Deer Valley Resort | Winter Wonder Wedding at Empire Canyon Lodge
by Pepper
Recently, we had the privilege to photograph the wedding of Laurie & Jason! They were married at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Park City UT [which is one of my favorite Catholic churches, this and Saint Edward's in Dana Point CA] with a gorgeous reception at Deer Valley’s Empire Canyon Lodge.
The had 2 of the cutest flower girls I have EVER seen, and I will admit I fell in love and just wanted to take them home with us!
A few getting ready shots [I think I had a lipstick theme going on]:
The ceremony!!!
My favorite moment in a Catholic ceremony, offering prayers to the Virgin Mary. I’m not a Catholic, but it is such a beautiful moment that every time I witness it I get a little teary-eyed.
A few things they did to make their wedding unique:
Instead of a sit down dinner or a buffet style dinner, they had several different ’stations’ spread throughout the reception. This meant that people didn’t have to wait in line for their food, but more importantly it meant that her guests were up and walking around and interacting with each other. This was a destination wedding, so it was wonderful that the two families had time to talk and get to know each other better.
Mitch stole the rings from the couple and was having all sorts of fun getting pictures of them with the flowers…
So I had to at least try to out do him with my own flavor of a ring shot! 
I was so happy, the week before the wedding Laurie had called and asked if 150 candles were enough and I said Double it, and when I walked into this reception I was simply blown away by the 300 candles that were twinkling everywhere! Brilliant! So, when you’re planning out your reception, and you’re worried that 300 candles for 60 guests might be too much, come back and look at these photos! For a wedding with 100-150 guests, I recommend 500 candles minimum. Remember, it’s not about the size of those candles, but more about the number of twinkling points of light that your guests will remember.
Here was a roadsign on the way up to the lodge, pointing which direction guests were to go. One of the groomsmen bet another groomsmen $50 he wouldn’t slide down one of the ski slopes on it. I think he most definitely earned his money!
Since this was a destination wedding, the guests were each given gift bags filled with local goodies and ideas of fun things to do, as well as lift tickets to go skiing the next day and a list of the best restaurants close to the Resort.
Vendors:
Sean Oviatt with Sax-Romney Floral Design
St. Mary Catholic Church – Park City UT
Deer Valley Resort – Empire Canyon Lodge
Deer Valley Resort Catering
March 18th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Love your candle thing. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! You guys are awesome!
March 20th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I think my number I’m going to recommend is now 500 minimum candles. Candles are like black olives. You can never have too many of them.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
Gorgeous, Pepper & Mitch!! Just gorgeous! I love all of the shots of those precious flower girls, but my favorite is the one of them walking down the aisle. And that last image of the bride and groom is great – what a moment! I love it! Looking forward to your chat on the Pictage forum tonight!
March 21st, 2007 at 9:59 am
Thanks, Jess! Yeah, I loved how the flower girls were huddling together for mutual support as they walked down that big scary aisle. One of them was really sick at the time, too, poor thing.
Its been fun watching on the forums as you change your career. Your work is wonderful – you made the right choice!
March 21st, 2007 at 11:33 am
Pepper, so jealous of the close-up of them praying by the Virgin Mary! how in the world…i’m guessing much more liberal diocese than mine here in Northern VA! no priest would allow that…unless you were using super long lens? Love the intimacy of that shot and the warmth of all of them…and love the dualing ring shots between you and Mitch!
March 21st, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Thanx Julia! As for liberal or conservative, it IS Park City [home of the Sundance film festival] so I think they might be a bit more relaxed, but I don’t know. It wasn’t in front of anyone, we didn’t block anybody’s view, so I think we might be OK. You know what’s funny? I think in just about every single Catholic ceremony I’ve ever photographed the couple has respected the Virgin in some way, except for weddings in the Cathedral of the Madeline in downtown SLC. Has anyone out there seen a wedding at the Cathedral where they did? Just curious… Anyway, for the close up of the hands and the face I was using a super long lens, and for the wide shots Mitch was tucked into a dark corner. We really lucked out because usually this is a lightless moment except for candles, but the splash of sunshine on the painting really made everything glow!
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:56 pm
What an AWESOME wedding and great job capturing the atmosphere!!! We all had a blast in Park City and I think these pictures showed what a fantastic week it was. Congrats to the bride and groom and we can’t wait to return back to our home away from home!
Mitch and Pepper – you guys were great. Can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!!!
April 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Pepper,
I hate to keep bothering you as busy as you are. Awesome shots. Churches can be so dark. What is your favorite lens for ceremony and reception? And your ring shots are so nice, do you use a macro on those? I just feast on your shots. Keep’em coming.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Hey Bob! Hmmm, favorite lens… You know, I kinda need all of them! I’ve got the staples, 16-35, 24-70, and 70-200, all 2.8. Then we’ve got the 85 1.2, the 15 fisheye, and the 50 1.4; and I can’t imagine not having all of them! The ring shot are done with a Macro. Hope that helps! And I know, no one really NEEDS 6 lenses, but it is so much fun!
May 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I received my pictures from the wedding; they were wonderful. All of the pictures are so pretty, it is very hard trying to decide which ones we want. We had a wonderful time in Park City and the wedding was beautiful; food was wonderful; everyone was so helpful. The bride and groom were so elegant in their first dance and your pictures deplicted that. Everyone that sees our pictures says “Great Photographer”.