John + Hayley Colorado Winter Wonderland Engagement Session Silverthorne Wedding Photographer
Gosh, this is definently one of my favorite engagement sessions I've ever done and it was definently a lot of chaos to get it done.
Last year, John and Hayley tried to get engagement photos done during their annual Colorado visit (not with me) but unfortunately due to weather, they had to put them off a year. Thankfully during that time, Hayley found my Instagram!
They were only here for a week and each day the forecast seemed to get more complicated (photo wise), so we moved the date twice and then changed their location several times. I was SO thankful to have John and Hayley's confidence when I was moving things around. The day of their session, there was a high wind warning, severe avalanche threat and as you can see some pretty snowy/white out conditions. The night before, I moved it from our location on Lake Dillon to this new secret spot (sorry ya'll, I'm not sharing this one! lmao!) Lake Dillon is NOT a good location at all when you are dealing with low clouds, high winds and low visibility.... there isn't much to see.
SO I was thrilled when we pulled up to my new fav winter spot and saw all of this magic around us. It was AMAZING. The snow was definently deep but well worth trekking around in! You can't tell, but in several spots, it was knee to waist deep. There aren't a lot of southerners that you can easily convince to go jump in knee to waist deep snow... but they did it and had SO much fun in the process. The real reason that this was one of my favorite sessions was because of John and Hayley. I work with SO many amazing couples... but like I said before there aren't many who will deal with multiple last min location changes, heavy falling snow, freezing cold temperatures (again, it doesn't get this cold in the South lol!) and DEEP snow. But they were more than up for a fun day playing in it with me.
Armed with handwarmers and dog toys, we ventured out into the deep snow and ended up with all of these wonderful photos. Not every couple is so open and willing to just dive right in with me especially in these conditions, so the joy you see in these photos... 100% real. 100% their attitude even in less than desirable circumstances.
Winter engagement sessions are NOT for everyone (photographer or client) but this was the perfect combo since they were game for whatever I threw at them
and I love playing in the snow on my Colorado winter engagement sessions! Now most of the time, I will not ask my clients to do all of these things all at once. Obviously falling snow in photos is gorgeous but in Colorado, it's usually coupled with conditions that are complicated to work with... forever windy lmao. But we obviously had a short amount of time to get these done since they were leaving the next morning for home. I'm thankful I found this gorgeous spot, we really needed to stay out of avalanche zones and out of the wind. And white out conditions like this absolutely have to be done right or you won't be able to tell if they are in a snowy field in Nebraska or the mountains in Colorado! The prep for this session totally tested my knowledge of my beautiful state and my experience in planning winter engagement sessions. Just another reason to make sure you choose someone who knows what they are doing and keeps an eye on all of these circumstances and sets you up for success! And HOW CUTE IS THEIR PUP?!??!?!
A quick car change, warm up and then off to play in the snow!
Summit County Engagement Photos are some of my VERY favorite photos to take. Between Loveland Pass and Vail Pass lie some of the most beautiful spots in Colorado. My favorite tip to give my clients is to hit the Crepe A La Cart in downtown Breckenridge. Check out their menu here: https://www.crepesalacarts.com/menus/
Thanks again for playing in the snow with me John and Hayley! <3 I cannot WAIT to go snowmobiling with you guys for your wedding next winter!
To those who regularly follow the blog, I promise I will be sharing more blogs soon! I definently fell behind on blogging during all of the pandemic chaos, so I have SO many great Colorado Weddings and Colorado Engagement Photos and
EVENNNN a Tennessee / Nashville Wedding to share with you soon! <3
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