Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

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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1. The Day Begins...
2. The Best Ceremony Venue... Ever!
3. Debauchery at Folsom Field

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 or follow the link to view our favorite photographs from Heather and Arion’s wedding at Temple Emanuel and the Ritz-Carlton.

Cold. Dark. Cloudy. Rainy.

It was perfect.

That’s what Heather and Arion were facing on their wedding day: cold, dark, and rainy. Do you know what made it perfect? Heather and Arion. I don’t think they even noticed the weather that day, so happy and excited they were with each other and their families and friends.

Heather and Arion are two of my favorite people in the world. Heather is one of the most open and free spirits I’ve come across, and yet she’s very classy and metropolitan, too. Her smile can light up a room like a million-watt bulb. Arion is in finance in New York, and might very well be a Master of the Universe someday, but unlike the other future Master of the Universe I know (my own brother) Arion doesn’t take himself too seriously and I don’t think he stopped smiling and laughing and joking for more than a few seconds (including the ceremony) that day.

And may I take a moment to single out the rabbi, Dr. Steven E. Foster? He was so funny and charming (with some really subtle but classic shtick) during the ketubah and badeken ceremonies. Everyone was laughing and in tears at the same time. It was very emotional and fantastic. But then, there was the ceremony: this very charming, fun Rabbi became very serious (which is great for a wedding), but then he said the two most dreaded words in our profession, “NO PHOTOGRAPHY.”

Ugh. I hate that. We really try hard to be respectful of the officiants at weddings and their shooting rules, but they usually request things like limiting where to stand and don’t use flash, etc. It is so rare to hear a rabbi or minister deny us of any photography what-so-ever. And so, with that utterance, the secret wedding photo war began. We simply can’t do “no photos”. Heather specifically warned us that regardless of the “rules” she was going to have documentation of her ceremony!

We devised a deviously sneaky shooting plan which was nearly flawless: we would rely on long lenses and stay in the shadows of the sides and the back out of his line of sight while he was distracted with the ceremony. It seemed simple enough, but we overlooked two developments we could not have foreseen: 1) Apparently Rabbi Foster has been performing the marriage rites for so long he holds his book for show. His eyes never looked down, and anytime I even moved he would stare straight at me like the Terminator while he was still speaking and without breaking his train of thought his head would shake back and forth very deliberately. At me.  He didn’t look away until I moved back to where I was first standing in the first place! This happened more than once. I was amazed, a little frightened, inspired, and really really frustrated. 2) He had security. Char was sitting a in an aisle seat near center. We figured she would be much less conspicuous sitting down, and I could serve as a sort of distraction. She would raise her camera like she was resting it on the seat and using the live-view mode take shots without raising it to her eye. She got a few shots off, when out of nowhere this lean, pretty, yet “I-mean-business” woman strides up to her in the aisle, taps her on the shoulder and violently whispers, “NO PHOTOGRAPHY!”. That shocked us: the rabbi was so serious about “no photography” he even had anti-photography security, “photo-police” if you will, watching our every move. No fair!

But little did they know, we had a secret weapon of our own: Kim Harms, photography ninja. Unassuming, small, and quiet as a mouse, she sat on the wing in the 3rd row unnoticed by the rabbi or his photo-police. She sat shooting unmolested for the entire ceremony!

Now let me clarify, it is our policy and reputation to be respectful and unobtrusive during wedding ceremonies. We have been complimented on many an occasion how professional we are by venue and church/synagogue staff. But in the end, we have a job to do, and that’s capture the images the bride and groom hire us for, and in this case there were explicit instructions to capture the ceremony, no… matter… what. So Rabbi, if we offended or insulted you and your photo-police helper in any way, we hope you can forgive us because it made Heather and Arion really happy and we really, really, really like you and your temple and we want to come back in the future.

So anyway, it was raining and cold. These are the ingredients of possible wedding disaster, but Heather was unsinkable. She braved a little wet and a lot of cold and we found some great spots to do photography out of the rain at the temple. And there was so much laughter and love inside the temple from the families that I don’t think anyone even noticed the clouds or the rain.

One of my proudest moments came after the ceremony when we needed to get some shots at the park at sunset before we went to the Ritz-Carlton. However, there was no sunset and because the clouds were so thick it was black as night out. Oh, and it was raining. What do you do? I noticed the couple had a large white/gray umbrella to keep dry and I immediately thought of a bounce shot with our remote flashes. So I jerry-rigged an SB-800 up into the spines of the umbrella so the light would bounce off the underside of the umbrella and onto the couple below. The result was this amazing look to the scene, almost like a rainy night in Paris. I loved the effect of having the light source in the umbrella.

Then there was the reception: simply iconic. With their wonderfully rehearsed 1st dance, the huge multi-concentric-circle horah dance, and a chair dance that gave Kim Harms one of the best reception shots I’ve seen (above) , Heather and Arion’s reception was absolutely exemplary. It should be studied in bride-school as part of the required curriculum.

