Another beautiful Montana Wedding

Rebecca and Marc's wedding was so quintessentially Montana in a different way than usual. Instead of choosing a western theme they chose to really focus on ways to incorporate the natural things they LOVE about Montana in their wedding.

The setting for the photographs for the first time they saw each other was perfect. The trees and canopy of leaves creates an intimacy and surrounds them in the environment they LOVE.

When planning your wedding seriously consider seeing each other for the first time before your wedding ceremony. The anticipation and actual experience is a wonderful thing to share in private, it really allows the two of you to enjoy the moment in a more personal way.
After Rebecca walked down the tree lined lane they got to share a few minutes together while being photographed in one of the most beautiful settings at the venue. By seeing each other before hand you get to be alone for as long as you like, you get to take all of the posed photos that you would like to do done with and you get to enjoy every aspect of your wedding with your family and friends.

Typically every couple wants to have some posed family photos taken at the wedding. If you plan on doing it before the wedding it will take less time to finish them because everyone is there to take photos and nobody gets distracted by other guests. You can make it like a cocktail hour for your friends and family to make it a bit more festive and fun so the time will fly by a bit quicker. Once all of the photos are taken then you don't have to worry about taking any more for the rest of the day. You get to enjoy all of your friends and family during every aspect of your wedding. Typically a wedding will last about five hours including the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and the reception. It is a shame to take almost 1/5 of that time in order to take photographs that can be taken beforehand.

Marc painted the Thank You sign and we took a few photos with it so that they can use the image as a thank you note for their wedding.

On their wedding day the wind was HOWLING. Unfortunately it was blowing in the wrong direction. We were able to take the photos of the men with the Bridger mountains in the background without any hair issues.

Unfortunately we were not able to take many with the women because of their hair blowing in their face. Always make sure your vendors have a backup plan for inclement weather. After getting blown around in the fields I brought the wedding party to the ceremony location which was protected by trees and we were able to take photographes without being wind blown!

Rebecca and Marc created a wedding that was very personal. He and his brother had gathered all of the antlers that lined the aisle and I thought it made a perfect location to take some portraits of the two of them and of their wedding party.
I LOVE these photos of Rebecca because she is the perfect picture of the Montana Bride. She loves the outdoors, and was able to work with Marc to create a wedding celebration that brought attention to everything that makes a wedding, a Montana wedding.


I LOVE the photo of the two of them kissing and the antlers in the foreground.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.
You never know what the weather will be like in Montana.

I can't overstate that enough. Be prepared to be boiling hot or freezing cold during your wedding in Montana. Rebecca and Marc had some blankets for people at the ceremony and every one of them was being used and shared. Just a few days prior to their wedding it was hot and then the weather changed and it was freezing cold for their wedding day.

Rebecca went to great lengths to personalize the wedding. She designed the invites and then had them letter press printed, she designed and made the programs, she bought coordinating robes for herself and the girls.
Be creative when thinking of how to personalize your wedding. Rebecca and Marc asked each of their guests to sign a moose antler. Which turned out to be her favorite thing at the wedding.

Rebecca took the elk that she drew and featured it on the invites, the programs and the welcome packet that they made for their friends.
Rebecca and Marc had a long engagement and asked their family members to gather fall leaves and iron them so that they could be used to make the aisle ever more personal. I love the discreet ribbon they used so that the wedding party would be the first to enjoy the walk.
Everyone knows that although we all hope to keep our high heels on throughout the night while dancing it really is wonderful to have an alternative. Offering the option of flip flops at the reception is a perfect way to ensure that more people will actually get up and dance.

Rebecca and Marc used pine cones to hold the place cards.

Leslie Lukas created the beautiful flower arrangements and planned the wedding with Marc and Rebecca.

Each table had their own bottle of 'toasting' wine with tiny mason jars for the toasting glasses.
All of the drinks including a specialty drink that Marc and Rebecca made beforehand were served in the larger mason jars with stir sticks that Rebecca had made.

The letter press invites that Rebecca designed introduced the Montana Elk theme.

The beautiful centerpieces and table tops were filled with personalized details including hand painted numbers...
and pine tree seedlings for each of the guests.

