Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Heather and Matt’s wedding in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Well, aren’t we all a fine motley crew?

You see, Heather is Yvonne’s best friend from Iowa. You remember Yvonne and TL, right? From the last wedding I posted a couple weeks back?

Well, here’s how it all works out: we met Heather years ago through Yvonne. Many a Colorado night has been spent with this motley crew of Yvonne, TL, me, Charlotte (my wife), Heather, and any number of various combinations of other Iowans when Heather has come to town.

Enter Matt. We first met Matt in July of last year at Yvonne and TL’s wedding.

I think the most fascinating thing about Matt is his dichotomy. “What?”, you say? Let me explain: Matt has carefully crafted a very professional and mature outer appearance, the better to serve his myriad business interests and roles. Little did I realize, when I first met Matt at Yvonne and TL’s wedding in Iowa this year, that lurking beneath Matt’s carefully polished exterior was the soul of a rowdy party-animal.

Let’s just say this: Matt can party. Not a self-destructive, bury-your -sorrows-kind-of-party, but more of a joy-for-life, time-is-short-kind-of-party!

I will leave it at that. ; )

Heather and Matt are very surprising and inspiring as a couple. Let’s face it: it takes a pretty special kind ofperson who would rather battle it out in a hockey rink on the night before their wedding. Amazing. To see Heather out there, literally body-checking dudes twice her size, with out a single care the night before her wedding, was incredible. And then Matt’s out there, taking sizzling-shots on goal left and right, skating his butt off. Neither of them holding back.

In fact, that’s the best way I can describe the essence of Heather and Matt: neither of them ever hold back. In love, in life, in joy, in celebration, in risks, in loss, in pain and in growing together… never holding back.

That’s a pretty good recipe for a successful marriage, I think.

Hell, that’s a pretty good recipe for life.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Yvonne and TL’s wedding in Iowa.

TL, Yvonne, and Char are all Iowans, and even I lived there as a youngster (I consider myself Coloradan, of course).

TL is one of my best friends.

Yvonne is one of my wife Char’s best friends. (Careful viewers will notice Char is a bridesmaid and is sooooooooo beautiful).

The best thing about being our best friends is you get a fantastic price on your wedding photography!

The worst thing about being our best friends is I put your wedding on the back-burner… and you have to wait a really long time to get your images back.

I need to serve our loyal full-price clients first, right?

Right??

Well, that stretched on a little too far, as Yvonne got pregnant on her honeymoon night (that-a-boy, TL!), and she looks very pregnant now and we still didn’t have a full wedding processed for them… did I mention we’re now like two months away from a baby being born??

So, like I said, there are clear advantages to being really close friends with Char and I… and clear disadvantages.; )

Was this wedding one for the ages? Legendary. First, there is the fact that I was so much more than just “the photographer” for this one:

• I was the table and chair setter-upper.
• Light hanger and decorations hanger.
• All around beast-of-burden on the morning of the wedding.

Secondly, this one was the most “solo” weddings I’ve ever shot… no Char (she was in the wedding party for the most part) except for the bride & groom photos… and no assistants (as we were in Iowa)…

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.

Oh, did I mention it was 106°F with 100% humidity so the heat index was something absurd, like 116°F??? It was hot. Hellishly hot.

So here I am photographing the ceremony, and the church had no AC, and was even hotter inside than it was outside. I am running all over the place from altar to balcony to get full-coverage of the ceremony, and in the middle of it all: I have to give a reading! By the time we were at my moment-to-shine, I was dripping wet with sweat. I am sure the appearance of my sweaty, overweight form as I huffed my way through Yvonne and TL’s chosen reading was nothing but… inspiring?

Feel sorry for me, yet? I hope so: pity is the only thing I’ve got left to ward off the legendary ire of one Anthony (TL) Liddle. He’d been getting a little grumpy with me lately and pity was all I had to go on!

“Where’s our wedding photos, bro.”

“Really busy right now with other weddings, TL. You’re going to need to wait just a bit longer… remember the sweating and the light-hanging?”

But now the photos are finally done, they are gorgeous, and just in time for a new baby boy to arrive! I’m sure we’ll be taking those photos, too. Maybe they’ll be lucky and get those back by the time the little rug-rat’s in college! ; )

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That’s right: your cost for prints is cut in half as an added benefit of upgrading to the “All-Digital Session”. We’ll relaunch your portrait gallery (if expired) with the discount applied to all products!

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Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Kristine and Robert’s wedding at Shove Chapel in Colorado Springs.

We first met Robert forever-long ago (5 years??) when he was a groomsman at Bryan and Becky’s wedding (long enough ago that I don’t have a gallery of the wedding up anymore!).

Robert made quite an impression on me with his “Ray Charles impersonation” I caught while the boys were getting ready and he sat down at the piano in the parlor room at First United Methodist. It is still one of my favorite fun-photos of all-time. Therefore, it was deja-vu for both of us, 5 years later, when he and Kristine showed up for the initial consultation, and I knew… I had seen him before.

This is the best part: he had never put 2-and-2 together before the meeting, either. You see, we were meeting at our Denver studio, and as far as he remembered, Trystan Photography was a Colorado Springs photography studio (as Bryan and Becky’s wedding was in the Springs).

It only took a few questions for us to figure out why we were sure we’d met before.  I was very excited because I knew their wedding would rock.

And it did not disappoint: great wedding party (Bryan was a groomsman this time), great fun family, and great venue.

