Anna-Sophia & Lawson | The Pines at Wedgewood | Conifer, Colorado

My first Colorado wedding. February light. Pine trees. And a groom who looked at his bride like he'd just won something.

If you read my last post, you know that I spent the better part of a year not picking up my camera. Eight months of untangling myself from burnout, rediscovering what I actually loved about this work, and slowly, carefully, starting to believe I had something worth offering again.

Lawson and Anna-Sophia's wedding was the first test of that belief.

No pressure. Haha yeah right.

Kenosha Pass in September. You park in the gravel parking lot and start hiking back. This area is on the north side of the road. The aspen trees were so golden and beautiful!

The Venue

The Pines at Wedgewood sits just off I-70 near Conifer, Colorado — quiet, tucked into the evergreens, the kind of place that smells like pine resin and cold air and something close to peace. It had been a dry year, so there were pockets of snow on the ground but nothing dramatic — just enough to remind you it was February, just enough to make the light do that thing Colorado light does when it has nowhere to hide. Brighter than anything I'd shot in seven years in New York. Sharper. More honest.

Bride and groom admiring their family and friends just before the vows. Check out their puppy also witnessing :)

The getting-ready space had large mirrors and generous windows that pulled in that winter light beautifully, and the evergreens planted close to the glass kept it completely private — one of those rare venues where you can have both natural light and genuine intimacy in the same room. The ceremony space was outdoors, log benches arranged in the trees, a hot cocoa station nearby because someone understood that asking 75 people to stand in the Colorado cold in February requires a peace offering.

I noticed the smell first. Pine trees have always been grounding for me — I grew up in Montana, and that scent is basically a direct line to every good memory my nervous system has ever stored. Walking into that venue, I felt my shoulders drop about two inches.

Bling Bling look at that ring!

The Morning

I'll be honest with you: I was nervous. Excited, but nervous. The kind of nervous that lives in your chest and makes you hyper-aware of everything, including things that have nothing to do with photography — like what you're wearing and whether it's right and why you care so much when you're the one behind the camera. Body image is a thing I've been working through, and wedding mornings have a way of making every insecurity louder than usual. The venue staff were warm and genuinely kind, and that mattered more than they probably knew.

I took a breath. I picked up my camera. I went to work.

The Engagement Session — September, Before Any of This

Before I tell you about the wedding day, I need to tell you about the engagement session, because that's where this couple showed me who they were.

I gave them one prompt: walk together like you're about to meet friends at a block party.

This was the result of walk to a block party prompt.

That was it. One prompt. And they just — took it. Changed up the poses themselves, moved naturally, played with each other, laughed without being told to laugh. No further direction needed. After years of working with cadets and military personnel who needed constant guidance — chin up, shoulders back, look here, now here, now turn slightly — this was like someone had turned off a noise I'd stopped noticing was always on.

They are so cute together! Complete natural!

So carefree!!

They made the session so fun that I found myself leaning in and giving more creatively, not less. And when I sat down to edit, it was all right there — two people so in sync with each other that the camera barely had to work. You can feel it in the images. That's not a photography thing. That's a them thing.

The Wedding Day

About 75 people. Intimate enough that you could feel the weight of the room, large enough that the ceremony felt like a real gathering of people who genuinely loved this couple.

Their dog was there. Obviously.

The schedule slipped — as wedding schedules do, as they always will, as anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you — but we found our footing and got back on track for the ceremony. That's the job. You adapt, you move, you don't let the couple feel the gap.

The first look happened before the ceremony, and I want to tell you about the groom's face. He turned around, saw her, and the words out of his mouth were something close to damn, girl — completely unscripted, completely him, completely delighted. She was giggly and radiant and a little overwhelmed by how seen she was. He looked like a man who had just fully understood his own luck. That frame is one of my favorite images I've ever taken in Colorado. Possibly anywhere.

All giggles and happiness on their day. Loved the tan suit!

Then came the vows.

The groom's father had passed away. His photo sat on one of the log benches during the ceremony, present in the only way he could be. When the groom spoke, you could feel the weight of that absence moving through him — grief is physical, it has a posture, and his had it. And in that moment, Anna-Sophia never moved. Didn't flinch, didn't look away, didn't try to fix it. Just held the space for him the way you can only do when you've already held it a hundred times before. She had pulled him through the dark before. You could see it. Their relationship was rock solid — the kind built on therapy and healing and choosing each other through the hard stuff, not despite it.

First Kiss at The Pines Wedgewood

I cried behind my camera. I'm not going to pretend I didn't.

The reception had great food — which matters more than people admit — and the pine trees held the whole thing together like they'd been there waiting for exactly this wedding.

Such cute dancers!

What This Day Gave Me

I walked into Lawson and Anna-Sophia's wedding nervous and walked out certain.

Not certain that everything was perfect — schedules slip, nerves happen, body image doesn't take the day off just because you're working. But certain that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. That Colorado light, that pine smell, that groom's face, those vows — I was exactly where I needed to be with a camera in my hand.

I love a good groom carrying bride shot. So adorable!

I am a wedding photographer based in Boulder, Colorado, serving couples across the Front Range and the Colorado mountain corridor. I blend documentary instinct with lifestyle posing — real moments and guided ones, candids and portraits, all of it woven together into something that actually looks like your day and actually looks like you. I'm not a fly-on-the-wall shooter. I'm in it with you, the way Anna-Sophia was in it with Lawson when it counted most.

Those aspens were amazing! I loved the tall grass too!

If you're planning a wedding or elopement in Colorado and you want a photographer who will show up fully — nerves, pine trees, first looks, grief on log benches, and all — I'd love to hear about your day.

Lawson & Anna-Sophia — February 2025 — The Pines at Wedgewood, Conifer, Colorado