Fall Wedding In Laramie, Wyoming

Despite their world travels and differing home states, Laramie, Wyoming is what brought Codie and Wes together. They met and fell in love in this small college town, and decided that it was the perfect place for a wedding. Now the next step was to determine where exactly they would get married and what the day would consist of. After some careful consideration and a ton of planning, they realized that they could make their dream a reality by planning out the timeline of the day in a way that accommodated traveling between locations. More about the planning of the timeline a little later! Almost all of their friends and family traveled from various parts of the country to celebrate their love and it truly was a special day! This wedding took place on September 7th. Wyoming's weather can be interesting all year round, but you never know what might happen in September. Lucky for all of us, the weather was absolutely perfect! It was slightly chilly, but was warm enough that no one got too cold and no one got too sweaty! We had a beautiful blue sky, but there were enough clouds to offer great lighting for pictures. When the ceremony was about to begin darker storm clouds rolled in and spit out just a couple of droplets of rain, but it passed and everything turned out perfect. The wedding was fully documented, as we started photographing and videoing while the couple got ready, and finished once the reception was completely over. No matter where life takes them, Codie and Wes will always have these epic mountain photos and videos to remember their wedding with!

What it is like to get married in the Snowy Mountains of Wyoming

The plan for September 7th went like this; start the morning by getting ready at different houses. Codie and her bridesmaids would get ready at her house while Wes and the groomsmen got ready at one of his friend's houses. After everyone was ready, all of the wedding party and the immediate family would travel to the first look location with Codie and Wes. At the location, we would get Wes in position and then bring Codie down. They would share an intimate first look together and then right after that, we would explore the area together and capture bridal photos/videos while the family and wedding party hung out by the lake. Once all of our bridals were captured, we would go through the shot list that Codie provided in order to capture all of the group photos. There would be a short breather before the ceremony and a great opportunity for everyone to grab some water and snacks. The ceremony was set to start at 4 pm and last approximately 30 minutes. Once the ceremony was complete, the officiant would announce that there would be a few more group photos, but besides those specific family members, everyone else was to meet up at the reception! There would be food, dessert, more photos, wedding festivities, and dancing until 10 pm.

Everything went super smoothly! I showed up to the groom's place and everyone was already ready so we just recreated a few shots and it took fifteen minutes. Once that was done and I got everything they wanted I headed over to the girl's house. They were on schedule, but girls take a lot longer to get ready. In between candid moments of hair and makeup, I was able to capture a lot of sweet moments and flat-lay photos. After everyone was ready, we then all jumped in our cars to drive to the mountains. Just 35 miles west of Laramie in the Medicine Bow National Forest lie the “Snowies”. The wildflowers, wildlife, and quartzite peaks are cherished by Wyoming residents and the area was especially enticing to the groom, Wes, who spent many days hiking in the area. Although there are close to 100 lakes in the area, Lake Marie was the perfect location for our photos and video. I took Codie into the trees so that she was out of site and we waited for Wes to arrive so that we could set up Wes in an area overlooking Lake Marie for their first look. During this setup, the girls realized that there was a moose and her calf nearby. This felt like a good-luck charm for Codie because she was really hoping to see a moose at some point during the day, she just did not realize that the moose would get to witness her first look with Wes! 

St Alban's Open Air Chapel Wedding

The first look was incredibly sweet and emotional! Wes was not expecting himself to get so emotional and it was difficult for him to be so vulnerable, but I hope that he looks back on the moments and sees how precious they were! As a wedding vendor, I can attest that it is incredibly endearing to witness authentic and pure moments like the ones that I saw during this wedding. We had a short hike down the hill to get closer to the lake, so this gave Codie and Wes some time and space to take in the day together. In this area, we captured their wedding formal photos and group photos. Everything about the area was stunning, and admittedly, it was difficult for me to keep the timeline on track because the area was so inspiring. I could have easily kept shooting, but the next order of business was the ceremony. The ceremony started at 4 pm and we had only allocated 45 minutes to the first look and bridal session. At the end of the day, I think that Wes was happy that we kept the timeline like this and Codie and I are very happy with the quality and quantity of bridal photos we captured.

At 3:45 pm everyone drove from Lake Marie to the St Albans Open Chapel. We hurried to get all of the equipment set up at the ceremony and everyone lined up at the bridge. This ceremony area is very nice because it has a large parking area and a little gravel path that leads down to the seating area. The way the path curves allows for the wedding party to line up in a way that the guests cannot see everyone super well so there is a surprise element for the guests to see the bride. Also, the ceremony location is far enough away from the main road that we did not have to worry about cars being in the background of the photos, although it is close enough that we could hear any cars going by. Luckily this is the mountains of Wyoming so there is not a lot of traffic to worry about. St Alban's Open Air Chapel has an altitude of 10,390 feet! Codie and Wes supplied water, snacks, and oxygen for their guests to help prevent altitude sickness. It was a beautiful ceremony. Even though it was a sunny day, the clouds just happened to come out and give everyone (including the photo and video team) a little shade! Codie and Wes's friend officiated the wedding and everything went very smoothly. Once the ceremony was over, the guests were advised to meet back in Laramie at Alice Hardie Stevens Center for the reception. There were a few more group photos and we were able to do one large photo of everyone who attended the ceremony.

