When Jordan and Zach hired us as their wedding photographers back in December of 2016, I was ecstatic that they were having their wedding at The Winding River Ranch in Grand Lake, CO, But, I have to say I was little bummed I had to wait so long for their wedding day.
Their wedding day had finally come and I was excited to get the day started. Little did I know that it was going to be a wedding I would never forget. Like any other mountain wedding in the summer, it looked like it was about to rain when we arrived. Also like any other wedding, we were running a little behind schedule. Luckily Jordan and Zach went with a 10hr wedding package. We had plenty of wiggle room in the timeline so the day still went on with no timing issues. They also decided to do a first look that way they didn’t so much time after the ceremony taking pictures. Jordan loves photography so she knew she wanted plenty of time to take pictures.
We arrive at the first look location where we thought it was part of the venue. Well in the middle of the first look we were stopped by two RMNP rangers asking us for our permit. They were extremely nice and let us know that we were in fact on part of the RMNP property. They let us go with a warning and could have very easily given us a $500 ticket. We arrived back to the venue and proceeded with their wedding photos. There we were able to explore the barn and say hello to the horses. Most of the time horses keep their distance so we had no problem going in their field to get them in the background. In the middle of the photos, we look up and the horses are heading towards rather rapidly. We decided to get the heck out of there!
It was time for the ceremony to start and well rain hit us pretty hard but was still able to start the ceremony on time. Just after the wedding ceremony, the sun decided to say hello. Jordan and Zach were finally married. It was time to eat, drink, and dance. Right before it was time for us to leave, we decided to go out and take some more wedding photos in a field with a bunch of wild flowers. It was amazing! Here were are again in the middle of taking their photos, we look up and two cows are charging at us. Lets just say we all started running as we didn’t know if the cows were mean. One of the owners of The Winding River Ranch saw all this happening, once we jump over the fence, we just hear him cracking up laughing as the the cows were friendly and were just looking for food. Definitely an epic wedding.
Second Photographer: Chelsea Spika
Venue: The Winding River Ranch
Catering – Sagebrush BBQ & Grill
DJ – Mike Cooper
Flowers – ordered from Fifty Flowers (DIY)
Wedding Cake – Grooms Mom
Dessert – Nothing Bundt Cakes
Hair and Makeup: Bride did her own
