Lexie and I were 4-H Council/Ambassadors together in high school, we will both share the same wedding anniversary, and we both have an appreciation for small towns with abandoned houses and roughed up doorways. :-) So naturally, I couldn’t wait to meet the man of her dreams and photograph their love. Hope you enjoy!!

It’s funny that November is one of my favorite months. It is when snow starts to fly, coats are mandatory, and Christmas songs are played before Thanksgiving – all of which are things I don’t care for. But the things I LOVE about November far outweigh the cold weather – like having a garage to park our cars in. :-) This leads me to this month’s installment of ‘laura loves…’ :-)

1. Thanksgiving with my family – in particular, reading to my nephews. This is the only time they willingly sit on my lap and snuggle with me. Next time I visit, I’m going to bring the biggest, longest story book EVER so they never stop cuddling with me. :-)

2. My birthday cake – my sister-in-law makes delicious home-made cakes. One year she made a spiced caramel rum cake (my mouth still waters at the thought of it!!) but this year she experimented with a recipe she has wanted try for a long time. Molten lava chocolate cakes. Yeah. She sets the bar high.

3. Nail polish – about a month ago, I went searching for the perfect shade of peachy-pink nail polish. And then I couldn’t.stop.buying.nail.polish. “I wonder how this sweater brown color would look on me?” and “Oooh, mint green would be fun!” FYI, the perfect shade is a mix of the first two colors, but it takes three or four coats to get it just right. Which means getting that perfect shade without smudges makes for a really time-consuming project.

4. Taking photos at the Cathedral in Rapid City – the Cathedral will be celebrating their re-dedication this spring and they needed some updated photos for a booklet that will be put together. Yours truly got to climb up five levels of scaffolding to document every stained glass window, station of the cross, painting and plaque. Not my typical job with a camera in hand, but it was definitely fun to stretch my comfort level (who wants to go to Six Flags or ride a zip-line with me??) and do something out of the ordinary.

After a week of beautiful Black Hills weather, Jerry + Jenny’s wedding was forecasted to be around 30 degrees. I made the mistake of saying to myself “if it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow so at least it’s pretty when we have to go outside for photos!!” And guess what we all woke up to the morning of their wedding!!!

Inside the Cathedral, guests were shaking snow out of their freshly done-up hair and keeping their coats on until the chill wore off. The girls were giddy with excitement…

… the boys were as calm as could be…

…the musicians filled the church with lovely melodies…

…and the bride and her father talked about snakes all the way up the aisle to keep from crying. :-)

These two could not keep their eyes off each other during the ceremony!!

So maybe wishing for snow and having it come true wasn’t such a terrible thing…

Their cake was SO lovely – pink and cream roses with a love note on the top layer. You guys know how I love love notes!!

Their sweetheart’s table!!

wedding gown + groom’s suit | Audra’s Bridal, Rapid City

florist | Victoria’s Garden

ceremony | Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

reception + catering | Hotel Alex Johnson

cake | Piece of Cake

Jerry + Jenny – Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for having me at your wedding!! It was such a pleasure getting to know you and being there on your special day!! I wish you both the happiest of ever afters!! :-)

Carl + Penny have been friends for quite some time. They have celebrated good times together and also helped each other through some not-so-good times. And this weekend was their time to start their happily ever after.

I will never get tired of photographing first looks!! The emotions and excitement are pure photography gold!! :-)

Sylvan Lake Lodge was the perfect setting for their cozy, fall wedding!

Carl + Penny were married just after sunset, which made the hills outside look like a winter wonderland!

Penny – you sure do throw a beautiful party… these decorations were perfection!

ceremony + reception + catering | Sylvan Lake Lodge, Custer Stat Park, South Dakota

wedding gown | Audra’s Bridal, Rapid City, SD

groom’s suit | Halberstadt’s, Rapid City, SD

flowers | Decker’s Floral, Newcastle, WY

cake | Peace of Cake, Holly Scott, Newcastle, WY

Cooler weather = scarves, changing colors, and all things pumpkin flavored. Here are a few of my favorite things this month!

1. Pumpkin chocolate chip mini loaves – I baked these the other week and they were gone entirely WAY too fast!! I’ve also been addicted to pumpkin spice coffee creamer as well as anything in a mini loaf size. :-)

2. New boots!!! I was actually searching for some black boots… (because I already have brown boots (and I hardly ever wear those))… but THESE boots… These boots I fell in love with. And I promise to wear them every day we have ‘boot weather.’

3. The most common question I was asked during our engagement was “who photographs a photographer’s wedding?” Answer: bobbi+mike. Because they rock. Seeing our wedding photos was definitely one of the highlights for this month!!!!! There have been a couple sneak peeks on Facebook and we were just featured on bobbi+mike’s blog yesterday. Is it silly that one of my favorites is one with one of the photographers peeking over the hill behind us? :-)

4. Fall colors. I am surprised at how long they have lasted this year! This is a photo I took with my phone as I was waiting in my car for the rain to stop before Bailee’s senior session.