Get ready for this America – Fireside Dining at Empire Canyon Lodge.  Wow.  It’s not a huge mystery what this is, it’s kinda what it sounds like.  Fine dining at a world-class ski lodge, and all food cooked from the 4 fireplaces at Empire Canyon Lodge.  This little thumbnail you see here is 2 legs of something, slow-roasting in front of a blazing fire.  This process takes about 2-3 hours, and once it’s complete, they take the legs off and serve it up.  Not a big meat eater?  Well, there are plenty of options for you as well!

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I love winter weddings!!!  The wedding you are about to witness is in one of the most beautiful locations in the world, and I feel lucky to call it home.

Park City Utah has some of the best skiing in the world, and because of that, when couples are picking a destination location for their nuptials, instead of picking the ocean, they instead pick the mountains of Utah.

The coolest place [no pun intended] for a winter wedding is at Empire Canyon Lodge at Deer Valley Resort.  Not only does the staff go all out, bringing in a horse-drawn sleigh for your guests to enjoy and putting out the best hot cocoa bar this side of the Mississippi, but they also prepare an amazing meal known at Empire Lodge as Fireside Dining.  But I’ll tell you more details about that later.  First, we have a wedding ceremony to attend!

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Winter weddings are the coolest!  LOL – seriously though, Utah has a thriving winter and I do get requests from many winter weddings at the ski resorts.  Bear with me today, the comments may be a bit sparce, I am still not over whatever this is that I caught from my 2 year old, and the cold meds have made my brain go a bit fuzzy….

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I’m back!  Vegas was awesome, I got to see old friends, meet new ones, learn a little, teach a little, and had a blast doing it!  I found some amazing new Album Covers for my brides [trust me, you guys are gonna LOVE these!] as well as some fun toys for me!    But I will expound on my new purchases later, for now, we have a chairlift to catch!

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Welcome to the Wedding Reception!  Am I glad we did a bridal session or what?!  Due to scheduling conflicts [a late ceremony starting time but the kitchen having dinner ready right on schedule] I was completely denied the opportunity to get any portraits of the couple at all!  I think that was a first for me, not even getting 5 minutes!  I cannot tell you how totally happy I am that we did a Bridal Session, but… (more…)

After spending so much time with Nikki & Sohil, I was so excited for their Wedding Day!  We had talked about it so much, all of their plans for the decor and the other vendors they were using, the activites they had planned that evening to incorporate Nikki’s Chinese heritage with Sohil’s Pakistani wedding traditions!  Nikki and Sohil told me everything, except for one very small, but very important detail:

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The perfect conclusion to the Perfect Day.  The weather in California was amazing.  The light in California is different than the light in Utah, and it took me a few weeks to figure out the difference when we moved to Salt lake City from Orange County, but for those who aren’t aware of what the difference is, here’s the big secret.

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I’m sorry, I know I said this would get up yesterday, but I have a REALLY good reason for it.  That I will totally fill you in on later.  But for now, we are going to share in Sydney and Nick’s wedding day!  I know I’ve mentioned before how much I love Sydney fashion sense, but this wedding was just too much fun!

The day started at the LDS Newport Beach Temple.  For those who are not familiar with LDS weddings, no photography or videography of any kind is allowed during the ceremony itself, so the picture taking begins once the bride and groom exit the building!  I think the LDS Church might feel a little bad for all of us photographers who don’t get to come inside, so they spend a fortune on the exterior and landscaping to make up for it!

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I got played tonight.  Totally played, like a fool.  And I felt like a fool, a complete and utter fool.

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Deer Valley is one of my favorite places in the world.  The entire planet.  You might think I’m biased, because I live in Utah, but I’m not.  I’ve been to many different places all over the world, and my heart lies here.

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Man, I am sore.  Really sore.  I’m training to do a sprint triathlon in San Diego with my BFF Sara [because they always hold 5Ks and Sprint triathlons on Saturdays here in Salt Lake City!!!  Grrrr....] and I think I may have overdone it just a bit today at the gym.

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The day of the wedding had spectacular weather.  It started off a bit cloudy while everyone was getting ready, but right before the ceremony the sun broke broke through the clouds and we had a glorious and sunny ceremony for Casey & Peter!  The ceremony was held on the Flagstaff Deck of world famous Stein Eriksen lodge, with all 6 members of the newly formed family participating in a sand ceremony.

Kellie from Artisan Bloom, working closely with Lillie Garrido from Soiree Productions, did an amazing job on the floral arrangements and decor to give Casey, Peter and their 4 children a truly unforgettable day.

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Jennifer & Lucas’s Wedding Reception.  Wow.

They were very excited about the location and kept telling me it was “in the barrel room” and I will be honest I had no idea what that meant.  I’ve never been a big wine drinker and haven’t spent much time in Napa, and this sounds so silly, but I just could not picture at all what they were going on about.

Then I saw it.  OMG.  Seriously.  A wonderfully intimate dinner with 80 of their nearest and dearest friends in this simply divine location.

