zion wedding

Intimate Destination Wedding at Zion Red Rock Oasis | Zion National Park Wedding Photography

Of all the destinations in the world to host a wedding, Zion National Park is up there with the best of them. These high school sweethearts along with their two beautiful children felt the same way. Zion Red Rock Oasis ended up being the best wedding venue to host their closest family and friends and provided the perfect backdrop for their wedding. Jake is himself an accomplished adventure photographer and loved the fact that we are hybrid wedding photographers, meaning we shoot both digital photography along with analog film photography. It is always an honor to be chosen by a fellow photog to document their most important day for them. The red rock backdrop of Zion National Park provided the perfect setting for this national park wedding. The wonderful friends and family that had gathered to celebrate this wedding in the desert provided all of the sweet, tender and fun moments.

Our only agenda for the day was to document everything as it happened, and we were more that happy to oblige! An intimate wedding in Zion National Park that turns into a wild party when the sun goes down? Sign us up!

Vendor List:

Photography: M. Felt Photography
Planning: Poppy Lane Events
Venue: Zion Red Rock Oasis
Floral: Poppy Lane Events
Rentals: St. George Party Rentals
Taylor Made Events
Makeup: Beauty by AllieJ
Hair: Hair by Brooke
Cake: Cake Couture
DJ: Electric Audio 4 U
Bartending: Silver Lining Events Bartending
Catering: Chef Alfredo’s

Southwest Wedding Under the Stars | Haley & Kevin at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab

Haley and Kevin’s gorgeous southwest wedding under the stars was a top favorite for 2019. Summers in Southern Utah can be brutal, like 110 degrees for weeks on end. It was SO refreshing to photograph their beautiful outdoor wedding in the middle of August at Angels Landing at Best Friends Animal Society! This place is perfectly sheltered under a beautiful red cliff canopy, there is tons of shade, a natural spring, and a beautiful grassy field. We’re talking 85 degrees during the day people! Perfection. Beyond the beautiful setting though, it was such a joy to work with Haley and Kevin. These are two of the sweetest and most genuine humans. I love their belly laughs and silly moments together, and the way they adore their family and friends. There were so many beautiful and sweet moments on this day. I loved being part of it. I thought I would include a little snippet from their questionnaire because it perfectly describes them and their wedding day!

“We love animals, open space, and nature. We love this location because it takes us out of our usual grind and into our favorite place to explore, have deep conversations about our relationship, life, and enjoy the natural beauty. Best Friends is particularly special to us because they inspired us to overcome a huge obstacle and make us a stronger, more compassionate team. We adopted our dog Cassie, who quite frankly was a terrifying, aggressive, and unpredictable dog. We were told multiple times to euthanize her. We felt like failures and very alone because no one in the area would work with her due to her unusual triggers. Best Friends inspired us to persevere and work beyond our perceived limitations, which led us to fall in love and help this poor little dog heal and safely fit into society. It truly was a mutual rescue. We are so grateful to Best Friends and the animal rescue community for teaching us that we really can make the impossible possible and showing us the priceless reward of saving a life. We are over the moon to celebrate unconditional love and commitment at this overwhelmingly compassionate and selfless place. We hope to bare our emotions, dance the night away, laugh and celebrate with loved ones, eat Chef Shon's incredible vegetarian food, and soak in the sights during our big day.”

Vendor List:

Wedding Planning: Forevermore Events
Floral: Bloomers
Beauty: Tracy Sotirakis
Bridal Shop: Anomalie
Catering: Sego Restaurant
Entertainment: Festival Sounds
Paper Details: Black Julep Studio
Rentals: St. George Party Rentals
Cake: Sego Restaurant
Venue: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

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Zion National Park Wedding Photographer

I’ve been photographing weddings and couples in Zion National Park for the past eight years, and before that, I grew up exploring the mountains and trails in Zion. I was born and raised in St. George, Utah, a lovely town in the southwest corner of the state that is within driving distance to some incredible national and state parks, including Zion. It wasn’t until I moved to Southern California for college that I realized how much I need the mountains and desert landscape in my life! The desert is my home, it’s in my heart and soul, and it’s a place that I’ll always return to.

Over the past few years, I’ve watched Zion grow in popularity for weddings, elopements, and engagements. Even family photos. It’s become one of the top destinations for weddings and elopement in the region, and I can certainly understand why! The beauty of Zion is unparalleled and there really is a magical energy to the place. I grew up surrounded by the backdrop of these red mountains and it’s not something I take for granted. I think the experience of being with couples and families as they explore Zion taking photos helps me fall a little more in love with it every time.

Here’s the different thing about me as a wedding photographer: My goal isn’t just to capture the beauty of the landscape in Zion, which of course I will do, but rather to capture you within that space. Your joy, your love, and the special thing about your relationship that makes you choose this place to be the place where you exchange vows and make that lasting commitment to one another. Think of me like the perfect combination of beautiful scenic photos of your day but also those images that capture how it felt.

