Payson Temple, UT | Rachel and Alex Wedding

Alex and Rachel are both from Texas, but wanted to get married in the Payson, Utah temple! I'm so happy they chose this temple and so happy they chose me to be their wedding photographer. Utah has been so up and down with weather lately, but they got pretty lucky on their wedding day besides the unexpected wind. They said they brought the wind from Texas ;) They exited the temple with huge smiles of course and one big kissaroo! Then Rachel's daughter ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Her daughter, June is such a cute girl! I loved her blue dress! 

Anyways, we had so much time to take family, wedding party and bride and groom pics. It was great! (Thanks for giving me that time, Rachel!) Their wedding party was so fun! They put up with my crazy ideas, and they came up with a few of their own too. After, we took lots of pics of Rachel and Alex. They are so easy going and fun to be around! I love how the pictures of the wind catching her dress turned out. Wind can be your friend sometimes!

Next, we headed over to the reception at Fifth East Hall in American Fork. There they had a bride and groom grand entrance. I absolutely loved this idea! All the wedding party came out first and then they came out last. Everyone was cheering and clapping. It was great! It was a good alternative to walking down the aisle. Next, they ate dinner and did some toasts. Everyone was really sweet. I love hearing these to learn more about Rachel and Alex. I caught some really sweet reactions with them. 

After, Alex and Rachel had their first dance. So sweet! Then they did a dance with Rachel and her dad and Alex and his mom. I loved that too. Then everyone joined in and the fun dancing started! By the way, the DJ Cooper Brown was awesome. I highly recommend hiring him or a DJ in general. They host the whole reception and keep things flowing and they bring so much more energy to each event, especially the dancing. Cooper was fun! Anyways, after some fun dancing, Alex and Rachel cut their cake. They were very good to each other and sweetly put it in each other's mouths. The cute nieces and nephews were practically drooling over the cake after they cut it. So funny!

Now it was time for Rachel to throw her bouquet. It broke and a couple of girls got pieces. It was cute! Next Alex got the garter with his teeth. He threw it and his best man caught it. The rest of the reception was fun too. They had a generation dance, a conga line (that June led), visiting and chatting, and more partying. It was a really fun reception. 

Alex and Rachel exited giving high fives and knuckles! Then they drove away in their very slimy, saran wrapped, and oreo car. 

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Washburn!

Big thanks to my second shooter, Megan who is always good at catching the pictures I forget about!

Second Shooter: Megan Parker Photography

Videographer: Emily Goodman

Dress: Fantasy Bridal

Hair and Makeup: Signature Brides and Design

Venue: Fifth East Hall

Cake: Fifth East Hall

DJ: Cooper Brown

Salt Lake Temple and Sleepy Ridge, Utah | Stephanie and Nathan Wedding

I loved this wedding. Stephanie and Nathan are super sweet! Their wedding day was beautiful– The perfect cinco de mayo!

I really loved how Stephanie  only wanted 30 minutes coverage at the temple. Since we got their formals done here earlier, we didn't need to spend time on the busy wedding day doing those. I thought it would be impossible to only do a few photos in 30 minutes at the temple, because this temple is always so busy and big groups are hard to order around. I told her mom my concern and man, she made the impossible possible! She gathered everyone to the stairs and BAM, got group and parent pictures done in 15 minutes. I need Jeanette to come help me at all my weddings ;)

Since we spent so little time at the temple, I got to stay for their whole reception! Their reception was at Sleepy Ridge Golf Club in Orem. It was in the sunset room, which is super gorgeous! We took family pics, friend pics and a few more bride and groom pics. The reception started and Stephanie and Nate greeted all their guests for about an hour. Then the events started! They cut the cake and chose to be very sweet when feeding it to each other. Then Stephanie threw her bouquet. It was fun because all her nieces and one nephew stood anxiously awaiting her to throw it. And what do you know– her one nephew caught it. It was hilarious! He was as surprised as all the girls were. Loved it! 

After, Nathan danced with his mama and Stephanie danced with her dad. Love these sweet moments with their parents. Then Nathan and Stephanie danced their first dance and everyone soon joined in. Once that song ended, the dancing broke out. This family loved to dance! Even the parents...yes! They had a real band playing and it made the energy even that much better. They even made me want to dance! Soon enough, the chicken dance came on. This made for super hilarious pictures. IT WAS THE BEST! Elizabeth, my second shooter and I had such a blast. 

After the dancing, everyone sent Stephanie and Nate off with a sparkler exit! Now they are headed to St. Croix!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Pugh!

Dress: Off White Bridal Expressions (Don't you love her sleeves?!)

Bouquet: Sunshine Creations

Cake: Stacey Carnley

Entertainment: Ken Foster Trio

Second Shooter: Elizabeth Ethier Photography

Draper, Utah Temple | Ellen and Nate Wedding

I'm so happy that warm wedding days are back! And the flowers are back, yay!

Ellen and Nate were both pretty stoked to be married. Who wouldn't be?! They came out of the doors and everyone cheered. Almost instantly, Nate's cute nephew came and gave them hugs. Way to start off the hugging little dude! Everyone was super happy for them. 

We took some quick pics in front of the temple. I love all the tulips that are there right now. Makes the pics that much more pretty! We did family pics, friend pics and then took of few more of Ellen and Nathan around the temple. Everything was so gorgeous! Ellen looked so beautiful in her dress from Fantasy Bridal. And I loved her flowers and her flower crown that her Aunt created. 

The next day, they had their reception at Wheeler Farm. It was in the middle of the day and I loved it! The lighting in the barn was great and it was such a pretty day outside too.

Ellen and Nate's wedding was so beautiful. Ellen, her mom and her aunt and I'm sure a lot more people put in so much work to make every little detail gorgeous. One thing that I really loved was they printed and put their pictures everywhere. I love that! 

After everyone greeted Ellen and Nate, it was time to cut the cake! I don't think they really talked about what they were going to do before– whether it was to stay nice or shove it in their faces. So Ellen went first and nicely put it in Nate's mouth and then put a little more and then tried shoving it in his face. Then it was Nate's turn. He went for it and shoved it in her face. It was hilarious. Some of it went down her dress too. Oops! Oh and by the way, Ellen made her own cake!! She did an amazing job!

Next, Ellen and her dad danced. Ellen's dad is the cutest. He really loves his little girl. I couldn't get over how sweet and kind and funny he is. He and Ellen had fun dancing. Then he passed her to Nate for their first dance together as husband and wife! I love this part. Nate is so sweet to her. They danced by themselves for awhile, but soon everyone wanted to join the party! 

After a while of dancing, Ellen threw her bouquet. Her sweet little cousin who looks up to Ellen so much caught it. It was perfect. After that was all over, everyone gathered outside to make a tunnel to send them off. 

What I really loved after was Ellen and Nate really wanted to go down the slide at the park. So we walked over there and all the kids were staring at them. One little girl when she saw them exclaimed, "Holy Peanut Butter!". It was so funny. Ellen and Nate sat on the slide and then slid down. It was pretty awesome! I had so much fun being their photographer!