Sometimes you get a day that’s perfect.
Sometimes the weather is warm but not hot (you do not want to see me sweat).
Sometimes the Colorado skies are extraordinarily beautiful.
Sometimes you can feel just how much your clients are really in love.
These were just a few of the things that made Nadja and Joe’s Mystic Meadows wedding really special for us.
We shoot so many weddings at the Air Force Academy Chapel, it’s nearly impossible each year to select only one to show as our sample from that venue. But for ‘08 we finally narrowed it down to Celine and Steve’s wedding. Overall it was a dream wedding: nobody was late, the ceremony didn’t run long (which can be a really big deal at the chapel because you only get two hours, period, and once your time is up you’re out of there!), etc.
The chapel can be very colorful and bright if you know how to photograph it. I don’t understand why some photographers (and maybe their clients) prefer the aluminum interior to look so stark, cold and gray (kind of like the Death Star), when the chapel never looks that way in real life. Even on cloudy days, we can still capture the celebratory colors streaming down from the long stained glass windows. I very much prefer it that way. A wedding is happy celebration (hopefully), and to me color says ,”Celebrate”! (You should imagine me throwing my arms flamboyantly in the air and shouting like Rip Taylor.)
We also got a break in the fact that once our time was up in the chapel, the sun was setting outside for our couple shots, and nothing looks better for the shots we call the “romantics” than makin’ out in the beautiful Colorado sunset!
They continued on to the Academy’s Officer’s Club for their reception, where they had some very emotional and fun dances. I don’t know if I’m just a huge sucker for dances, but I seem to love almost every dance I photograph. It’s such a personal moment between two people, and you can capture some amazing shots during a couple’s dance, or the dances with the mom or dad. I love when we get to the dances. The sad thing is Char and I almost never dance ourselves due to the 2 year old and 1 year old that are usually right under-foot, or literally hanging off of us during our days.
Erica and Renzo had a lovely wedding at Sunrise Methodist Church with a reception at the Air Force Academy Officer’s Club. It was a cold day but not uncomfortable and Sunrise Church has such a lovely modern sanctuary, I thought it really photographed well.
At the reception, their emcee extraordinaire Randy Rodriguez performed wonderful renditions of Frank and Tony (Sinatra and Bennett for those of you who don’t know who Frank and Tony are) for the lovely couple and their guests while they dined. If you like a classy throwback to the good old days of ol’ blue eyes, then Randy is a sure thing for your wedding. He not only croons with the best of them, but he’s a true pro when it comes to coordinating the party, and he does have a man on the turntables for when the party really kicks up!
My favorite part of the evening came when the dances began. The couple had a sweet dance. It seemed as if no one else was around and they were completely lost in each other.
But then Erica’s parents hit the floor. Holy Moley! They could dance! That got the party going, everyone was cheering, even I was cheering (wishing I could dance like that with Charlotte).