Heather and Arion, thank you so much for choosing us to capture your day. It was an honor, and a blast. We can only hope you had even half as much fun as we did. You have amazing families and friends, and we are really, really looking forward to the prospect of you two moving to Colorado!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Erin and Joey’s wedding at Hudson Gardens in Denver.

Erin and Joey are another one of those “in-the-family” referral weddings. Through word of mouth, a friend of hers knew Brittany and Rhead, who also had their wedding at Hudson Gardens and the Brown Palace last year, who heard great things about us from Kim and Andy! That’s right: the word of mouth “circle” is 3 levels deep by Erin and Joey’s wedding!

Somehow from LA, and brief trips out here to visit his family, they managed to pull together a terrific wedding. Hudson Gardens is a terrific place for a wedding. They were married in the Monet Gardens, which are simply stunning.

Here’s what I think was the most amazing part: the reception was in Joey’s parents’ backyard. And it was the swankiest, cutest, most fun reception I’ve seen in a long time. Joey’s house had a terraced and impeccably landscaped backyard with tons of room. And Erin decked it out with lots of Asian paper lanterns, stylishly decorated cocktail tables, with linens and candles… the whole nine! The most impressive element of this massive transformation was the custom dance floor complete with huge white curtains (built in side flash bounce, anyone?) that Joey’s parents built by hand. (They actually have nothing to do with it now, so if anyone wants a custom dance floor let me know…)

But let’s be honest here, Coloradans: Erin and Joey have HUGE huevos (no offense, Erin, it’s not literal). Only Californians would plan an entirely outdoor reception in Colorado with no tent or backup plan! It was sooooo lucky that Colorado decided to play nice that day. And rare. Erin, we have clients galore who would have killed for the kind of weather you CA types brought with you that day. Weather changes here in Colorado. All the time. It’s not 80 and sunny everyday, all day : ).

And like most of our clients this year, Joey and Erin had the rowdiest group of friends. I must be getting old (watch out you two, kids do that to you fast), because I can’t hang like those people anymore. The night was legendary, let’s leave it at that…

Oh, and how nice is this: Erin and Joey had a couple of friends attending the wedding, Marisa and Dan, who are getting married in 2010 at the GardenW of the Gods Club. Well, wouldn’t you know it? By the start of the reception, Erin was talking their ears off about how much she thought of us, I showed them a couple of photos straight off the back of the camera and… the “circle” continues 4 LEVELS deep!! Ain’t word-of-mouth from ahppy clients grand?

Watch for Marisa and Dan’s engagement pics coming soon…

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the sample gallery of our favorite photos from Jill and Matt’s wedding at The Willow Ridge Manor.

Hot, hot, heat! Not only were Jill and Matt stunningly hot together, but it literally was a hot, hot day. Maybe the hottest day of the year. By the time we got the couple and wedding party down to the area we like to shoot in at Red Rocks, it was probably near or over 100º!!! And that’s with the clouds casting a fair amount of shade at times.

So the challenges facing a photographer in this situation are: how do you keep the energy up, everyone happy, keep everyone from sweating too much, and get great photos all the while?!?

We did it by keeping everything light and fun, the girls were better off in dresses that the boys all in black, so we made sure that the boys had coats off and were hiding in shade as much as possible. We also used some “discount store” psychology and kept apologizing for how cold it was (dumb, I know, but sometimes, even the most blatant reverse psychology has a small measure of effectiveness). We kept our energy up and made sure we kept the laughs going and the smiles flowing… oh, and we shot really fast!… and lo and behold, we got amazing photos from everyone! My favorite photo is of the boys mimicking the girls walking with the bouquets. It’s sensationally funny.

But you know, Charlotte and I can’t take any credit for how well that potentially disastrous shoot went, it was all due to how great of an attitude our clients had, which was reflected in their family and friends. We just can’t say enough about the great attitudes of all of our clients. I know this blog reads like a broken record, but I don’t care: we’re proud of the caliber of clients that decide to work with us.

Jill was absolutely radiant, and Matt had that handsome swarthiness that just looks great in a tux. I knew from their engagement photos that they were going to take amazing couple photos, I just had no idea how good.

*Funny note: Jill and Matt are very open with their love and affection, and they gave us great loving and sexy shots from both the engagement and wedding photos. For their signing board photo, they chose that great sexy dip in the alley from the engagement session. But Jill’s mom is a little more, shall we say, “conservative” in her taste in photos and when she saw which photo Jill and Matt had picked she blurted out in horror, “Oh, my! Why did they choose that one!?!” Her hand unconsciously clutched her blouse closed tighter as she said it. Jill got a pretty big kick out of that. There’s a part in all of us that like horrifying our parents just a little…

Thank you both for letting Char and I be a part of your amazing wedding! You gave us some incredible images, and we had a blast at your reception. I can’t wait to get your photo choices for the album! We hope you keep in touch as your love and family grows!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Rachel and Ethan’s amazing wedding at The Red Rocks Baptist Church.

