Cole's first day of School

I LOVE school. Wednesday was Cole's first day as a third grader. He had asked Keegan who has just gotten her learners permit to drive him to school. She got herself out of bed EARLY on her last day of summer to make him happy! Here is our annual photo of the three of us on our way to school.

dormouse

Hillary Lafoley just sent me a link to a site that her sisters in laws have created. They have some sweet clothes for kids and babies along with some items for your house that can be personalized with embroidery. If you are looking for a unique gift take a peak. http://www.dormousejh.com/

Engle.Flint Wedding

Last year, Katie from Destination Bride contacted me regarding Betsy and Anders' wedding. This was the first time that I was working with Katie and everything went off perfectly. I have worked with Lisa Light, the owner of Destination Bride twice before and have loved the weddings and clients. Once in Cabo San Lucas and once in upstate New York on one of my favorite weddings of Diedre and Joshua Laterman. Betsy and Anders were married at her parents home in Massachusetts. Anders is from Sweden so they incorporated many elements from Sweden to integrate the wedding. Betsy decided that each of the bridesmaids dresses were to have sashes on them. The sashes were made with fabric that has a Swedish pattern on them.
I loved watching Betsy, her dad and brother hang the Swedish flag in the Foyer just a few minutes before guests started to arrive.

Betsy and Anders met in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and incorporated the cowboy connection into some details. Since I am from Montana, I loved seeing the western horses on a few of the items.

Betsy's parents' home offered a lot of wonderful backgrounds to choose from. I loved the barn behind the garden because it was so beautiful and it was so private. It allowed the wedding party to have a little time together.




I loved the flowers that Ariella Chezar created for the wedding. Ariella's mom and Betsy's mom Susan, were close friends. Ariella just lives a few minutes away. Her work is lovely and you should visit her web site.
Simple and beautiful bouquets with great ribbon details on the stems.


The weather back East had been riddled with rain throughout the summer. I don't know who thought of getting the umbrellas at IKEA to continue the Swedish color scheme but it was so smart!


I love this photo of Mr. Flint in front of the sailboat...


and of Betsy's two brothers.


Here is a detail of the ribbons that I think are such a nice and surprising detail.


A great sunny day!


The receiving line was held in the foyer. I loved the blue of the stairs and walls.

Lisa Light bringing the flowers from the ceremony to the tent for the reception.


Katie and her assistant talking over the details.


The Flint family in front of their home.


The Engle family at the same location. All of Anders' family flew in from Sweden and were taking a week after the wedding to explore the East coast!

Back to the barn again.


One of Betsy's brothers had an idea. They both disappeared and showed up ready to go....

One of my favorite shots of the three of them together!

I loved photographing Betsy and Anders walking and talking to each other.



The guests made their way from the immediate backyard after cocktails to farther back for an early diner and dancing under the big tent.


Lisa placed the flowers that were on the last seat of the rows of chairs at the ceremony on the entry posts to the tent.

Some people wandered over to the pool. Where some towels had the Swedish colors on them. Ikea again?

This is the third wedding that has had custom cozy's for the beer bottles. I love the idea because I can imagine people using them over the next few years and remembering the wedding.



This young boy was pretending to sing and be the DJ.


I loved watching Ariella and her husband Chris dance. I felt as though I was stalking them but they looked so beautiful together I couldn't stop photographing them.

After Betsy and Anders left, Betsy's brother organized a spur of the moment swim with some of his friends. I love the tie!

Thank you Betsy and Anders for having me photograph your wedding. It was lovely and I hope you enjoy the photos for many years. If you would like to enjoy more of their photos please go to http://nashanclients.com/RedCart/index.php?gnum=261

The Knot: Wyoming Real Wedding

The Knot has started covering Montana and Wyoming! I think we were the last two states to be added. Anyway, they are featuring a couple of our weddings including one of my favorite Jackson Hole Weddings where Maura and Andrew got married. Take a peek at theknot.com!

Stellina Events

I just received an email from Amanda Diamondstein-Cieplinska and she ran some of our photos on her blog and I wanted to share her blog with you. The entry before ours is about how to integrate your personal street 'dress' style into your wedding day style. It was so fun and informative to read. Check it out if you have a few minutes.

Amanda has been living in London and is moving to NY next month to continue her business here in the states. Her web site will be updated next month and I am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with for her new identity!

Click here to see what she said about us and read her other great blog entries.

Thank you Amanda for including us!
Melanie

Some great FREE apps for your IPhone and ITouch

Every Bride, and hopefully groom, wants to be in great shape for their wedding day. Take advantage of the resources available online or on your handheld to help you reach your goals! Our recent Wyoming bride Kristin Colloton, pictured above, looked fantastic for her wedding three weeks ago with toned arms and shoulders that were accented by her beautiful and simple dress.

Here are a few free apps that will help you attain your goal of looking your best while celebrating your wedding. BMI Calculator is a great way to start keeping track of your progress. Drinking Eight Glasses a Day is another free app that should help you stop drinking pops and other drinks that add calories. FitNow will help you keep track of your caloric intake and 'budget'. Record your food and exercise and stay within your budget to loose a few pounds.

Now here are some FREE work out apps that I am looking forward to trying. SixPack, Virtual Trainer and RunKeeper are three options that will help you attain your goals. Once you are sore from your workouts then use Vibrating Massager to help yourself feel a little better.