The guests were first treated to a cocktail hour, complete with the award winning wines that Wilson Creek in known for! (more…)

Jennifer & Lucas met at law school, and he forever was in love with a girl who saw him as “just a friend”.

During a trip for a law school oralist competition they were working on together, Jennifer came to the realization that her goofy friend was in fact the love of her life, and from there the seeds were planted for a stunning vineyard wedding.

That’s where I come into the story…

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After the portraits at the Salt Lake Temple, everyone headed up Millcreek Canyon for the Reception at Millcreek Inn.

Despite the cold, there was no wind and the snowfall from that morning staying hanging on the trees, like they had all been dipped in delicious white chocolate.

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McKensie and Matt were married at the Salt Lake Temple downtown after a light snowfall that morning.

It was the perfect winter day for pictures, all of the trees had a very light coat of snow on all their branches, like I always pictured the land of Narnia to look the moment the children first pushed through the wardrobe.  Quiet, still, and happy…

And despite the cold, they had a huge crowd assembled to cheer them on!

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Remember the perfect weather I mentioned yesterday?

It went away.

By the time I reached the site for Sarah’s wedding reception, the distinguished century long tradition that is the Salt Lake Country Club, the wind was going crazy and there were black and ominous clouds hanging over the East Bench of the city.

I chose this picture as my thumbnail for the post because there are about 3 dozen hanging lanterns on the patio, and every single one of the is going in a different direction…

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I love this image.  Love it!  It’s simple, but oh so sweet, and one of my favorite images of the Year!

This was a fun, albeit short, session after the sealing of Sarah & Andrew!

The weather was perfection, and the bride was radiant in her custom built Anne Barge gown!  [BTW, Anne Barge the world renowned bridal fashion designer out of Atlanta is available locally in Utah only at Alta Moda Bridal, schedule an appointment in advance to see the 2010 Anne Barge collection in their brand new VIP suite!]

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Immediately following their ceremony, while the Bride and Groom took a few family pictures and the staff at Sundance reset the Rehearsal Hall for the reception, all of Emily and Casey’s guests were treated to a world-class Cocktail Hour at the nearby Creekside Cafe.

Inside was a winterized oasis from the elements, and the guests were treated to a variety of h’ordurves and hot drinks, as well as a Hot Chocolate Bar.

Large Drums were set up every 30 feet or so for the guests to find their way to and from the Rehearsal Hall in the dark, as well as keep their hands warm for the 3 minute walk!

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Emily & Casey’s beautiful and intimate Wedding Ceremony was held at sundown at the Sundance Resort.

As a photographer, I love it when my winter Sundance brides pick this time of day to hold their ceremony;  the snow and the pond behind them glow bright blue, and the final effect is breathtaking and magical.

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Happy New Year everyone!!!  To our former brides, I hope you had a happy and wonderful Holiday Season together as a Married Couple, and to our future brides, get ready for a wild and fun ride as you prepare and plan for your own Wedding Day!

I don’t know how it got to be 2010 already, but considering how excited I am for the coming year I don’t mind that December completely got away from me!  This was the busiest holiday season we’ve ever had here at Pepper Nix Photography, shipping a record number of Wedding Albums, prints, Holiday Cards, and making sure that our brides had everything they needed to celebrate the season!  I do love to blog, but unfortunately that is the first thing that gets cut when there are orders to go out!

My first post of a New Year.  A new decade.  Wow.  Remember the last time we rolled over to a new decade?  And half of the people were all paranoid about the computers freaking out and destroying the world because they’d think it was 1900?  Oh yeah, good times…

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Wow, what a crazy month!  For those who are wondering why I haven’t posted anything this month, it’s November, which for us here means the annual dreaded Album Holiday Deadline!!!  All of my brides who want their album in time for the holidays to show off to the family, we have to order it before Thanksgiving, and of course, everyone is getting gorgeous albums to show off, so that means an entire month of me doing nothing but albums!  I have not yet caught up on my sleep.  But it also means many many wonderful Album Monday segments for the weeks to come.

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Happy Halloween everyone!  I’m still recovering from the Halloween Spooktacular, thanks to everyone who was able to come for making it the best Spooktacular yet!  And now, for something completely different…

Let’s talk about Weddings!  The portrait session of the Bride and Groom are one of my favorite parts of each Wedding Day.

I felt very lucky, because even with tons of things going on, Rachelle made sure that she had scheduled about an hour before the Wedding Reception began where we could focus on taking images of just her and her husband, as well as the Bridal Party.  It was incredible!

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After the Wedding Ceremony at the San Diego Temple, Rachelle and Rick met up with their families for a quick luncheon.

I don’t usually show pictures from a luncheon because typically it is a quick affair, but in this case these guys really sat down and just relaxed together, Rachelle’s family blending in seamlessly with Ricky’s family, everyone just hanging out and having fun!

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On a cold day like today when the ground is covered in snow, it makes me so grateful for my fabulous California brides, and the chance to fly out there to warm up for a few days!

Rachelle & Rick were married on a perfect day with beautiful San Diego weather, slightly chilly for Californians, but absolute heaven to me!

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