It’s a 60 side 11×14 matted Album, which is nice to show because it’s something a bit different!  In a matted Album, instead of the images being printed on one solid sheet, they are printed and placed individually, with a matte around them.  It doesn’t get more traditional than this for a Wedding Album!  However, even with the tradition of the mattes, we were still able to make it solidly ours by custom designing the mattes.

This is how matted Albums have been brought into the 21st century – with cutting edge digital technology that allows us to design on our computer here an Album that we want, and having it laser cut and assembled in New Zealand.  I love that these aren’t templates we had to somehow squish the images into.  I love that it was 100% us, whatever we wanted to do, and it would be cut then for us on the other side of the planet.  I don’t care who you are, that’s just cool!

Barbara is such a sweetheart, that she got a flushmount copy of her Album for Aaron’s grandmother!

And here is how the final design came together:

We wanted to continue the Red theme from the wedding day, and we were able to perfectly match Sophie’s red sash and shoes to a leather I carry called [appropriately] Scarlett O’Hara.  How perfect is that?!

Sophie’s Album features 161 images on 80 sides in an 11×14″ Horizontal Album.

The red leather covers the spine and back cover, but the front cover is part of the ARMOUR series, a picture printed onto a metal cover.  It looked exquisite!  I have no idea how the process works for printing onto metal [but if I did do you think i would be foolish enough to spill my secrets?!]

And now here are my favorite spreads from this gorgeous Album!

I think Zen is pretty awesome, but he’s a handful. And a half.

So long story short, no blog last week pretty much. But here it is finally, the conclusion to Sophie and Aaron’s Wedding Day!

Sophie and Aaron held a ceremony on the second floor of Empire Canyon Lodge at the end of March with bagpipes. I love bagpipes!

Gorgeous ceremony pieces by Every Blooming Thing

I love that Aaron is looking away and trying so hard not to cry!

This is Scott. He’s one the uber-talented Event Coordinators up at Deer Valley Resort. His weddings always go off without a hitch, which is one of the reasons I love Deer Valley SO MUCH!!!

Beautiful ceremony, and I loved the silly wiggle walk for their recessional! There were a lot of traditions at this wedding, Sophie is from Great Britain and Aaron being in the military, but I was so happy that even with incorporating so much into this weekend, they still took time to really OWN their wedding day, and no matter how many traditions they had to follow, they still found ways to make it uniquely theirs.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience the amazing culinary experience that is Fireside Dining at Empire Canyon Lodge, I do recommend it. You’ll have to wait though, their season just ended and Fireside Dining won’t reopen until the chairlifts do. But, if you are looking for a great restaurant in the winter, this is the place to go. We went there for dinner last year and it was amazing [and slightly odd for me - I felt like I finally got to be a Wedding Guest!]

Instead of a wedding cake, the couple opted for a grand selection of a dessert buffet, complete with three different chocolates to dip your fruit and other sweets into!

But Aaron really wanted to cut cake with his big sword [he said it;'s the only time he'll get to use it for real since it's decorative] so Deer Valley made them a small cake just for the two of them to cut. With a really big sword.

And then things got REALLY interesting. Sophie and Aaron are superb dancers, but didn’t want to hog the spotlight that evening. So to make their guests feel more comfortable, they hired dance instructors to teach everyone basic steps and then had a dance-off!

And how is this for crazy?! This guy comes up to me and checks my name and then says “Pepper, it’s Lenny!” I pause for a moment, and then OMG it’s Lenny Gottesman from Edina High School in Minnesota! We were on the Yearbook staff together, I was a Photographer and Lenny was one of the editors, and I can’t believe I ran into him at a wedding in Park City UT!!! If my high school reunion will be even a tenth as much fun as it was seeing Lenny again then I am definitely going. He looked a little different than I remembered, I don’t recall glasses, great hair or a gorgeous wife – way to go Lenny!!!

OK, the part I just wrote about Sophie and Aaron being great dancers? I may have been a little kind… But they were having a blast so who cares if they were any good!

In case anyone in wondering, Sophie’s parent are also from Great Britain, and everyone there wears little hats or feathers or bows or something expensive and festive in their hair.

This was awesome. For the last song, the DJ played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. All of the guests still partying the night away ran onto the floor, enclosed the Happy Couple in a circle, and everyone swayed and sang. It was AWESOME.

Congratulations you two!!! Thank you for sharing an unforgettable weekend with me!

Love, Pepper

Of the hundreds of wedding photographers in Utah, and from the thousands of weddings that were photographed, the editors of Utah Bride & Groom magazine select just 6 to showcase in their magazine each year. This is the fourth year that Pepper Nix Photography has been selected to be featured, and we would like to say to the editors of Utah Bride and Groom, thank you – clearly, you are brilliant, and you have excellent taste!

I have been waiting to show you this wedding ever since I learned that it had been selected to be featured, and I just got the PDFs this week from the editor to share the full article with you!  [The PDfs from Utah Bride and Groom are SO much better then the scans from my scanner...]

