Another Black Hills wedding for my portfolio!! Woop woop!! Seriously, can you get any better backdrops for wedding photos? I love me some mountain and forest goodness!! :-) Ryan and Annalee put together such a beautiful wedding this past Saturday – simple elegance is my favorite!

hair by Salon One

flowers by Victoria’s Garden

ceremony at Calvary Lutheran Church in Rapid City

transportation by Presidential LImousine

cake by Piece of Cake

dj Complete Music

reception at K Bar S Lodge in Keystone.

Everything was B-E-A-UTIFUL!! Including the wonderful couple. :-)

Dear Annalee, just in case no one has told you this lately, you’re gorgeous. :-)

Since Ryan + Annalee waited to see each other until the ceremony, we got to do ALL the photos out at K Bar S Lodge!!

The guys were too much to handle… here’s their ‘backstreet boys’ pose:

Ryan + Annalee – I love you for sitting down in the grass in your wedding clothes.

You might just be my favorite.

Just don’t tell anyone else, k? :-)

After Annalee danced with her dad and Ryan danced with his mom, they switched and danced with their new parents! I thought this one was super cute of Annalee and her new father-in-law!! :-)

And thanks to my lovely assistant, Hannah, for taking this photo of me and the newlyweds!!

Ryan + Annalee- I hope you’re having a FABULOUS honeymoon!!! I wish I could take a vacation for 8 days!! :-) I had a great time at your wedding on Saturday! You two are such genuine, beautiful people and I wish the best for the both of you in your married life!!

Hannah- Thanks for being a great assistant! I had such a fun time joking around with you, and I really appreciate all the extra images you captured!!

My hair- Really? You’re gonna let hot weather beat you up every time you’re curled ever-so-nicely? Ponytails are so not flattering on me. Next time, hold your curl and stand up to the heat!!

p.s. If you’re on facebook, feel free to tag yourself over on the fan page!!

Ryan + Annalee got married yesterday at the beautiful Calvary Lutheran Church and had an awesome, mountain-side reception out at K Bar S Lodge in Keystone.

More images to come soon!!!

I had such a wonderful time at Andy + Abby’s classic, fun and elegant Black Hills wedding!! They got married at Our Lady of the Black Hills Catholic Church in Piedmont, and their reception was at her uncle’s cabin outside of Deadwood. AND the storm clouds held off for (mostly) all our outside photos!!

Hair by Meghyn at Shangri La Hair Studio

Flowers by Fancies Flowers

Catering by Angel’s Catering

Cupcakes by Jerry’s Cakes & Donuts

(AMAZING) Cake topper by Concarta on Etsy

Their first look was so adorable! Of course, I say that at every wedding, but REALLY they were so cute!! Here’s Abby showing off her hair to Andy:

And if you’re a fan of mine on facebook, you’re already familiar with this photo:

Déjà vu, anyone?

This is the second wedding of the season who had a string quartet, and I LOVED it!!

They MEMORIZED their vows. And they nailed them!!

Mr. And Mrs.!!!!!

I know, my focus landed on the ceiling, but I thought this was too cute not to share!!

And guess what was outside waiting for them? :-)

Didn’t I tell you their cake topper was amazing?! I even went to the designer’s blog and found pictures of Andy + Abby’s topper!!

This was a test shot. And I warned them it was going to be on the blog. :-)

Andy + Abby – I hope you made it home safely!! From South Dakota to Tennessee is a long drive!! And enjoy your two weeks in Italy!! :-)

I have known Jill ever since she was born. I have known Aaron since Friday.

He makes her smile. He makes her laugh. He gazes at her adoringly when she’s not looking.

Together, they are genuinely happy. I couldn’t be more proud for my cousin Jill to have such a great husband!

Jill’s sisters laugh a lot. I love them for that! :-) I believe Jess (left) was telling a story about how the alarm clock in their room was so old that they couldn’t even figure out how to set the alarm on it. I know, it doesn’t sound that funny now, but my cousins have a great gift of story-telling! You should subscribe to our family newsletter.

Is it just me, or do first look moments give you warm, fuzzy feelings? :-)

The wedding party loves being on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo! And the fact that Aaron and Jill are getting married! :-)

Why, yes, those ARE orchids you see scattered in her bouquet!! LOVE it!

This is that loving gaze I was talking about earlier… and them laughing at Fr. James’s homily. :-)

p.s. Did I mention that our uncle is a priest? Aaron + Jill’s wedding was full of family talent!

Mom. Hugs. Are. The. BEST!! Am I right, or am I right? :-)

They also had the best cake EVER!! Mint chocolate. I had two pieces.

Aaron and Jill were given this awesome bean bag/corn hole set for their wedding:

And they even made some time before the reception to toss a few:

I have three favorite parts to every wedding: the first look, the actual getting married part, and the first dance. Me? A sappy romantic? No way!

As for this next photo, don’t ask me why I can’t get three people to be in focus at the same time. I blame my camera. :-)

Aaron + Jillian – I hope you take this next weekend to spend as much time together as you can and pretend it’s a ‘mini honeymoon!’  Jill, I wish you didn’t have to go back to school this week, but I’m so excited for you and Aaron to finally be married! Congrats to you both! I promise to call every time I come to Fargo from now on! :-)

This is actually a double-feature sneak peek!! How exciting, right?! Not only am I going to show you a couple photos of Aaron + Jillian, but also some of my family!!

Jill is my cousin. Not many of us are at the ‘marriage’ stage in our lives right now and weddings seem to be few and far between for the time being. So it only makes sense that most of my mom’s HUGE family (she has 13 brothers and sisters) would get together at Aaron + Jillian’s Fargo wedding!

Mom and I counted. In this photo, there are 46 relatives (47 if you count my sister-in-law’s baby bump). These are my aunts, uncles, cousins, and their families. This is only a little over half of everyone. This is why I’m not intimidated when my clients tell me they have ‘huge families,’ thinking twenty people is ‘huge.’ :-)

And these are the ‘three musketeers.’ Lindsy, Jill and I are very close to the same age. Our family had to choose wisely as to whose first communion, confirmation and high school graduation they would attend because no one could ever see all three of us at any one occasion. So every other time there was a family function, we would all three take a photo together. And here’s the latest for our collection!!

And now for the ones you’ve all been waiting for…… :-)

Aren’t they ADORABLE?! I love doing weddings, but it’s so much fun when it’s my COUSIN getting married!!

More photos to come later this week!