TESS + CECIL | respect the uggs

Some people hate the idea of a winter wedding, some people love a winter wedding! Tess is the latter. She spent 18 months as a missionary in Wisconsin (walking OUTSIDE in the cold, cold winter every day!) which is pretty much the most extreme winter I can imagine - I mean Wisconsin is nearly Canada and Canada is NEARLY the North Pole. Then she came home to the mountains of Utah and eventually married Cecil in the middle of a December snowstorm! Here we are, three winters later, doing some anniversary pictures of Tess and Cecil - OBVIOUSLY in the snow again!

Fun fact - in some of these pictures, Tess is wearing the same pair of Ugg boots she wore on her wedding day! Haha! Desperate temperatures call for desperate measures. I am constantly telling winter brides about how smart Tess was to wear Uggs to her wedding!

SEE ALSO
EMILY + PETER | lds hartford temple wedding with fresh frozen grass
KAYLEY+JAKE | if the Von Trapps really went to Switzerland

JILL+JARED | climbing mountains post-appendicitis

This one goes in the books at my first and only POST-APPENDICITIS SHOOT.

Yep! That's right. Four days before our scheduled shoot I got a text from Jill, "Sooo Jared is going into surgery soon with appendicitis. I just wanted you to know in case he isn't feeling well enough to do pics Saturday. I think he will but just wanted you to know!" And sure enough, four days later he was up trekking through the snowy mountains to get these pictures! You would never know it when you look through and see all their smiles. Thanks for being a trooper, Jared!

And just a HEADS UP that I've got one last Utah trip coming up! Contact me ASAP if you would like an anniversary session in Utah because this will be my last trip out there for the year!

SEE ALSO
STACEY+WOODY | old folks deserve pictures too
ALLISON+TIM | good light great horses but one snake

KAYLEY+JAKE | if the Von Trapps really went to Switzerland

At the end of the movie, the Von Trapps are hiking across the Alps to Switzerland in adorable parkas and felt hats. I refuse to acknowledge the fact that the actual Von Trapp family simply took a train.. to Italy. That scene never actually happened - but I don't want to hear it!! Plz, let me believe they crossed the Alps, sang more songs together, and settled in a cute Swiss cottage in the mountains. Maybe like... this place?

WHEN I HAD A LOCATION I REALLY WANTED TO SHOOT AT BUT NO CLIENTS REALLY LIKED IT...

I have LOVED this locations for many years but never had a client interested in shooting there. I suggested it whenever I felt it "fit" with the couple and they didn't already have a specific location style in mind. Yes, I can see how the Swiss inspired architecture, the green window boxes and shutters, wood paneling, painted details and pines around might not be everybody's cup of tea but it is 1000% MY cup of tea and I don't even like tea. 

So you know what I did? Totally honest? I reached out to Kayley and said, "Hey! You wanna join me for pictures? We can call them.. six month anniversary pictures." It's kinda fun, right? Maybe your engagement pictures were with fall foliage and your wedding had spring blossoms - so wouldn't it be fun to shoot in a different season just for a change?

Here's the takeaway. If I only ever shot when I got paid to do so, I'd be missing out on some of the most fun, adventurous, creative, no-fear-of-failing shoots that I've had! Shooting for me has just as much value as the dollar. Especially in any location that I can correlate to one of my all time favorite movies. 

SEE ALSO
ABBIE+JORDAN | abandoned mansion in the forest, in a good way
LAUREN+MACK | christmas peaks and valleys