crested butte wedding photographer first look of kyle and lauren

Growing up in a small town in West Virginia, I knew I always wanted a destination wedding. I loved my family and friends at home, but also knew I wanted an intimate and smaller ceremony later on in life. So when I (Taylor) fell in love with a Colorado native, it was pretty much a guarantee our wedding would be in the Rocky Mountains, a place our hearts loved.

When we first chatted with Lauren and Kyle, their hesitation to have a Crested Butte wedding in their adopted home revolved around the same concerns. They wanted to get married in the mountains, but wanted to keep the intimacy of utmost importance and decided to get married two hours away in Salida, Colorado. However, those beautiful mountains and wildflowers in Crested Butte weren’t going to get off so easy!

When Lauren suggested having their first look a few weeks before the wedding in their hometown, we were so stoked! First, wildflower season, duh. Crested Butte is notorious for its small town charm…and wildflowers. We started out shooting their engagement portraits with Doc Holiday (their beloved and sweeter than pie pup), and made our way to their home so they could each change into their respective wedding day attire. From there, we headed into the mountains.

“A couple weeks before our wedding, we put on our full wedding outfits and chose a special spot in our town to do formal photos and a first look. We loved doing this because it was a moment that we didn’t have to share with anyone, and we didn’t have any of the wedding day stress. Our photographers had time to take lots of different types of photos, which we wouldn’t have been able to do on the wedding day. I would recommend this to anyone!”
Lauren & Kyle