This great article [spread over 6 pages!] told in great detail of Sophie & Aaron’s courtship, wedding plans, and finally, the execution of their Wedding Day.

It was a fabulous article, but of course, there are limitations with printing and page space [honestly I could have filled an entire magazine with pictures from this weekend!], so here for you now are my favorites from their Wedding Day!

Meanwhile, while Sophie gets ready witht he bridesmaids, our Groom has been busy as well!

I love this!  What should be a tender moment of a mother preparing her son for his wedding day, and Aaron is making faces and patting her on the head!!!  Of course, this fits his personality.  And it’s not like Barbara was expecting anything different, she raised these twins from birth, she knows all the antics they get up to.  Barbara later told me this was one of her favorite pictures…

Andrew again, just being Andrew…  [Tip:  To tell the twins apart, check their faces.  Aaron wears glasses.  Andrew has contacts.]

A few of the wedding guests finish skiing for the day and pop in the brides suite for some drinks and to get ready!  [Eventually, maybe just one more glass...]

And it’s time to go meet Aaron for some pre-wedding pictures at Empire Canyon Lodge!!!

Action sequence!!!

Aaron and Sophie, thank you for such an amazing day!  I am so grateful we got those pictures beforehand, the weather was perfect for a beautiful March wedding in Park City!  Tomorrow, more Sophie & Aaron!  [I didn't think it was possible, but it gets even better!]

First there was the ceremony rehearsal [which mostly consisted of Sophie and Aaron making faces at each other and goofing around]

Then there was the amazing Rehearsal Dinner at the Hotel Park City in Ruth’s Chris [which consisted of everyone else goofing around - see Barbara's dress!] for all the family and friends who had flown into town to share the weekend with the Happy Couple!

Aaron’s twin brother Andrew entertained with tales of how competitive they were growing up and all of the trouble identical twin brothers can get into as teenagers!

But it was Aaron’s mom Barbara who stole the show, wearing her pink tutu dress [family inside joke] and getting all of the groomsmen their own jersey!

Thank you Barbara, the props were great, the stories unforgettable, you hosted a fabulous rehearsal dinner!

Park City still has snow even though the resorts are officially shut down for the season, and I have one final winter wedding to share with you!  Sophie and Aaron were such an amazing couple to work with!

We shot their engagement pictures up at Aaron’s childhood home in Park City while they were visiting a few months before the wedding.  Here are a few of my favorites!

Each and every Monday I present another Album for you to view, ooh and ahh over.  All of these Albums are actual albums ordered by real brides who had real weddings which I really did photograph.  I will show you the Album in great detail, tell you all of the specifications, and then after I present what it looks like on the outside, I’ll let you take a peek at the guts of the book, and you’ll see the final design.

Why Album Monday?  Well, here’s the deal.  I think it’s easier to decide if you like something if you can see it.  Sample Albums in my studio are nice, but here are the numbers.  I work with 3 different Album Companies.  Each one of those companies offers a completely different selection of covers and options, about 80 apiece.  So we are looking at 240 cover options right there, and that doesn’t include anything like slipcases or accent panels.  Factoring those in, we have over 19,000 different options to choose from.  I love my studio, but I do not have room for 19,ooo sample albums.  I just don’t.  So the purpose of Album Monday is for my brides to see what is new, what is current, what Album I got in last week, and what other brides are doing.  Get ideas, get inspired, and have fun in picking what you want your family Heirloom to look like!

Today’s Book is completely custom, and I do mean completely!  Karen picked out the elements of 5 different Books that she liked, and we combined them into something truly spectacular!  This is a 200 side 8×8 Wedding Book, holding 300 images excatly.  The style is called Paris, but we upgraded the material to the Italian Dark Woven Leather.  We added a picture to the front cover, and also a slipcase, also in the Italian Dark Woven Leather.  Instead of the silver end sheets, we had custom color printed end sheets, and a different one for the front of the Book than for the back of the Book.  Enjoy!

The custom front end sheet

The custom rear end sheet

And here are a few of my favorite spreads from the design!  Karen and Roger wanted to also include pictures from the bridal and engagement sessions as well, altogether in 1 volume.

Thank you for joining us on this, our 37th installment of Album Monday!  Join us next week for Part 38 on, you guessed it – Monday!

As a photographer, I like my kid in solid colors, no logos or text or pictures on his clothes.  His two grandmas however, buy him shirts with big pictures of Bulldozers and trains on the front.  Guess which clothes he is insisting on wearing now?  Yup.  NO!!!!!! he screams at me when I try to dress him in the morning.  BULL BA DER!!!!!  He only has 2 shirts with bulldozers on it, and has taken this week to insisting on sleeping in them as well, so if anyone has any suggestions on where I can pick up some more, that’d be awesome.  Cause I think I’m starting to creep his teachers out, like they don’t know that he has more than 2 shirts in his closet.  OK, that is your Moment of Zen for the day, now on to the photography!

Mmmmmmmmm.  This is just yummy.  So I’ve been doing a new thing where i give a bride a list of movies, and have her pick one, and then I watch it the night before the engagement session and get inspiration from it!  This doesn’t mean props or anything, but simply how does the movie make me feel, and what kind of lighting styles were used.

