Erik who's portraits we did on the yellow line in the center of a country road!




Shana and Luke who were married at The Woodlands. Priscilla and Dave with their children Tristen and Wilder who were married at Chico Hot Springs.


And Lisa Raddick who was married on her dad's property in Big Sky about eight years ago.
Christi and Drew had a laid back wedding which included all of their friends and family. If you take a peak at their photographs you will see how much fun was had at their wedding.

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Elephanthead Peak Hike: 9,481'

In order to break up the monotony of working in the office and to get to know each other a bit more Chieko, Angela and I hiked up Elephant Head in the Absorkee Wilderness. The 7 mile hike was a bit more strenuous than I had thought. (I wanted something that would push our limits a bit but the last half mile or so was really pretty gruelling.) The satisfying thing is that we made it to the top!

Here are some photos of the stream crossings and terrain that we went through. Over the past couple of years I have come to LOVE hiking! Montana is such a beautiful state and we are literally surrounded by mountain ranges that offer endless opportunities to explore while hiking. It is great fun and a fantastic workout!


The beginning of the hike started out with a couple of creek crossings. This first tree was pretty long and had a bunch of branch endings on it which made it a bit more challenging. Here is Chieko making her way.

Angela successfully goes over the second creek crossing.

We hiked through some burned forest and the new regrowth that is taking hold.
And then at the last part of the hike came the scramble to the top! It took us two hours to get to hike about three miles to this point. This 'non-technical scramble' to the peak took us over an hour! It was so incredibly steep that sometimes when you stood up you felt as though you might fall down the slope!
The view from the last part of the climb was phenomenal! Chieko catches her breath to continue on! In the distance you can see the Yellowstone Rive, Sheep Mountain and The Crazy Mountains. (Notice that you hardly see any houses!)

Angela carried Barbie to the top for our fast photo shoot. I only had a couple of 'moments with Barbie' so here are a couple of shots that show off the view from the top!


The three of us on what seems like the top of the world. At least in Montana.

Here is a side view of Elephanthead mountain. It is so beautiful! It is amazing that we sat on the top of it yesterday. We enjoyed some wonderful cheeses and crackers, some wine and the amazing views!

Just another view of the last part of the hike.

I am so glad that the three of us got to spend some time together and do something unusual. (I am sorry that Keegan had to work and had to miss it!)

Hmmm what shall we climb next time?

Rachel Getting Married

Have you heard of the movie? I had heard about the movie from several of my friends and thought that I should watch it. Each of them had told me of the uncomfortable toasting that went on at the rehearsal dinner and I thought it would be funny to watch. Well, perhaps I should have read what the movie was about before watching it. All I can say if you are planning a wedding DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. I love movies that are happy in one way or another. This movie has no happiness in it AT ALL! It disturbed me so much that I finally had to turn it off. The one and only cute thing in the movie was when they were planning the seating arrangements they used different animal toys to represent each person at the wedding. Each animal had a little tag on it with a persons name on it. (I am assuming that they were used on the wedding day in some way or another but I didn't actually get to see the wedding.)

My Montana Destination Wedding

Instead of the Bride and Groom having a destination wedding, it is one for me. I get to go to Missoula in September to photograph Tara and Ryan's wedding. I love Missoula. It is a funky little college town that is close to Glacier and Whitefish. In addition to shooting their wedding I will be in town to shoot the annual 'group' of family portraits for several clients who i have had the priveledge of working with over the last several years.

Tara and Ryan are planning a wedding in the park in Missoula. She is a friend of a friend and I am looking forward to photographing the small intimate wedding and the larger reception that will follow at the park. Park weddings always interst me because in some way they are more tradtional in my mind. By being in a public space they are more of a community celebration than ones held at a private venue. In the past I have photographed weddings at Yellowstone National Park, Beall Park in Bozeman and a couple of others that were really beautiful.

I just received the invitation that they designed and LOVE it for several reasons. It is simple. It is clean. The font is perfect for the design. (If you are designing your own invites there are a lot of free fonts out there if you search free fonts on google. You can also buy some nice ones for a nominal fee.) It is so darn cute! I love the little heart of the tree with their initials.
I can't wait to photograph my Missoula, Montana Bride. I have met her once and she is beautiful and can't wait to see her in a wedding dress. Perhaps she will share some of her planning details with us. I just sent the two of them an email and hope that they will share some of their plans with us.

Amy's Family

Amy and her girls were the perfect models for our portrait aspect of the private one day workshop that we held several days ago. I loved their playfulness with each other, the light in this photo and the beautiful greens for their family portraits.

We were taking photos of the girls and I saw all of their teeny tiny feet and just love all of them piled on top of each other.

All of their bikes were perfect props for the photo shoot.

Amy's children and mine have been going to the same schools since her girls starting going to Twin Pines Montessori almost ten years ago. Here is little Beth who is the same age as my Cole. I can't stand her beautiful dimples!

And Sophie....

and Emma.

If you would like to see more of their photos go to their family portraits. Choose Melanie Portraits and scroll down to their photos. ENJOY!

Wedding Gifts....

One of my old friends Kyle keeps me informed of odd wedding stories that hit the news. Here is one that might make you laugh.

We offer gift certificates for the 'perfect wedding gift'. Some people post a photo gift certificate option on the wedding web page which helps them get the photographer of their choice.

Couple get 24 toasters as wedding gifts
Most newly-weds count a toaster among their wedding gifts, but one couple were left a little surprised when they received no less than 24.

Published: 7:00AM BST 02 Jul 2009, London Telegraph

Claire and Stuart Linley had asked for cash or vouchers from their 160 guests, which they planned to put toward a honeymoon.

They first realised something was up when they received a pile of gifts all in the same shaped box.

When Mrs Linley began to open the presents she was bemused to find that each one was a Tesco white 2-slice toaster.

Then it emerged the "coincidence" was actually a joke conceived on Mr Linley's stag party in Ibiza.

The auto-electrician, 31, said: "The boys were asking me what I wanted as a wedding present, and I said either money or vouchers because I didn't want to end up with a million toasters.

"Then one of my friends took it upon himself to tell everyone to buy us a toaster.

"On the morning when we came to open our presents I knew something was going on as I had had about 15 text messages asking if I was having toast for breakfast."

The couple, who married at Howden Minster, East Yorkshire, last Saturday, have now returned 23 of the toasters, but decided to keep one.

Mrs Linley, 31, an estate agent, said: "When we went to open our presents and saw all the boxes were the same shape I thought, 'this is quite strange', and then we began to open them and it was toaster after toaster after toaster.

"It was hilarious really. Most of them were from Tesco and when we took them back to the store the staff couldn't stop laughing.

"We did make beans on toast for lunch when we got home though."

Lindsay and Josh married at Old Chico

Lindsay and Josh were married last Saturday on a beautiful, remote piece of property owned by Josh's parents. They had set up a clearing next to a creek way up a tiny dirt road near Old Chico for the ceremony. Hay bales were used as seating for the guests which we used to take some of the family portraits after the wedding. The flowers, by Angela at Fresh Designs, were all an amazing green color that accented the Montana setting perfectly. Lindsay and Josh were so much fun to photograph and even though I had only met them a few weeks ago it felt like I was photographing a friend's wedding. Everything about their wedding was simple, tasteful, heartfelt and fun. Lindsay found her dress at After 5 in Bozeman, the delicious food was prepared by Matt's Butcher Shop and Lindsay's friends Hilary and the Foulhooks provided the wonderful music. Thank you Lindsay, Josh and your families for including me in your beautiful day.

- Chieko