Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Casey and Martin’s wedding at the Boulder OSMP Halfway House.

At Casey and Martin’s wedding, her father told me about the day he almost lost his daughter.

One day long ago, Casey almost died.

I think her father told me it was a car wreck.

Apparently, she ended up under the car, and thought, “This can’t be the end. I’ve done nothing I’ve wanted to do…”

Needless to say, Casey didn’t die, and once she mended she suddenly informed he family that she was going to do everything she’d every wanted. Inlcuding seeing Europe.

So Casey (already a free-spirit) up and left on a short trip to Europe… and never came back.

What was supposed to be a simple short tour of Europe turned into a year, then two…

Then sent word home: she’d fallen in love, in Prague. She’d met a devilishly-handsome young man named Martin, with the same mischevious glint in his eye and lust for life as she had.

Fast-forward to their wedding day, I can tell you that their joie de vivre was palpable, and made taking their photographs an absolute joy.

We all should have such awakenings.

We all should have such love for life!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Erinn and Kostas’ wedding at The Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Cathedral and Folsom Field Stadium Club.

Loyal blog readers might recognize Erinn and Kostas from their engagement photos a year ago. I declared in that blog post that this wedding was going to be legendary, and I am delighted to announce: it was.

This wedding was so much fun and truly epic (13 hours of photography), that I have struggled to even narrow it down to a reasonable size for our sample galleries. The result is: I feel like I skipped some of the funnest stuff in order to tell the story on the gallery. The solution? I will feature the ones that didn’t make it here.

In my mind, nothing captures the personality of these two than their engagement announcement (left). Out of all the photos I shot, they choose the one with Kostas acting crazy and Erinn quietly enjoying his insanity. But that is not to say that Erinn is boring; she is plenty fun. She just has more of a subtlety to her than, say… Kostas. (BTW, they were really miffed that some papers wouldn’t take their announcement because it “wasn’t an appropriate engagement shot”. Whatever. I think that’s a prime example of why nobody reads newspapers anymore!)

The day began, early in the morning in Boulder as the girls met up with Char and Kim at On Broadway, and I met up with the boys at The Village Coffee Shop. Like most groomsmen, our stud-muffins were showing a little sign of wear and tear from the night before, but they assured me that The Coffee Shop’s food had a magical, regenerative effect. They also demanded I had to order this monster breakfast: the chicken fried steak, or the Number 6. It was massive, and delicious, and an absolute gut bomb. So while everyone else came out of the restaurant with new spring in their step and lots of energy, I was reduced to a slightly green, over-stuffed and near-comatose zombie. I should have known something was up when nobody else ordered the #6. Now, don’t get me wrong: it’s an amazing breakfast. It’s the perfect breakfast if you’re hungover and have nothing to do for the entire day except lie on the couch and watch football. And that’s the problem: no hangover, no couch in sight. Just a whole day and night’s worth of being on my feet ahead…

Thank you, boys. I really appreciated your help that morning.

Thankfully, as I digested that densely calorie packed meal, it began to convert itself into super-fatboy energy, and within an hour I was not only healed, but better off. They weren’t lying: there is something magical about the food at The Village Coffee Shop. But, for about an hour, there is a heavy price to pay.

By the time the limo arrived, we were having so much fun that when we stopped to get liquor (hey, it’s got to be noon somewhere, right?), I was suddenly feeling very magnanimous, and went in with them to buy them a big bottle of Jameson. I tell you what: it’s the best thing you can ever do if your groomsmen like to get rowdy. Gifting that whiskey to them was akin to presenting fire to cavemen. They literally started grunting and slapping backs, giving high-fives, and any of them who were even in the slightest bit uneasy about this strange photographer infiltrating their man-group were instantly ingratiated to me. I’m seriously considering presenting a big bottle of alcohol to every grooms’ party I have from now on. It’s like catnip for grown men!

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This time of year, every year, we comb through our weddings and collect all of our favorite shots from over the years in to our “Wedding Collections”. We’re exceptionally proud of these photographs, and we’d love it if you would take the time to review our favorite wedding photography to date!

Please click the photo above or follow the link to view Megan and Matt’s loving and adorable wedding at Chautauqua Park and The Boulder Tea House.

And on the 7th day he rested…

7th Day Adventists believe (amongst other things) that the true sabbath (day of rest) falls on Saturday (like Jewish people do). This is technically correct, and lucky for us, because of that belief, it meant that we ended up getting one of our few Sunday weddings for 2009 from Megan and Matt!

I’m not entirely sure how much “rest” actually took place for these two and their families on that Saturday, but I do know that their wedding that Sunday couldn’t have been more fun, energetic, and adorable. And I’m not using “adorable” lightly here: Megan literally is adorable. I love the looks she gave Matt during their ceremony. Breathtakingly adorable.

And one of the neat things about this wedding is the style that they decided to go with in terms of their dress and tuxes. Megan and Matt are very funky, artsy-types. When I shot their engagement photos, Megan wore these kind-of-cowboy boots and a puffy princess-fairy dress and Matt wore a western pearl button-shirt and jeans. They looked very cool , very comfortable and totally made for each other.