Jani & CJ picked The Illusionist, and after watching it I felt a bit like I’d been watching a dream, and so that’s what I took away with me for their Winter engagements!  Enjoy!

Thanks guys!  I can’t wait for your wedding this fall!  Love, Pepper

It’s Day 3 of Blog week, where every day this week i will make a new blog post, and I’ve got a new one for you today!  A beautiful kinda winter wedding, for a beautiful kinda sunrise morning!  I say kinda winter, because the Bride and Groom were hoping to have it outside, but Park City can be a crazy place sometimes and you just never know what you’re gonna get at the tail ends of ski season.  They got snow.  Surprise!!

Not a lot of snow mind you.  But just enough that it kept the festivities indoors.  Indoors being Silver Lake Lodge at Deer Valley Resort.

The ceremony was a bit tricky for me.  Before the ceremony, I go to have my typical ‘hello I’m the photographer’ talk with the officiant, and before I get out anything else she informs me that she is a Right Reverend ordained by God, and that since this ceremony is then sanctified by God there will be no photography during the ceremony.  Huh?!  I had no idea that Episcopalians didn’t like ceremony pictures!  She finally says I can take a couple pictures.  That’s cool with me, and I agree to only take a few.  I think she was on to me, because then she clarified that a couple pictures was 2-3.  So we begin haggling over how many pictures are really necessary to document a ceremony.  We did not come to an agreement, but the final number I was given was five.  Oh, and a warning that if she heard more than 5 clicks she would stop the ceremony and ask me to leave.  Seriously.  This actually happened.  I informed the bride of this, who rolled her eyes and said to just do what I could, she’d never heard of this requirement before.  The Right Reverend had been making other changes as well, changing the music that was to be played for the processional and recessional, the order of the ceremony, where people stood, readings, etc.  This was all done in the 45 minutes before the ceremony was to start.  I personally think that Jesus would have liked ceremony pictures and Wagner’s Wedding March, but that’s just me, I think Jesus was probably a cool guy.  So here is what I got.

Brides, please talk with your ministers and pastors before your wedding and make sure photography is OK!  99.6% of the time it will be, but you don’t want to be that 1 out of 300 where it’s not OK!  This beautiful Bride and Groom were from out of state, don’t belong to this particular reverend’s church, and aren’t even Episcopalian.  A friend of a friend said her pastor would be great, and so they did that instead of the wedding planner’s recommendation.  And normally this would not have been a big deal, except no one knew the Right Reverend believes God disapproves of my clicking. So, nothing against Episcopalians [who are very cool] but just make sure that whoever is conducting your wedding ceremony, that you as the bride know ahead of time what is cool and what isn’t cool.  Lots of churches/venues have rules about where you can and can’t shoot, if flash is allowed, if you can move around or if you have to stay in one place, and how much insurance they require that you carry.  For example, I have never been allowed inside of a LDS/Mormon temple to photograph a ceremony.  The difference there is that everyone, including me and the bride, knows that I’m not going to get any pictures of her Temple ceremony.  Or that we’re definitely going to need 2 photographers to photograph that Cathedral of the Madeline ceremony [because we're not allowed to move around].  Or dozens of other places, each with their own set of rules which we respect and abide by.  Rules are not a problem, I respect rules absolutely, and I appreciate knowing ahead of time what we will need to ensure that I can meet and exceed the bride’s expectations.  I am just not a huge fan of surprises for my brides.  Catherine hired me and was expecting to receive many, many pictures of her wedding ceremony.  Instead she got 13.  So, communication is key, talk with your wedding officiant and see if they have any questions or concerns about photography, and do this before you hire them! 

Moving on to the reception!  I loved this reception.  The little cloud hanging over my head with the ceremony disappeared completely!  I didn’t care that Reverend was giving me crusties all night, it was too beautiful of a room and too rowdy of a crowd to not be completely swept away by everything!  Kellie Jackstein of Artisan Bloom worked with Lillie Garrido of Soiree Productions to come up with the most enchanting vision for Catherine and Ben’s New York guests!

A beautiful evening, a beautiful ceremony [with a few more than 5 pictures], and a gorgeous Bride and Groom.  Thank you Catherine & Ben!

Love, Pepper

PS:  The sun just officially rose for me here and my office is flooded with light, it looks like its going to be a very happy day!

I would SO love to show you a few shots from today, but she’s not getting married for a few months, and you know, the groom might just stumble onto my blog. Hey, it could happen! Regardless, you’ll still have to wait. Besides, it’s Monday silly! And everyone knows that on Monday, you don’t show brides in dresses, you show Albums!!!

Here it is: Part II of Casey & Peter’s Album set! I mentioned before that they let each of their four children pick a color for the album, and the Wedding Album was chosen by the girls, Lilly and Delia, who went with a sunshine yellow leather for the Main, and a baby boy blue for the vertical accent panel. To match the family album we had another 3 B&W images on the cover, but we put them in a slightly different configuration. This 84 side Wedding Album holds 168 images.