As your wedding day approaches everyone starts to get a little more uptight and nervous. Some ways to relax are to use the Yoga Tutorial and the Stress Reducer.

There are so many options out there and I hope this post helped you find some ways to attain your goals without spending too much time doing so.

Wedding Anniversary

Jeffrey and I were married on Friday, August 13, 1989 and today is our 20th anniversary! We are out in Fort Benton celebrating while my mother in law takes care of the kids. We are staying at the Grand Union and doing a whole lot of nothing except eating resting and reading. It is hard to believe that we have been married for 20 years. As a wedding photographer I see people starting their lives together and sometimes feel a tinge of envy at the 'new love' experience I am photographing. I hope their experience of marriage is as good as mine has been. Ceremonies I photograph often remind me of the commitment we had to each other at the beginning of our relationship when it was about the two of us loving each other and learning about who we are individually and as a couple. I sometimes hear of some of my clients who have decided to split up and it makes me terribly sad. More often lately I have been in touch with many of my previous clients and I have been able to photograph them as their lives change and their relationship develops into something more than just the two of them. It intrigues me to see love mature and people's identity evolve, sometimes including the lives of others and sometimes not.

I vividly remember the excitement of finding someone who I wanted to share my life with. Thinking everything Jeffrey did was entertaining and genius in some way or another. I remember the days when all we had to worry about was ourselves and enjoying the time we had together. (I know this is a little simplified but we didn't have the responsibilities that we have today and we were very different people then.) I was 23 and he 26, we were in the middle of our college days meeting each others friends and starting to explore what we love together.

Our first trip abroad was to Europe just about six months after we started dating the second time. ( You don't need to know the details.) Travelling with someone is a sure fire way to find out if you are compatible. I recommend it to every couple thinking about marrying each other. I believe it brings out the best and the worst in people. Luckily we travelled well together then and still love to travel together but now with our children. It is one of my favorite things to do. I love experiencing a new place, finding out what each of us loves about it and experiencing it together.

Over the past 20 years we have built a cabin from the ground up, bought and renovated an historical home and finally built many parts of the house we are living in now while tending to Keegan's two year old needs. (If that doesn't drive two people apart not much will.) We have gone through college together and apart, we have changed careers and found our way into two unique ways of earning a living that really reflect who we are as individuals. Jeffrey makes watches and I could never do what he does unless I had a sledge hammer to vent my frustrations on all of the details involved in putting together a watch. He couldn't do what I do because he doesn't love being around people as much as I do. Most importantly we have had two children together. (Parenting children is also a great way to dissolve a marriage.) Fortunately although we have had some fierce fights over how we want to raise our children our goals and intentions are very similar. We have two wonderful children who are growing up to be fiercely independent, inquisitive, passionate, responsible and kind young people.

I think the thing that continues to bring me joy in our relationship is our ability to enjoy our time together and to know that each of us wants and allows the other to be who they are and to continue to experience adventures without trying to hold the other back. We share these goals with ourselves and our children.

Anyway, I feel very fortunate to be married to Jeffrey and to be able to experience life as we now know it and look forward to what the future brings with each other, ourselves, our children, our families and our friends.

Don't forget to subscribe to our blog!

Don't forget that you have until August 31st to subscribe to our blog and be entered in a drawing with the chance to win a $25 credit toward Nashan Photographers' services. Just enter your email address in the box to the right and click the subscribe button. It is an easy way to stay up to date on what we are doing and gain inspiration!

Real Advice From a Real Montana Bride

One of Bärbel's brides, Lani, filled out the questionnaire that we give each couple with their completed wedding package and had a bit of advice for future brides that we thought was important to share since we hear it time and time again. She says, "Even if you don't think photography is a high priority (as I did initially) when everything is said and done...photographs are the best way to relive the day. It goes by in such a blur. It is so wonderful to have reminders of all of the people we love and an event we will always cherish." Here are just of few of the beautiful photographs from that wedding. You can see more of Lani and Mark's wedding in their gallery on our website.

Lyndsey Hamilton Events

I stumbled upon Lyndsey Hamilton Events the other day. She is an amazing wedding coordinator that creates elegant weddings that have a distinct sense of style. Her web page is so beautiful and filled with wonderful photographs that you want to spend a lot of time just looking at other people's weddings! If you are looking for a planner you should definitely take a peak at her work, you will be impressed with her work.

Lyndsey featured some of my weddings on her blog the other day. She keeps a regular blog with lovely photos and great 'daily inspiration' images that are sometimes beautiful and others just fun to look at. I just went to get her blog address and daily inspiration photo is one of mine too! Thank you Lyndsey! I can't wait for you to be our guest blogger!!

Here are some of her daily inspiration photos.




I grew up twitching my nose trying to get my chores done!

Thank You.

Hi Melanie,

Chris and I just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful framed photo you sent us. That was such a kind gesture! We were extremely pleased with Cindy and Holly. They did a phenomenal job! We often look through our photos and enjoy each and every one of them. They all have such special memories for the two of us. We are extremely happy and grateful to have selected Nashan to shoot our wedding photos. Thanks again for preserving our memories so beautifully.

Lori and Chris Rolf

(See more of Lori and Chris' photos in their gallery)