Denver Engagement: Melissa & Chuckie

17.05.12 engagements

Good morning and happy Thursday!  The weekend is allllmost here and we have a fantastic engagement session to help pass the time.

Melissa and Chuckie are our 2012 Free Wedding Giveaway winners!  We met up this past weekend for what was the coldest day of May, at least so far!  I think it was in the mid 40s when we did these images.   Though covered in goosebumps, these two didn’t hide their hearts. Melissa and Chuckie are both warm and open about their lives, their work, and their Skate Church ministry.  I can’t wait for their Steamboat Springs wedding in June!  It’s going to be tricked out with hubcaps and tools, as these two LOVE working on cars together!  More of that below. :-)

Until then, here’s a brief excerpt of Melissa and Chuckie’s story from the Giveaway contest submission:

My [Melissa's] parents have made to commitment to pay for our wedding.  That seems simple and straight forward enough, but I have a little, really quite frankly, a lot of a different story than most girls.  My parents, my mom and dad, have only been my family for the last five years.  They adopted and took me in when I was 17 years old.  Being young themselves with three very young children of their own, they went against everything and even though they were not in an opportune spot to take in a teenager, they decided to raise me up as best as they could.  They quite honestly saved my life.  My parents are missionaries and my dad is a pastor of a crisis youth ministry, they have always done the best they can with what they have, but I know that it is hard.  They have taken it in full stride and have decided to pay for a wedding, that before I came into the picture, they were not planning on taking on for a very long time for my young sisters.  But life was put on the fast track for them when I came along with proms, graduations, cars, college, boys, and now a wedding, and I would love to help them with that. My dad not only giving me away but also officiating our wedding is a wonderful picture of the family I am now apart of.  Winning the photography for our wedding would be a blessing beyond what you would know, both for Chuckie and I, but also my family.

Winning this photography package would be a dream come true because it would not only be having the opportunity to have beautiful wedding photos, but be able to help my family with covering our wedding.  Having these pictures of our wedding is a testament of how far not only myself, but Chuckie and I have come and grown.  Life has dealt an interesting hand of cards and we are so excited to start this new chapter of our lives and we would love to have and blessed with amazing photos to remember and not forget where we started!

M+C, I adore you.  I know Jesie will adore you.  Thank for your transparency, easy going attitudes, and friendship.

xoxo,
René

Cañon City Engagement: Jessica & Matt

30.04.12 engagements

Good morning!  Happy Monday!

I hope your week is off to a great start.  This past weekend was perfect — just the right about of family time, a chance to create some beautiful images, play time with my new 70-200 lens, and all the laundry a girl could do. :-) Plus, I started packing for a little Disney vacation and was asked to second shoot a wedding with a photography team whom I deeply respect.  It’s a big deal.  More on that later…

Until then, I have such a treat for you.  Jessica, Matt, and I met up in my hometown of Cañon City this weekend.  These two are from Denver, but when they told me they just loved wine and wanted a winery feel, I knew just the place:  The Abbey Winery.  These guys get extra points for driving two hours for this session, but I believe it was worth every mile.  Lately, we’ve been having super warm and sunny days and this Saturday was so chilly and windy!  I was really envisioning last weekend’s 75 degree day and golden light, but this weekend?  We got the storm clouds without the storm.  And just you wait… this shoot got better and better and better as the day went on.  Definitely one of my favorite engagement sessions. :-)

Enjoy this couple – this couple who are so carefree, classy, and whose chemistry is off the charts.

Jess and Matt – Love you guys!!  June 2nd can’t come fast enough.  It’s going to be party!

xoxo,
René

The sun kept playing peek-a-boo with the storm clouds.

These next three are some of my favorites!

Um… can we take a minute and just soak in that SKY?

The future Mrs. Cook.

LOVE.

Parker Engagement: Christina & George

24.04.12 engagements

There’s something so intriguing about them.  They’re the sweetest couple and they make it so easy to be around them.  She’s beautiful and he smiles a lot.  Well, they both do really.  It’s contagious.  Honestly, my face was sore from smiling so much with them.  They’re the kind of people who you really could sit and talk to about anything under the sun until the waitress starts vacuuming around you, closing down the place.  This is something that happens to them time and time again.

Like their first date at a coffee shop.  They talked for hours and hours.

And you see that yellow polo he’s wearing?  He wore that on their first date.  Yeah…  :-)

And the small town vibe that echos throughout their portraits?  Totally intentional.  Some of their fondest memories are from small towns.  When he proposed in Telluride.  When they sat for hours on the patio at restaurant joint in Steamboat Springs.  Or the Italian place that stumbled upon in Parker.

Sometimes the best things in life are stumbled upon.

Like the day he met her.  It was Wash Park; he saw her from across the distance.  She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.  He’ll tell you he knew his life was about to change.

But Christina?  She thought she was just going to the park to help a friend clean up after a church picnic.  She wasn’t even supposed to be there that day.

But like Christina’s mom says, sometimes things just turn out better when you don’t know what to expect.

Christina and George, I didn’t know what to expect when I met either of you.  I didn’t know what what to expect when we met in Parker for your shoot.  I’m not sure exactly what to expect on the day of your wedding.  But I know I won’t be disappointed.  You both continue to amazing me and bless me with your humility and kindness.  I’m honored to be there for you.

With love and joy,
René

It’s only fitting that we start this post with this beautiful, secluded yard we stumbled upon.

After downtown Parker, we headed to Castlewood Canyon State Park for some of my favorite engagement images!

USAFA Engagement: Pearlly & Huson – Part II

14.04.12 engagements, weddings

Hey hey!  Happy weekend! Hope your Saturday is off to a great start.  We have our maternity and family shootout today, but I wanted to take a minute and share the second half of Pearlly and Huson’s engagement session with you!

These two are absolutely wonderful people.  I am so blessed to have had the chance to work with them.  They smile more than anyone I know and are up for adventure.  As my boyfriend is just beginning a deployment, Pearlly has been extra thoughtful in checking in on me. How lucky am I to have support from near and far?  And that’s Pearlly and Huson: thoughtful.  Their shoots came out perfect because they were so prepared!

I hope you enjoy viewing this as much as I enjoyed shooting them! :-D

Pearlly and Huson, what a fun weekend.  Love you guys.  We’re lifers!

With joy,
René

 We began the day at Huson’s host family’s house where he called “home” while attended the Academy.

Later that afternoon we hit up the Air Force Academy for these incredible shots.

You two looked absolutely exquisite!