I’m going to be honest here: my proposal to Charlotte wasn’t the most… shall we say, thoughtful or… romantic, if you will. We were driving in the car back to our house from the mountains, and I essentially said, “Baby, I love you, and I love spending time with you, and I want to be with you the rest of my life, and we already share a checking account… do you want to just go ahead and get married?” No ring. No plan. Nothing.

Amazingly, she said “yes” without missing a beat, and the rest is history. But it was more like we were planning a camping trip than a proposal. It was very matter of fact. No points for style, but I guess I get (at least) a point or two for the fact that we’re married in the end, right?

Well for any other guys out there with a “less-than-stellar” proposal under their belts, I present to you, for your guilty conscience and viewing pleasure: the Guy Who Makes the Rest of Us Look Like Turds-on-a-Stick Compared to Him… Ethan.

Did he have a well thought out plan? Check. Did he include an element of surprise? Check. Was it romantic? Check. Was there an actual ring and not just a promise of one (*ahem*)? Check. Did he secretly travel across the world to surprise his missionary fiance in Israel? Check… wait, WTF?!? Israel! He flew all the way to Israel to surprise propose to her?! Allright, that’s going too far. No man can possibly live up to that kind of high bar, but at least nobody else is gonna find out, especially any wives, and our loved one will still think our cliched idea of her finding ring in her glass of champagne was a creative and unique idea….

There’s video? Aww, crap.

Fellow men of the world: I apologize, but you’ll never be able to live up to this, ever.

So here it is, in all of it’s adorable glory: Ethan’s surprise proposal in Jerusalem, (overlooking the Temple Mount for !@(*&!@ sake…)

And how do I know about this video? Very simply, it was played for the entire church right after the couple walked down the aisle after their first kiss. It was extremely powerful, and there was not a dry eye to be seen. It really stuck out to me, and I begged them to let me show it here, and they obliged, and even put it in easy to use YouTube format!

Thank you both for being such an amazing couple, and sharing your special day with Charlotte and I. It was truly an honor to capture your wedding for you, and it was a blast!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Sarah and Chris’ wedding at an amazing private home near Genesee (Golden), CO.

Okay people! Let’s all be honest here:

Are you a cynical person like me? When you meet really, really good looking people, do you automatically assume they have to be lacking in some other aspect of their lives and/or personalities in order to make up karma for being so ridiculously good-looking? You know like they’re mean, or shallow, or have a crappy job, or are really robots in disguise… or they own iPhones? And it gets worse when your see a couple where both of them are of that caliber.

You are that cynical, too? Yes?! Good to hear. But now there’s a problem my fellow cynics:

Before this wedding I could go through life making the usual the elitist, degrading assumptions that cheeky geeks like me are prone to think about  really, really, ridiculously good-looking people, without feeling an ounce of guilt. But now I know Sarah and Chris exist. And now I know it’s not only possible for two people to be really hot together, and to have amazing jobs (they manage, maintain and pilot private jets… jeez!), but also… and here’s the hard part… they may be… the nicest, smartest, chillest, most genuinely friendly and caring people we’ve ever met. And that’s saying a lot, because we think all of our couples are the kind of cool people we’d love to be friends with.

But these two were sooo nice and friendly it made me want to be better to people, and that’s like a sign of the apocalypse. Seriously, there were times during their own wedding that they were almost… fussing over us, “Do you need a drink? Did you get something to eat? Make sure you get some cake! You two absolutely have to stay for drinks when the photos are done!” It confused us, to be frank. Were we their photographers, or wedding guests… or friends *sniffle*?

I know! Right?!? What the hell? They just had to go and blow my whole “hot people are intuitively flawed” theory right out of the water.

Now I have to go review every assumption I’ve ever made about every “hot” person I’ve ever met. Maybe they were really cool, too? And I just didn’t even give them a chance as I glared judgmentally at them over the tops of my chic plastic computer nerd glasses.

I’m just kidding about being a cynic about really, really, ridiculously good looking people. I’m pretty hot myself, you know… I get compared to Seth Rogen all the time! I can’t tell you how many people tell me that. He’s hot, right?… You know, he’s the UFC commentator guy. Rough, swarthy, hairy, manly…

What? Joe? That guy’s name is Joe Rogan?!?

Then who the hell is Seth Rogen?

Joe? Hmmm, not so much, no.

Oh. That's Seth? Well, I don't think there's really a resemblance...

Oh, crap.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Mallory and Emek’s wedding at The Gardens at Spring Creek and The Fort Collins Hilton.