Rebecca and Marc made little bride and groom wood pieces for their chairs.
The guests were treated to a hay ride through the fields with a magnificent view of the Bridger Mountain Range. Marc is a helicopter pilot and was going to give rides to all of the guests in a helicopter that his boss was flying over but because of the inclement weather they were not able to get the helicopter over to the wedding venue.




Almost every bride wants the most beautiful shoes to walk down the aisle in. Don't forget to bring something comfy to slip into afterwards. It is hard to navigate grass, gravel, mud, wheat, etc in 4" heals.

Use ribbon to discreetly tell your guests where they are not welcome to go.


Choose a perfect intimate site for your ceremony. There are usually a couple of places at each venue site that people have their ceremonies at. Really look at the venue and see what is the best place for you to have your wedding ceremony at.

I LOVE the feeling of the upstairs of the barn. Some places don't even need any decorating.

Kristen Jorgenson & Scott Jorgenson get married at The Wild FLower Gardens in Red Lodge

The first time I photographed Kristen and Scott we were running from a huge rain storm. After deciding that we could not outrun it, we decided to do the photos in the rain and then suddenly it stopped and the light was beautiful! Here is a link to the engagement session:
http://www.nashan.com/2009/06/arnoldjorgenson-engagement.html

Thank goodness that was for their engagement session and not their wedding. Their wedding was held in September at The Wild Flower Gardens in Red Lodge on one of the last really hot days that we had this summer.

Kristen and Scott met at a branding and he works on a ranch and his family runs cows. All of the vessels from the wedding were gathered from his family's ranch. I LOVE all of the old milk bottles and various containers that they used to decorate the tables with.
Not only were they beautiful, they brought meaning into the beautifully arranged flowers.

They used the colors of the wedding and topped the cake off with a small bouquet of flowers.
Kristen had made all of the programs and displayed them in a milk bucket on the welcoming table.
Each guest was asked to write a short note on a note card that Kristen had made.


Each guest was given a carmel coated apple on their way out....
Kristen's dress was just perfect for her and her boots were comfortable throughout the night.


One of Kristen's bridesmaids was fluffing te under part of her dress just minutes before the wedding.

I Loved the small details that really made Kristen look so beautiful!

In the heat of the afternoon Kristen walked down the aisle without a cloud in the sky. When you plan your Montana Wedding you need to be prepared for all sort of weather. Although it was piping hot during the ceremony it did get a little chilly for the reception.

I LOVED Scott's feather...

As I was walking around photographing the wedding I saw this Cowboy standing behind the last row of chairs and I think it is one of my favorite photos because it captures the feeling of the wedding and gives a very clear sense of place.
Scott made the Arbor that they were married under...

One of the best times to photograph a couple is as they walk down the aisle right after being pronounced man and wife.

The good, the bad, the...

Kristen and her sweet niece.
I Loved photographing Kristen and Scott's wedding for so many reasons. They were both wonderful to work with, their wedding was relaxed and truely a celebration of the two of them getting married and everything was so simply western.

Rachel's Senior Portraits

I had photographed Rachel's friend for her senior portraits and Dani had recommended me to her. Thank you Dani for the recommendation!

I LOVED working with Rachel on her portraits because she had a definate idea of what she wanted the photographs to look like. Her ideas were a perfect starting point for the portrait session, from there the two of us came up with some other options that are really beautiful.

Her step dad has a collection of old cars and trucks on thier property and this one was the perfect prop for a lot of our photos.

The morning light, was slightly diffused with some thin clouds and gave the perfect lighting for this photo.

Rachel runs on the cross country team and I love her stretching on the roof of the truck.

Rachel also wanted some photos with Ross Peak in the background so we played around in the tall grass and captured some really beautiful moments while she was moving around.

She is also a member of FFA and wanted some photographs of her in her jacket.

Down by the Yellowstone River we explored some different options including by the trees, in the grass and in the river.

I LOVE the texture in the grass photo.

Rachel, thank you for having me take your senior portraits. Keegan had told me that you were a nice young woman and she was so right. If you LOVE your photos please share them with your friends and family.

Family Portraits: Schedule yours today if you want the photos for the holidays.

