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…

(more…)

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!]

(more…)

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!

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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…

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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!

(more…)

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!

(more…)

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!

(more…)

The Finale – Part III of Alexis & Johnny’s Wedding Day at Solitude Ski resort!

You get to see all of the details that resulted from 8 months of planning this wedding, as well as one of my Top 10 images from the entire year!

Any guesses on what it could be?

(more…)

For the first time ever I am going to dedicate an entire post to the Cocktail Hour.  Something happened here that deserves it own post.  We all know that a Wedding Ceremony is not just about 2 people coming together as one, it is also about the joining and blending of 2 families.  It about each side looking at their new daughter-in-law, or their new son-in-law, and saying We accept you, and we will love you.

(more…)

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday!  For today’s Wedd Wed, you get to be a guest at Alexis and Johnny’s wedding ceremony!  There were so many amazing pictures that I couldn’t narrow it down, so I apologize in advance!  The weather was warm and slightly overcast as the over 250 guests were seated for the ceremony at Solitude Resort.  I’ve now photographed over 300 ceremonies in my career, and I wish that even a tenth of them were as heartfelt as this was.  But first…

(more…)

Quyen & BJ’s fabulous day concludes with a kick-ass party, dinner for 190 guests at the world-famous La Caille Restaurant, and dancing until dawn with a Club DJ from Seattle.

Can I be honest?

IT ROCKED.

(more…)

Wow.  If you thought the morning Tea Ceremony was awesome, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  Quyen and BJ spent almost a year planning this spectacular and emotional event, and it showed.  No detail was left to chance, nothing was forgotten.  And the bride was exquisite.

After the morning ceremony and the delicious lunch that followed [I must thank Quyen's family for insisting that we eat, and to her sisters who got up at 4am to make all that delicious food for so many people!], everyone headed on over to the restaurant La Caille to get ready for Quyen & BJ’s second wedding ceremony!

(more…)

[sorry to everyone for missing Wedding Wednesday yesterday, I was shooting a wedding and I can't do both on the same day!]

Everyone, meet Quyen & BJ!  They live in Seattle, but Quyen’s parents live her in Utah along with a good number of her family, so they decided to get married here in Utah at La Caille!

They started off their wedding day with the traditional Tea Ceremony at Quyen’s parents home, with all of their family and friends present to witness the joining of the two families.

(more…)

Here it is, Part II of this amazing wedding!  After the wedding ceremony in the Ballroom, all of the guests were invited out to the patio to enjoy delicious drinks and yummy h’orderves with the bride and groom.

I was so happy that we had taken all of the family pictures beforehand so that the the bride and groom could focus on enjoying and starting the celebration with their over 200 guests who had all flown in from the East Coast!

(more…)

Welcome to the first ever Wedding Wednesday!  After the success of Album Monday and noticing how many more people there were checking in to see the Monday article, I figured it was time that I made a commitment to post a wedding every Wednesday!  So, cheers, welcome, and here’s the story:

Anne & Jonathan were married a few weeks ago up at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City.  This has to have been one of the most perfect weddings of the entire year.  Even with a bit of rain that forced their meticulously planned wedding ceremony from the outdoors to the indoors, nothing could dampen their spirits!

(more…)

Sorry everyone, this is going to be a ridiculously long blog post.  I’ve been going over the pictures again and again from Em & Tay’s wedding reception trying to cut it down to soemthign that is respectable for a photographer’s blog post, and I am having a really difficult time of it.  There are just too many that I love!

The reception was held at Taylor’s parents home in Indian Hills.  If you’re not familiar with that area of town, it’s a beautiful area nestled in the foothills with a spectacular view of the valley and the mountains literally on top of you.

(more…)

I have been so excited to show you pictures from Emily + Taylor’s bridal session ever since we took them, and now that the wedding day has just passed, I can post them!  But you’re in for a treat, you get to see images from the Wedding Day too!

It was just perfect weather, Emily and Taylor were married at the LDS Salt Lake Temple, and when they exited that had about a hundred people waiting outside to congratulate them!  [For those reading my blog who are unfamiliar with LDS weddings and wondering why I haven't posted any pictures of the ceremony, no pictures of any kind are allowed inside of a Temple, so instead we photograph the exit and celebrations afterward].

Although it was a warm summer day, a few hazy clouds rolled in to cool things off a bit while we finished taking pictures…

(more…)

Well, here it is, this is the Wedding Day for Francesca and Dan!  We woke up early on Saturday morning and everyone took taxis to the meeting point, so we could all climb on a charter bus to drive to the wedding ceremony location, which was about 90 minutes outside of Buenos Aires.

The ceremony was held at Estancia La Figura, which is an amazing estate rich with the political history of Argentina.  It was large enough to fit all of the guests, and so secluded and magestic that we all felt like we were staying on an estate of Europe a few hundred years ago!  Except for the HD flat screens with digital cable and wireless internet access [giving me constant access via my iPhone], it could have been very easy to forget what year it was…

Please forgive me for showing what I know are far too many images for a blog post, but it is my 300th wedding and I am so excited about it!