In addition to basically being obsessed with this place, I have a lot of experience with the process of having your wedding in Zion National Park. I greatly respect the National Park Service and so I’m familiar with their regulations when it comes to having your wedding in the park. They actually make it pretty easy to apply and it’s only $100 for a permit. You can find out more about that process here: https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/weddings-in-zion-national-park.htm

I often tell my couples that if it’s not feasible to have their ceremony in the park, I know a lot of beautiful spots outside that the park that still offer those beautiful views! And we can always go into the park for some gorgeous photos either before or after the wedding ceremony. I know some good spots for that too, especially with the crowds.

And speaking of the crowds… Zion National Park is the third busiest park in the nation and it continues to grow each season. Zion saw more than 4.5 million visitors in 2017, a 5 percent from the year before. The busiest season is June through August, although April through September can be pretty packed too. But don’t worry! I am quite used to the crowds and I know the best ways to avoid them when possible and work around them when it’s not! It’s totally worth it :)

If you want to learn more, I wrote a whole blog post in my ProTips series about planning your wedding in Zion National Park so you can check that out here!

You can also read this super helpful blog post from one of my lovely brides.

Summer Barn Wedding in Southern Utah

It doesn’t get much better than this lovely barn wedding in Southern Utah. Jordan and Evan held their ceremony in a beautiful straw field overlooking Kolob Canyon. The reception was held inside a gorgeous red barn that belonged to a family friend. Their wedding was focused on the things that were most important to them: family and each other! I love these two and their families. Joey and I were so happy to be part of their day. One thing that really stood out to us is the sweet and close relationship that Jordan has with both sets of her parents. As a stepmother myself, I was incredibly touched by the fact that Jordan wanted both of her moms with her while she got ready, and she did a first look and a dance with both dads. It really had an impact on us to witness such a special relationship. Also, I've never cried during the mother and son dance but this one had me in tears.

It was really important to Jordan that they have sunset portraits in this beautiful field so we made sure to set aside a good amount of time for that during the reception. It was definitely worth it!

Floral: Jocelyn’s Floral

Venue: Private Residence

Destination Wedding in East Zion

It’s a snow day in Southern Utah today, which is both beautiful and strange. So I’m staying indoors and catching up on some blog posts! This lovely Zion wedding took place over the summer. I loved every moment of it! These two are the most wonderful people and I enjoyed being part of their day so much.

Josh and Claudia held their wedding at Zion Mountain Villa in East Zion and they really wanted some time for portraits in Zion National Park. In order to make their wedding day less jam-packed and allow more time for hanging with their guests and enjoying the party, we met up the day before the wedding for a bridal session. Claudia and Josh hiked a few miles in their wedding attire and we caught the most beautiful sunset overlooking Zion. The wedding day was full of fun events, surrounding by beautiful decor put together by Forevermore Events, and the floral arrangements by Bloomers were absolutely beautiful. It was a perfect day and I felt truly honored to be part of it. You should also take some time to check out the awesome videos at the end by the videographer Last Light Pictures, and the combination video of photos and video that Josh put together himself. He’s the genius behind Applified Marketing Group so maybe check that out too :)

Planning and Design: Forevermore Events

Floral: Bloomers

Hair and Makeup: Tracy Sotirakis

Cake: Cupcakes by Julie

Venue: Zion Mountain Villa

DJ: Festival Sounds

Videographer: Last Light Pictures

Moonrise Kingdom Wedding Inspiration Shoot

For this editorial shoot in the 2017 issue of Southern Utah Bride magazine, I really wanted to do something fun and different. The idea was inspired by the Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom and the vintage Scout camp sketches from the 1950s and 60s. I teamed up with my favorite gals Forvermore Events and Bloomers to make the vision come to like! I’m so happy with how it all turned out. It was the most relaxed and fun styled shoot to date, even with our little adventure with the canoe. Thank you to all of the talented people who contributed!

 

Design: Forevermore Events
Floral: Bloomers
Videography: A. Green Films
Hair and Makeup: Sarah Boling at Lunatic Fringe
Catering: Kitchen 435
Dress: Illume Gowns
Paper Goods: Hey Hay Designs
Cake: Mary Lou Timpson
Film Lab: The Find Lab

 

Sunset Couple's Session in Bryce Canyon

 

When Andy contacted me about taking some photos of him and his lovely girlfriend Vera during their trip to Bryce Canyon, I was thrilled! Andy is the genius behind San Diego Date Ideas and planned this whole surprise trip for his lady– just because! I thought was a darling idea and perfect timing because Joey and I were already planning a camping trip to Bryce the same weekend. So we met up for little photo sesh at sunset and it was just perfect! Vera is a photographer herself so she was so excited to be in front of the camera for once. We had a great time adventuring around Sunset Point in Bryce Canyon with these two. You really can’t beat this view! Photos are a mix of film and digital too. Developed and scanned by The Find Lab.