Silver Mountain Summer Wedding

Second weddings have always held a special place in my heart, just as this Silver Mountain summer wedding does. There is something intimate and raw about the bride and groom’s emotion. The way the couple laughs, embraces, kisses and cries with each other. Their vows typically have a different spin and are delivered with gentle deliberation. Pinterest usually takes a back seat on the details, and the guest attendance is under 100. Consistently picking up on these attributes at multiple second weddings, I can see and feel that the couples have reached the point in their lives that sharing their love and celebrations with their most coveted friends and family is more important than throwing the party of their lifetime. Don’t get me wrong! I appreciate the beauty and cannot get enough of the perfectly pinned Pinterest wedding and large celebration. It’s a photographer’s dream! But there is something endearing about actually feeling…I mean truly FEELING the love shared between two people. Their children. Their friends. Their family. Second weddings tend to have a different feel to them, and I’m all about it.

Kurt and Carrie’s Silver Mountain summer wedding will forever be one of my favorite weddings. From the first phone call I could feel Kurt’s trust and appreciation for my skill. This would be a destination wedding which would be the center meeting ground for both of their families. Kurt’s family traveled from the western parts of Washington state, while Carrie’s family travelled from Montana. They searched for a venue that would speak to their love for the slopes and provide a breath-taking backdrop for their ceremony. Since two families would be traveling and meeting up in the same location for the first time, and quite honestly probably the last, Kurt and Carrie seized the opportunity to hire Kayli and myself for 2 extra hours and held a family photo shoot before the wedding ceremony. This is completely out of the norm, and we LOVED it! Yes, at each wedding we take the typical family photos with the bride and groom. But Kurt and Carrie wanted casual attire, and didn’t want to be rushed. Family is their life and these photos were more important to them than their own wedding portraits. So we spent almost two hours with this great bunch of hilarious, witty, and lovely people posing, joking, laughing and capturing their personalities. It made the wedding day even more personal for us, making us feel like a part of the family.

Now, specifically on to why Kurt and Carrie will forever be in my heart. I noticed it on the wedding day and took a mental note. I noticed it again, and again, and again while editing their photos. We could truly feel the love between this bride and groom. We could feel it in the way they spoke to each other, the way they looked at each other, the way they kissed…but what grabbed me was the way Kurt consistently held Carrie’s hand to his chest. Right next to his heart. Multiple times I would go to pose them into a romantic embrace, and I would stop and say, “Nope, never mind. What you’re doing is perfect.” I couldn’t move them out of their own embrace and try to create something more romantic than what was already happening. The way Kurt held Carrie’s hand was so endearing and loving, it melted my heart. I could see how much he cherished his bride.