Kari, a photographer here in Livingston, called me last Thursday asking to have her family photographs taken. She, like almost every other photographer I talk to, rarely have photos taken of their own family. I started taking our family portraits once a year several years ago and now try never to miss a year. Everyone changes so quickly and I LOVE seeing how we were as a family every year. Anyway, her husband Phil was home for a few days and she wanted to do something right away. So we scheduled the shoot for Monday in hopes of warm weather. When I left town for the shoot the thermometer read a bone chilling 19 degrees. I was a bit leery of doing the photos in the kind of weather that forces everyone to stay indoors. I was worried that their two young children would think the whole thing was miserable idea. Luckily I was wrong again! Although it was cold and there were moments that we retreated to the car to thaw out our fingers overall everyone had fun! Sledding brings out the best in all of us no matter what age! Colin, their 7 year old boy wanted to sled for the whole day. He would drag the sled up the hill, fly down and started the process all over again.

As I have said before I LOVE taking photographs for families. In this case Kari really wanted some photos of the whole family because Phil has been traveling a lot and she wanted the kids to see some photos around the house to keep him in their day to day lives. Both of our children have gone to school at Twin Pines Montessori and Maureen Bright, the owner, would ask each family to bring in a family photo for the school album. Whenever a child was missing someone in their family they would get out the photo album and feel a little better by seeing their family photo.

I LOVE these photos because I think they really capture the sweet relationship that Kari, Phil, Colin and Logan have with each other. They were playful and attentive to each others feelings. Nobody had much of an agenda except to have fun and to get some beautiful family photos.

Kari, thank you for asking me to take your family photographs. I am flattered that you asked me and happy to have spent some time with you and your family.

ENJOY!

Elegant Montana Bride

This Monday morning I was given some bad news from a friend of mine. In his Email he told me that Elegant Bride and Modern Bride had folded! I LOVED each of the magazines for different reasons and have been featured in both publications many times over the past eight years. More importantly the two photo editors that I have known for all of this time found themselves out of work on Monday morning. They lost their jobs rather unexpectedly although we all know that the publication business has been in turmoil since this time last year when the financial crisis first started to hit all of us.

Both publications have been a great resource over the years for women, and a few interested grooms, who have been planning their weddings. So there will be a great gap to fill. Fortunately I also got news that Brides magazine, which has been published on a quarterly basis, will now go monthly so not everything is lost. All three publications were run from offices on the same floor in NY. Each had their own specialty and style but all of the editors were in close touch with the each other so I think Brides will fill in a lot of the missing gaps now that they are being published more frequently.

One of my favorite features of the publications was the Elegant Bride section of EB's publication. I have had two bride's featured in it over the years and thought of continuing the idea on our blog. The title of our feature will be Elegant Montana Bride. This is our first feature and we will continue to host a new bride on a regular basis. In the publication there was only one photo of the bride and we will be hosting several images that really show off the individual style of our Elegant Montana Bride.

J.Witty Spirits

One of our beautiful brides, Jill Witty, who was wed last year to Graham Evarts at Springhill Pavilion in Bozeman, has started a business called J.Witty Spirits, a line of handmade, organic liqueurs. She recently debuted her first flavor, an organic chamomile liqueur. A lot of time and love has gone into creating this business, and I couldn't wait to share it with you.



The philosophy behind J.Witty Spirits is what really captured me, and I think it's worth sharing.

"We choose suppliers that are local to California and Oregon (our two homes). We favor small and independent companies over big corporations.

"We make our liqueurs by hand in small batches. We take pride in making sure that each batch tastes delicious.

"We don’t add anything to our liqueurs beyond what you’d expect to be there. (You’d be surprised at how many companies do.) There are no additives, no preservatives, no shelf-stabilizers. So when you open a bottle of J. Witty Spirits, you’ll probably want to drink it within six months. We hope that’s okay.

"We print our labels on tree-free papers using soy-based inks. Our marketing materials are printed on recycled papers. Our case packaging is 100% compostable and biodegradable.

"We use natural cork (a renewable resource) rather than petroleum-based synthetic corks.

"We donate a portion of our proceeds to support non-profits that help the environment and our local communities.

"Most of all, we try to be good people."

Now that's something you can feel good about! Be sure to check out the drink recipes, too!