Medicine Bow National Forest Wedding

After everyone left the ceremony location, Codie and Wes read private vows to each other off to the side where the ceremony took place. It was a very tender and touching moment! All of my couples this year have chosen to read private vows to one another. It takes a lot of pressure off of the ceremony and offers the photographer and videographer a unique opportunity to make the moments more special. When couples choose to read their vows privately, we can choose to do it in a different location that we might not otherwise get to go to. In Codie and Wes's case, this location was just off to the side of the ceremony space. Couples who choose to read private vows to one another can also upgrade their video package and have a stand-alone, professional-quality vow video.

Once all of the "hard, emotional stuff" is over, most couples let out a huge sigh of relief and know it is now time to party! Codie and Wes were excited to drive back into town together and get on the dance floor! They had planned out so much food for their guests! There were appetizers, pizza, champagne, a bar, and a dessert table, and they even rolled out a ramen station after everyone had their initial meal. The DJ played a fun mixture of Wes's rap music and Codie's Taylor Swift songs. No one left early, and just about every guest was out on the dance floor, even until the very last song! Getting all of your guests to stay until the end of the night is a big feat, but I think that everyone had so much fun seeing the beautiful landscape, the DJ kept the music entertaining, and the day-of-wedding coordinator kept the food and drinks flowing so that no one wanted to leave! This truly was an adventurous and unique wedding that perfectly married together the art of adventure weddings with the traditional elements of a large wedding.

Planning a Wedding in the Snowy Mountains

The best piece of advice that I can give any couple who is planning an extensive wedding like this is to consult with your photographer and videographer about the timeline. With Codie, she had hired a day-of-coordinator, but I helped her with as much planning as I could. Even if you do have a wedding planner as a part of your vendor team, you or the planner need to reach out to both the photographer and videographer to have the timeline approved. This is because photographers and videographers are not all the same. Some of us need more time for certain aspects of the wedding than others. For me, I can easily capture all of the bridal photos I need in 30 minutes, but other photographers may need up to two hours to get everything they need. It all just depends on our workflow. By Codie working hand-in-hand with me on her timeline leading up to the wedding, we were able to nail down a really great plan for the day and it went fairly smoothly so that no one got stressed out. Below I will show what our timeline plan was:

10:30 am - Getting ready photos of both Codie and Wes, but at different locations in Laramie

12 pm ish - Head to Lake Marie

1 pm ish - arrive

1:15 pm - First look between Codie and Wes

1:30 pm - Bridals

2:00 pm - Group Photos

3:00 pm to 3:15 pm- private vow readings

-Break/Snacks for Everyone-

3:30 pm - Annie drives to the ceremony location for drone footage

4 pm - Ceremony - St Albans Open Chapel in the Snowies Mountains 

5 pm - head to Alice Hardie Stevens Center for Reception

6 pm - 10 pm - Reception

This timeline worked out great! We had a lot of places to be on the wedding day and people were flying in from all over the country so we absolutely did not want to be late to the ceremony. Together, Codie and I mapped out all of the places that we needed to be and carefully added up the time. We did a great job, but just like any wedding, things came up that we were not expecting. Luckily, we planned for some hiccups along the way and it all worked out perfectly. The getting ready part of the day is where most couples's timelines get messed up, but we were all on time for that section. What held us up was the parking at the lake. Parking and details around public spaces are just one of those things that no one can control. Codie and Wes were hoping that there would not be very many people in the area because it was getting cooler, but that was not the case. The place was packed and it was difficult for everyone to find parking. It held us up quite a while, but Codie and I had a plan for things like this. We decided to move the private vow reading until after the ceremony. This worked out great because it gave us a lot more wiggle room and it also gave her a different type of look with the location we chose. The other thing that came up was the elevation issue. We were very high up in elevation and this caused me to be winded and other people in the wedding party to be winded. Codie and Wes ended up really loving the look of the mountains so instead of me heading over to the ceremony location right away for drone footage, we got extra drone footage at the lakes. This gave me time to sit down and grab some water and a snack with the rest of the bridal party. After the ceremony and private vow reading, I asked Codie and Wes if they would still like drone footage of the ceremony location. They decided that we had captured so many great drone shots of the mountains and lakes that they would be fine without the footage of the ceremony location. I agree, and I believe that the video is perfect without that additional footage. Other than those changes, everything else went to plan, everything started on time and the guests never knew that the timeline fell behind.