So then I asked them if their wedding was going to exude the same bohemian mentality, and she intrigued me by saying: “You won’t believe the style of dress I went with. It’s classic. Not funky at all, I want to opposite for that day… but the reception and everything else is really funky..”

And she wasn’t kidding. She was stunning in her wedding dress, and the reception still had a touching live guitar/bongo performance (very well done), while nothing is more eclectic and exotic than The Boulder Tea House.

This wedding was perfect. I love the mixing of apparent opposites, in my food and my weddings:

My favorite food is Thai: Savory/spicy mixed with light/sweet.

My favorite weddings are like Matt and Megan’s: formal/classic mixed with artsy/exotic/funky.

Thank you both for choosing Charlotte and I to share in the amazing alchemy of your wedding. It was amazing!

Ahhh, Erinn and Kostas…

What a loving, amazing couple you are. What fun people you are. Your wedding is going to make all the other photographers really, really, jealous.

I met Erinn and Kostas at a parking lot near the edge of CU Boulder and we proceeded to embark on a little hike/adventure through the campus. It was an unseasonably warm March day (before it got really crappy in April), and although the trees weren’t quite budding yet, there was an almost Spring-like glow in the air. They chose CU Boulder because it’s a huge part of their personal stories and as a couple. They are both really intelligent, well-educated people, and it was a treat to get a glimpse into their history as they would regale me with tales of their past at CU as we walked around.

As we hiked through campus we’d stop whenever the spirit moved me and we’d shoot a little (more like I took photos while Erinn and Kostas made-out). Some couples take a little coaxing, and little suggestive persuasion on how to relax and be themselves, but not Erinn and Kostas! They were so relaxed, natural and totally into each other it almost seemed at times that it didn’t matter if I was there or not; as if they went on romantic make-out walks through CU all the time.

They were so into it, at one point a car drove by and someone yelled out the window, “Get a room!”. It was so much fun to photograph these two!

Their wedding is going to be stellar: they got us for unlimited time (all day), and Kostas and the boys and I are going hang out and go skeet shooting really early while Erinn, Charlotte and the girls goof around and get ready. Their wedding ceremony is going to be at the stunningly beautiful Assumption of the Theotokos Metropolis Cathedral in Denver. If you’ve never seen the interior of this cathedral, you seriously have to check it out! Then we’re zipping off to Boulder for some Chautauqua, downtown, and Folsom Field shots (with their names and maybe even some photos on the scoreboard behind them). The reception itself is going to be at Folsom Field. Now I’m a football nut, so this wedding would be cool enough just with the field, but with the Cathedral and all the other locations, it’s to die for!

I had such a good time takig your engagement photos, Erinn and Kostas. I can’t wait for your wedding!!!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Tara and Robert’s wedding at The Red Lion Inn near Boulder, CO.

What if:

1) …your mom loves you dearly and wants only the best, most perfect, magical wedding possible for you.

2) …your mom is a professional event planner.

3) …you have plenty opinions of your own.

Well, if you’re Tara and her momma, Pommy, you “hash out” a lot of the details at your initial consultation with your photographer. It made for a very lively meeting, to say the least…

But I could see that neither Tara and her mom had any ill-will, just differing opinions about how things should go. They are both beautiful, strong willed women (don’t worry Robert, I’ve got those in my wife and mother-in-law, and it’s wonderful… in hindsight, mostly), and I didn’t have any trepidations about how Tara and Robert’s wedding would go.

My confidence in the both of them paid off when, on the wedding day, it was an incredibly well-planned and executed wedding. Deliciously appointed, with a wonderful attention to detail and creativity (they had a bar for only custom-made cigars! How cool is that?!?).

The Red Lion Inn is tucked along the twisting creek of Boulder Canyon, and has all kinds of hidden views and alcoves. I especially enjoyed photographing Rob and Tara along the well landscaped creek-walk, which winds low behind the Inn.

The ceremony was so emotional, with Robert choking back tears and Tara flat out crying. I love to see couples so in love. I just want to run and sweep my wife, Charlotte, up in a passionate embrace at these moments, but I didn’t, because I didn’t want to make Rob look bad: I’m a pretty studly guy and I didn’t want all the women who were present to swoon. (My wife, Charlotte, is rolling her eyes as she reads this…)

Tara and Robert were very into the photography. Their enthusiasm was infectious for the rest of the wedding party. The photography was easy that day, and we absolutely love when that happens.

The reception featured one of my favorite Denver emcees, Phil Peralta at Simply Entertainment. He has such a knack for acknowledging the emotion of the day, while keeping the enregy up, and while bringing you to tears. To simply call him a DJ would be insulting.

Well, Tara and Pommy, now that it is all said and done I hope you feel like everything was perfect. From my vantage point, it was, and a true accomplishment, at that…

… and a testament to the endless love of a strong willed momma, and her equally strong willed daughter!

Thank you so much Tara and Rob (and Pommy) for choosing us to capture your special day!