It’s hard for me to adequately describe our wedding because Ben Christensen captured it with such artistry and perfection that I think his images speak for themselves. What Shane and I wanted, above all else, was for the love and simplicity of our day to be the elements we will always remember.
We asked less than 30 of our immediate family and friends to drive up to Convict Lake for an intimate ceremony. Our concept wasn’t too complicated, but we required a lot of help from our venue to pull it off as we weren’t using their designated wedding site. As my bridesmaids and I finished getting ready, Shane and our guests took boats to the back of the lake. We had chosen a spot in the tall grass next to a hut built of branches, with the lake in front of us and a forest behind us. Everyone waited and listened to music, while my bridesmaids and I arrived by boat to a separate cove. I had managed to control my overwhelming emotions for most of the morning until our boat pulled up and I saw my dad waiting on the shore to walk me down the aisle. I walked into our ceremony surrounded by the joy and excitement of our family and friends, who had driven for hours to stand with us. One of Shane’s best friends officiated our marriage, and he had written the most personal and sincere words for us. We took advantage of the informal atmosphere to hug and thank our parents during our ceremony, and there were even a couple of moments during the wedding where our friends and family chimed in and made us all laugh. I will never forget the details that made our wedding uniquely ours, or the look in Shane’s eyes as we made our lifelong commitment to each other. We are fortunate to have what we think are the most honest and beautiful photographs we could have hoped for to help us relive our day. We can’t say enough good things about working with Ben Christensen, and his sister Kami who was our stylist. They’re great at what they do and beyond that, they’re great people. Having them there helped us stay calm, relaxed, and made it easy to be ourselves when it mattered most.
