Gilly & Jerry

Remember that big road trip we took this summer? Well, the main reason we went so far west was to shoot Gillian & Jerry’s wedding. And it was AWESOME! Gilly & Jerry got married at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. The hotel is beautiful, and The Shining by Stephen King was based on it. It’s all spooky & haunted. We had such a great time photographing this wedding. I think there were 17 people (including us) in attendance. Thank you, Gilly & Jerry, for including us in your super special day! 🙂

Our goody bags included a copy of The Shining.

The Stanley looking creepy.

Jerry talking about the great quote he wanted to share but left at the hotel. The rehearsal dinner at Ed’s Cantina was a blast! Lots of great food & margaritas.

The sopapilla at Ed’s Cantina is FAN-FRIGGIN-TASTIC! All the other food was great too, but I’m a real sucker for sopapilla.

It’s the wedding day & Jerry is having a Groom-zilla moment. OK, he’s really just pretending to attack the groomsmen. He wouldn’t hurt a squirrel.

Gilly didn’t want any “gazing into the mirror” poses, but she just stopped and started gazing and what’s a photographer to do?

Jerry is a very funny guy, but he was serious about marrying Gilly.

He even teared up during the vows. How sweet! Gilly did a little sniffle number herself. It was a super sweet & wonderful & very them ceremony.

HARD CORE!

Who is that weirdo with the camera?

Look! It’s strawberries in little tuxedos & wedding dresses with veils!

There theme was Squirrels (which topped the cake) and Skull & Crossbones.

These super awesome ties are from Etsy.

I love the purple on purple. It’s subtle.

Here Gillian explains the theme. Squirrels are obvious. They’re cute. The Skull thing takes a bit more research. Memento mori were trinkets given by lovers during the Middle Ages. In Gillians words: Basically the idea is to appreciate who you have and what you have because, well, we’re all going to die someday 🙂

Jerry got to read his quote from the day before. I love the way Gilly is looking up at him. Oh, I’m misting up! Moving on!

Food! Oh yes! The food was AMAZINGINLY FANTASTICALLY DELICIOUS! This was some sort of squash soup or something. Oh my, but it was perfect!

Then a delightful little salad.

I got the Colorado Sampler with trout, elk & venison. I liked the trout best.

Nathan should have gotten the chicken because I really wanted to try it, but he was a sampler guy as well.

I really loved the flowers. They were so pretty & delicate. I love all of the little stems tied together. This is Jerry’s mom’s corsage.

Each piece of Gillian’s bouquet represented something or someone. The love knots (the bits of dangly ribbon with flowers tied to them) were representative of her grandmother & mother’s bouquets.

There was a skirmish at the cake table.

But they made up in the end.

I love weddings like this. Every detail had meaning. Every guest was incredibly important. Gillian & Jerry were best friends who never expected to fall in love. But they did and how wonderful is that!