Ahh, Shove Chapel… how I love thee! Let me count the ways:

• Awe inspiring Gothic architecture
• deep moody shadows
• dramatic soaring altar and stage lighting
• huge classical pipe-organ

I love photographing weddings there. They always have such drama and grandeur.

The weather could have been a little better, though…

Just a little cold.

Really, bitterly, cutting cold.

But Kristine and Robert toughed it out (I did too in my Spyder ski jacket…). I really appreciate tough brides and grooms. Weather is always… ummm, “interesting” in Colorado, and if you can only handle a perfect blue-bird day on your wedding day, then you might be in for a rough haul in Colorado! Kristine knew better. She just laughed and smiled her way through. Awesome.

And when we needed to warm up, we would duck inside the chapel again, and it was during this time that I captured them “Tebow-ing” (if you’re not a Broncos fan… well, I’m sorry for you).

It was a perfect (cold) day, and Char and I are so honored to have been chosen to capture it for you two.

Thank you (and thank you Bryan and Becky for recommending us to Kristine!).

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Joy and Lukes wedding at Arrowhead Golf Course.

Mmmmmmm… Arrowhead Golf Course… what a fantastic little piece of heaven!

It really is something to contemplate the natural splendor of this place. Even though it is a golf course, the simple majesty of it all indues a sense of the spiritual. Even I could enjoy a round of golf there I think, and I am horrible.

We’ve always had fantastic weddings at Arrowhead. I think the backdrop alone plays a big part in that success: we are all very inspired.

Add that natural beauty to the authenitc love of Luke and Joy, then you’ve got something spectacular. I was especially touched by how openly emotional Luke was. He was overwhelmed with joy… for Joy. I always appreciate a man who can show hi emotions: I was a wreck on my wedding day!

This wedding also has a fantastic example of a pre-ceremony “reveal”, which is when the couple elects to see each other before the ceremony. We don’t just have them get ready, walk out, and we’re shooting. We like to “make a moment” of the reveal, and it never dissapoints. This wedding was the epitome of a great reveal.

Thank you Joy and Luke for trusting Charlotte and I to capture your perfect day. It was an honor and a privilege to document such love.

Nathan is a funny guy, which is fantastic because i normally try to make things light and fun by telling awful jokes. He’s actually quite humorous.

All this made Jillian simply beam, which I think awesome because her smile is brilliant.

The day of our 1st scheduled session, we got snowed out by 6 inches of snow. This was attempt #2. And what luck! not only was it a very pleasant November day, but we actually found some Autumn leaves left on the trees that the snowstorm hadn’t swept away!

I am still in an Autumn frame-0f-mind, and I was delighted to find one last hint of Fall in this hidden little valley below the main park. I am, in no way shape or form, ready for winter yet…

You two are adorable together. Thank you for making my job so easy!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Lee and Jason’s wedding at Glen Eyrie Castle.

This was a fairytale dream wedding, and not only due to the fact it was at Glen Eyrie Castle, one of Colorado’s most inspiring locales. No, in fact, it was due to the fact that Lee and Jason are very chill people with very chill and cool families, and they held their reception before the wedding.

You read it right: they held their “reception” before Charlotte and I even arrived. Then everyone who was at the reception simply arrived at Glen Eyrie for the “getting-ready” and the ceremony. The bonus of this unique timeline is that it left more time for Charlotte and I to “play”.

I might be biased, but more time for your photographers to play and explore the gorgeous grounds with the couple can’t be a bad thing, right? I loved it.

Instead of rushing the couple off to a reception, we patiently played with the evening light and got some really great stuff.

Thank you Lee and Jason for trusting Char and I to capture your amazing wedding. It was a privilege and a pleasure.

Time to start thinking about your Holiday cards, can you believe it?  Where did the year go?

We have a few new cards this year, and some of the same ones from last year, because I love so many of them still.

We offer 5×7 postcards, 5×5 postcards, and 5×5 tri-folds.  All cards come with white envelopes and take around 2 weeks to print and ship. Please get in touch with Charlotte at Trystan Photography 719-359-5520 to place your orders.
There are 3 different pages of cards on this blog post, just FYI. Here are the samples…

These are the 5×7 post card with front and back designs- $85 for 25 cards

More cards continued on next page…

Pages: 1 2 3

2. Page 2
3. Page 3

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photographs from Erin and Tom’s wedding at The Ridge at Castle Pines North.

Ummm… The Ridge at Castle Pines North is amazing. I had no idea these magnificent vistas were just a few miles off of I-25. Obviously,  other people do, because there were veritable castles built up around this golf course!

This is a jaw-dropping spot for a wedding.

It also helps when your daddy happens to run the place…

… that’s right, Erin’s father is the head honcho of The Ridge, so maybe Char and I got a little more leeway to play and take advantage than usual… but I don’t think so. ; )

This wedding was also special because it was the 3rd wedding we’ve worked at with CueMotion, the world’s best wedding cinematographers, (IMHO) who travel all the way to Colorado from Omaha, NE, to work these weddings. As soon as they put up the video to this shoot, I will post it here and on our Facebook page, just like I did with Jocelyn and Chase’s wedding (who happened to recommend Erin and Tom to us).

Finally, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Betsy, Erin’s mom, who has been one of our most ardent and vocal supporters (even before I finished the photos from the wedding!). Thank you so much for all of your support, Betsy. I am YOUR biggest fan.

And thank you Erin and Tom, for choosing Trystan Photography. It was a privilege and a pleasure to capture your wedding!