Poor Mallory and Emek. This amazing, sexy, fun wedding really was the Wedding from Hell for these two lovely people. I mean it. Poor Mallory and Emek.

The wedding wasn’t the Wedding from Hell at first, in fact it was ideal until less than two months before the wedding. Then, Mallory called me one morning and said with more than a hint of stress in her voice,”We’ve lost our wedding venue.”

I’d never heard anything like that. I couldn’t process it at first, “I’m sorry what?”

“We have nowhere to get married. We’ve lost our wedding venue. He’s canceled all of his wedding contracts out of the blue.”

“Ummmm… who?” I said, “It’s like a month until your wedding. Who would do that?!?”

“It’s the Cottonwood Club. He’s just stopped doing weddings, apparently.” She was at a complete loss, you could hear it.

“I’m so sorry. What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet…”

I was speechless,”Can you get your deposit back?”

“I don’t know yet…”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all: apparently the dress shop was really dragging it’s feet getting her wedding dress in. It wasn’t arriving, no one had any updates, no one knew when it would be there for fitting. And we’re talking months and months and months. So finally, a few weeks before the wedding, Mallory and Emek get a little tough, and demand someone tell them what is going on with the dress. The dress shop’s answer?

There is no dress, there was no dress, they don’t have the dress, there will never be a dress… and thanks for your money!

Again, “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?” Why couldn’t someone tell the couple this maybe, oh I don’t know, WHEN THEY ORDERED IT!

So Mallory had to scramble and find a new dress! We know now that Mallory and Emek’s experience was just the beginning of what has become allegations of major fraud and the investigation of the shop owner, Patty Burling.

So basically less that a month before their wedding day they had nowhere to get married and hold the reception and there was no wedding dress. I’m sure it was an absolute nightmare for them.

But soon after I got a much different call from Mallory, ” So the Cottonwood Club has dumped all of their contracts on other sites around town and we got The Hilton. Katie, The Hilton’s wedding planner is amazing. She’s really busting her butt to get us taken care of this quickly. It’s really turning into the wedding I never knew I always wanted!”

And that’s when I knew this was all going to work out, when she said that:”It’s really turning into the wedding I never knew I always wanted.” What an amazing spirit. What an amazing attitude!

Finally the wedding day came and it was perfect. I don’t know what her lost dress would have looked like, but I think the one she ended up with was sublime, and so, so, so flattering. It was incredible!

Mallory and Emek: We are so thankful and humbled to be part of your amazing day. Thank you for your enthusiasm and great attitude, even in the face of such stress and heartbreak over you initial wedding plans. Your wedding reinforced the idea that horrible things can happen during the course of planning a wedding, but if you keep in mind that all you need to have an amazing day is the two of you and your love (and an amazing photographer… *ahem*), then no amount of ruined plans can derail your day!

So shady wedding vendors nearly ruined this wedding, and awesome wedding vendors (like Katie at the Hilton) saved it. And an unsinkable mindset like Mallory and Emek’s made it amazing!

Oh how I adore this little girl, she is such a joy to photograph!  This is the 3rd photo shoot for Ms. Lauren this year and I can’t believe she is already 9 months old. Aren’t those baby blues just stunning! Can’t wait for her 1 year old shoot. I’m sure she’ll be walking on her own, but I just love that fun age.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite wedding photos from Lyndsie and Wes’ wedding at the Pines at Genesee.

Rain.

Why has there been so much rain this year?

Every wedding through Lyndsie and Wes’ has had rain at some point. For this wedding, rain clouds were boiling and threatening all day long, to the point that Wes had to make the call whether or not to even have it outside (why the Pines couldn’t set up both indoor and outdoor options, I don’t know…).

But luck and good fortune were on our side that day in that we only had sprinkles during the pre-photos, nothing during the ceremony, and it didn’t start pouring until we got inside for the reception.

But what a location! Wonderful meadows and views, and a perfectly shaded area full of lush old trees for the ceremony: The Pines at Genesee was a great place for a wedding.

We’re pretty enthusiastic photographers, and we like to roam a lot. We like to tread off of the beaten path and grab shots you don’t normally see. However, sometimes this means that the perfect wedding dress is a little less perfect when we’re done. But hey: you only wear it once. Better get your money’s worth!

Lyndsie is the perfect example of the “trooper bride”. While she was a little hesitant to go roaming about the meadows,  she wrote afterward when we posted her finished images online:

All I can say is…..AMAZING!! We are so happy with how the photos turned out (especially the “dipping” photos…which you must force every couple to do since they look awesome)!! All the grass/dirt stains and dress tearing was WAY worth it

See? Sometimes you’ve got to suffer a little for your art. It’s always worth it.

Thanks for giving us the honor of capturing your day, Lyndsie and Wes. It was awesome.