Weddingbee Blog

Alright, so you’ve seen the non-snowy portraits with Abby Jiu, but they were clearly missing one important element—Champ! The day after our wedding insane celebration, we somehow composed ourselves enough to take showers, recoup, and smile for the camera. I’m semi certain we were running on post-wedding steam and we may or may not have actually been awake, but my cousin (who was also a bridesmaid) was ready to take our photos! All photos by my beautiful cousin MB of Design MB Fotografie.

I grew up in Vail, so I knew some basic landscape where we could get away and capture some photos without tourists. My cousin MB and I had scouted out a few spots to take some photos (the first picture is here—you might recognize it in this post), and if you’re ever planning on portraits with a landscaped background, I highly recommend being prepared with where you’ll want to go. We headed first to a path along the golf course where I grew up.

I love Colorado for so many reasons, but the mix of aspen trees and pine trees is unreal. In the winter, there are bare beautiful aspens and rich green pines and in the spring and fall there are fiery aspens and golden tones that dominate the mountains. It’s truly something you’ll want to experience, much like the New England fall colors.

After our wedding reception, I somehow remembered to put my gorgeous wedding bouquet into water so I could use it the next day for our photos. Rose of Rose Petals in Vail produced my dream bouquet full of white peonies, and believe it or not- the wrap is ONE piece of fabric. She’s insanely talented.

OK, so it’s not always easy to take great pictures when your crazy cousin is the one telling you how to pose. Things got pretty silly when she would tell us to make “sexy faces”. I would try my best blue steel…

Champ would laugh and say “seriously?”… And I would then get silly. This is what lack of sleep + family member photographer brings to a day-after photo shoot.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I decided to wear my grandmother’s fur stole for our wedding—it was my something old to fight the cold. My mom wore her mother’s and it was so special for us to share that bond.

My cousin managed to save her bridesmaid’s bouquet for photos, and I love the embroidered detail my grandmother added to her fur—it is truly a family heirloom.

Have I mentioned there are a lot of kisses in this post?! What do you expect? We were literally married for 12 hours!

We got a little goofy when my cousin told me to take off my clothes. She just meant my stole, but mind you, it was February in Colorado (a littttle chilly!).

When I got too cold we headed to our second location—the golf course.

Champ warmed up the camera (Sexy, huh?! ) while I warmed up my wobbly bits in the car.

I got out , ready to take photos, and BAM—huge hole in the snow—-my boots were full of snow. I was not exactly the blushing bride.

See those mountains? Yeah- they’re the Rockies. Aren’t they gorgeous?! I never knew how lucky I was until I moved away.

Next stop—the greens and streams.

Certain family members of mine call this the “soap opera photo” because I’m so serious. The truth is this was the last location and I was just tired (AND I want to audition for a soap—so kill me).

One of my favorite locations we picked is actually on Vail mountain. We had people yelling at us from the chairlifts, but it was all in fun. I loved sharing our joy!

Remember how I got the moms and ‘maids UGGs? Well… shhh… I got myself a pair!

*All photos Design MB Fotografie

Next up, I’ll share the details of our reception!