Red Rocks is one of those classic Colorado locations where you just can’t go wrong for an engagement photo session. I have done at least a hundred shoots around this area and Morrison. It is always my personal challenge to create something new as if I had never been here before, This was a good day for pushing myself.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cool stable weather and the change of nature’s color palette. Adam and Leila’s wedding was a refreshing change and my last wedding in 2010. It was a small wedding with their close friends and family and they had a 10 am ceremony on the rooftop deck of Mount Vernon Country Club. It was nice and cool with gold in the Aspens below the deck. Adam and Leila are huge coffee fans and had an espresso bar as the highlight to the reception brunch that followed the wedding ceremony. After the reception, we spent another hour with Adam and Leila creating powerful images of them on the Mount Vernon grounds ending with a trip to a special spot with gorgeous mountain views a few miles away.
I have really enjoyed spending time with Troy and Jamie over the last four shoots we have done. We had an amazing time during their double engagement shoots. One in Lodo and one rock climbing the 1000 ft. East Face of the the 1st Flatiron high above Boulder. After these two shoots I knew we were going to have a great time at their wedding.
There wedding day was so relaxed and fun for everyone. It was held at Mount Vernon Country Club that features the best views looking down from high above in the foothills. It only gets better after dark.
The ceremony was held outside on the upper deck. I had helped in the planing of the time of day and direction of the chairs to maximize the best light for the photographs. I am so glad we took this extra time as the lighting was so perfect. The sun was just setting behind the country club creating a glowing soft light for the ceremony.
It was proving to be a fun relaxed evening as the cake was cut and bouquet was tossed. I left the ceremony looking forward to the next days time alone shoot that would end with a “Trash the Dress” session that I had complete artistic freedom over. I went to bed that night tired but excited for what was to come.
The next afternoon we met in Golden to shoot their “Time Alone” where the goal is to create powerful images of just the two of them in some fun locations. We did some of the classics (the “Welcome To Golden” sign) and some fun shadow dancing images on the walls of an alley. Then we headed off to Clear Creek in the Canyon for the grand finale. I had found the best spot with amazing light quality and better background to do a portrait of them wading in the middle of the river. The water was cold but Troy and Jamie were up for any idea I threw at them. We started with them fighting the current to reach the middle of the river walking on the slick rocks. This certainly gave me the energy and excitement I was looking for. We ended the shoot with them siting in a pool having a splashing contest that made very cool splashing water streaking across the frame of the image. It was getting dark and they were getting cold. My feet had already gone numb from wading in the cold water, They must have been freezing sitting in that pool. We all had a super fun weekend and they were off to the warmer waters of Tahiti the next day.
Justin and Angela are one of the nicest couples ever! They have a genteel Southern charm and grace having just moved from Atlanta to Colorado last month. They also seem to have a knack for making it rain. We shot their engagement session mostly in the rain and Kathy and I joked with them when we first met on their wedding day because it was raining again. They are so easy going they just rolled with it and we shot using umbrellas. Angela was amazing, she was having fun out in the rain on her wedding day before her ceremony. We shot on top of a mountain walking forest paths in the light rain. The forest had a soft glow that can only be found in a summer thunder storm. They are just so easy going and adventurous, we were there to create powerful images and that is just what we did.
Their wedding and reception was held at Mount Vernon Country Club. Before the outdoor wedding was to begin the rain subsided and the sky cleared. The light was really nice and soft with the wedding beginning about an hour before sunset. Everything was just how I’d hoped it would be. Some days everything just clicks, and today was one of those days and my camera was happily clicking away……
Ted Carpenter says: These are some of the best wedding pictures I’ve seen. You guys look great. Congratulations!
William and Colleen had a great day for an outdoor wedding in the Colorado mountains. They took their wedding location a step further than using one of the many great venues that supply a outdoor wedding in an amazing place. They wanted a mountain wedding in a public place that they could return to on anniversaries and spend as much time in this special place as they liked. This place had to have a view of the mountains and be relatively close to their home in Golden. After much research and driving around, they discovered Genessee Mountain Park. There was a large meadow with two giant pines which provided the perfect setting for their nuptials, and it was a place they could revisit as often as they liked. I have often thought about all the amazing places in Colorado and how with a little creativity you could do a wedding in many of these gorgeous locations. It would take an adventurous couple to plan a wedding in one of our favorite remote locations, but we seem to have no shortage of those at Holcombe Photography.
Colleen and William’s day went off without a hitch. They brought in chairs, flowers, a string quartet, and a PA system so all the guests could hear the ceremony. We had great weather, sunny with puffy clouds dancing overhead. The center aisle was positioned to point west so as the guests looked to Colleen walking down the aisle they saw her with the mountains looming behind. I was so happy with how this all worked out as it was really striking and the guests loved it.
We went to the nearby Mount Vernon Country Club for the reception with 5 star service and amazing food. During the course of the reception I noticed all the guests looking out the large windows looking over the mountains above Denver. The view is amazing but out of the dozens of weddings I had shot here I’d never seen the guests so excited over the view. I go up to see what everyone is looking at and I saw a black bear sitting at the edge of the trees below the deck. He seemed very content almost like he was coming as a guest to wish William and Colleen the best on their wedding day. He hung around for 20-30 minutes before lumbering off into the woods. I have seen quite a few bears in Colorado but never at a wedding reception. We joked that this is one on the many things only Mount Vernon could provide. Someone asked William how he arranged the bear to make an appearance and he replayed “I do have a degree in wildlife management and work for The Nature Conservancy.”
Thanks Colleen and William for allowing us to photograph your fabulous Colorado mountain wedding!
Peter Holcombe is a Denver - Boulder, Colorado wedding, portrait and commercial photographer. Specializing in portrait photography in dramatic locations. Available globally!
Absolutely breathtaking. It brings back all the happy emotions from that day. The looks on your faces says it all.
The pictures are beautiful..Leila you are a beautiful bride and Adam your so handsome. You make a great couple . I wish only the best to you both.