(more…)

The rehearsal dinner for Francesca & Dan’s wedding was held at Club 647, which from the outside looks like a really scary neighborhood, and I had no idea what we were getting into!

Turns out that Club 647 is the hottest nightclub in San Telmo [one of the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires] and the bride and groom rented it out for what the Argentinians consider to be a very early dinner!  [we ate at 9!]

Lots of alcohol, lots of beautiful New Yorkers dressed for an amazing evening, and absolutely incredible food.  It was wonderful to see so many of their dearest and closest friends and family members had flown so far to come and celebrate with them in Buenos Aires, so in additional to being a beautiful evening, it was also an emotional one.  Check it out:

.

(more…)

I LOVE destination weddings.  Love it.  New places are so much fun and so exciting!!!  My favorite part of any destination wedding though, is this day.  the day that I get the bride and groom all to myself.  the day to do the fabulous bridal session in a fun and exotic location!  Because lets be honest.  There’s no way I can get tons of shots like these on the wedding day, especially with a destination wedding, where the ocean might be an hour or two away, or the light is perfect at sunset.  I love the golden hour, but more often than not, brides and grooms are sitting down to eat with their guests during that golden hour.  So bridal sittings are a very good thing.  but, with a destination wedding, it’s a must have!

So Francesca and Dan hung out with me all day, until they had to go and change for the rehearsal dinner that night [stay tuned for tomorrow's post about the amazing rehearsal dinner!]  We started off at the Four Seasons Hotel in Buenos Aires.  This hotel is famous because when Evita was in production, Madonna lived on the fourth floor in the penthouse suite.  One of the guests just happened to be staying on that floor, not in Madonna’s suite, but we thought it’d be fun to get some shots there to start off with.  And then, we discovered something wonderful, and we did something very naughty…..

(more…)

I loved that the couple took the time to arrange all of these fun activities before the wedding day.  They knew it would be difficult to get all of their weddings guests down for the entire week, but each day brought new fun and new excitement, and each day the group of people got bigger and bigger!

Day 3 was the big official kick off with a Welcome Party for all of their guests.  They held it in the apartment they rented for the week, and it was an incredible space!

After the cocktail hour with drinks and passed h’orderves, all of the guests boarded a charter bus to a surprise destination.  When the bus stopped we found ourselves at La Ideal!  It’s an old dance hall from 1912, it’s been painfully  restored, and its uber-famous.  If you’d going to go to Buenos Aires, you have to go hang out one night at La Ideal.  I’ve never seen anything like it in the States, but late at night, [before dinner!] people come here and just have fun hanging out, watching the dance shows, and dancing the Tango!

The Tango is the other national obsession [besides football of course] and Franny & Dan arranged for all of their guests to be given lessons in how to dance the Tango at La Ideal!  It was a great evening, and an incredibly thoughtful evening of memories that Francesca & Dan gave to their guests!

(more…)

So here we are in Day 2 of our fantastic wedding in Argentina!  We start out at the spa, where all of the women went for an early afternoon of massages, pedicures, and facials.  I’ve been to some amazing day spas in the states, but i was blown away by how cool this was!  They said it was OK for me to take pictures of the spa as long as I didn’t get any customers in the shots.  And, bonus for me, they spoke English!  Which is great because my high school Spanish isn’t what it used to be, sorry Senor Jolley!

Did you know that Argentina consumes the highest amount of meat per person of anywhere in the world?  It’s true.  While the women were enjoying themselves at the spa and getting pampered and all relaxed, the men were out having cigars, wine, and you guessed it, meat!

Later that evening Francesca and Dan held a wine tasting for their family and friends before dinner.  Now, dinner is an interesting affair in Argentina.  The restaurants stay open until 3am because people don’t go out to eat until around midnight.  So even though it was very late by our standards, the restaurant was completely deserted when we showed up, although by the time we all left around midnight, it was completely packed with an hour on the waiting list!

(more…)

Yes, it’s true.  I shot my 300th wedding, and I shot it in Buenos Aires Argentina.  WOO HOO!!!  What a fantastic way to celebrate such a milestone!  Oh, and it was fantastic!  The bride and groom are Francesca and Dan from New York City.  They flew me down further south than I’ve ever been in my life, and I was there for an entire week, documenting anything and everything that was said and done!  So this post [and the next 5] are all about this amazing wedding journey and all of the fun things that happened that week!  This is Day 1.  After a long plane ride and a short nap in my apartment in the city, we took off for an adventure!  Franny & Dan wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride!  the initial plan was to take me in the balloon, but then it turned out that the balloon can only hold three people, and since neither of them knew how to fly it, they decided to take along the Aeronaut and leave me on the ground.  That’s OK, cause I got to chase them around the countryside on crazy dirt roads trying not to run over any cows to get these killer shot of them in the air and their bumpy landing!  We were there a bit early and the bag wasn’t inflated yet, so we decided to enjoy ourselves and take some portraits in the empty hanger and nearby field while we waited.  Dan and Franny are an amazing couple together, check out these shots!

(more…)