Vin & Frieda Wedding at Denver Botanic Gardens :: August 5th, 2009
Well, this post is either going to be really really long, or I leave it to the images to tell the story! I was in Denver last week for Vincent and Frieda’s wedding weekend and it was amazing. Absolute mayhem of the best possible sort and I really don’t know where to start. The wedding and reception was held at the Denver Botanic Gardens. We spent Friday afternoon at the Denver Skate Park too!
So, here goes… Thursday morning, I flew into Denver and had a Birthday lunch with my friend, Melissa. That was awesome. After that, I checked into the hotel and got a pedicure as my bday present to myself. To ruin the pedicure, I went on a 6 mile walk around Denver and that was relaxing and fun. Friday, I met up with all the friends that were in town and also Vin. We went to WaterCourse (vegetarian restaurant) for lunch and that was a little nutty, as Vin and I didn’t have enough time to eat before the Rehearsal at the Gardens. Then the Rehearsal was nutty because the wedding coordinator at the Gardens either quit or was fired the previous day! Thank goodness I was there since no one else knew how weddings were supposed to go… Step into wedding coordinator mode and we got the Rehearsal going. To burn off steam, Vin and I then headed over to the Denver Skate Park with the rest of the crew! It was so much fun to run around and photograph Vin skating. I kept thinking about how I photographed him skating around 1992 at RIT, before I even knew him! I’ll have to dig out the images and post them because there are about 3 or 4 of my past Grooms in the same photo! After skating we had the Rehearsal dinner and that was so amazing! The service was excellent and the food was fantastic. How awesome that I have such healthy eating Grooms in my life?! I think I ate the best Eggplant Parmesan ever. It was so great to get to know the families at the dinner and Vin’s sister is my new best friend. Not only is she super friendly and chatty, she snowboards! And she finds great deals on snowboarding in Europe. I’m totally latching on to her next trip! Next stop on the wedding train was a punk/metal show at the Hi-Dive featuring Power Point and other bands. Power Point was one of the best metal shows I’ve ever seen and totally entertaining as well. I don’t know where Vin gets his energy from, because I bailed half way through the evening. Needed rest for the actual wedding day!
The wedding day started off really mellow, with Vin and I hanging out for about 3 hours before the chaos began. That was really relaxing and it was great to geek out with him over cameras at his apartment. I taught him some Yoga and he showed me his costume collection. At some point, Frieda stopped over to redo her hair and it was amusing watching Vin walk around with his hands over his eyes while she was there. The groomsmen started to show up and someone was awesome enough to bring Vin and I lunch from WaterCourse Foods! The ceremony was held at the Denver Botanic Gardens, which is having an exhibit on prehistoric plants, so there are huge dinosaurs all over the grounds and they made for some interesting images!! Ian Cooke played the music for the ceremony and that was beautiful. All of the formal images were pretty much finished before the ceremony began and it was a lovely sunny day for such an event! The bridal party and I snuck away for a few more pictures after the ceremony and my favorite Groomsmen brought Vin, Frieda and I a whole pitcher of water while we were taking the romantic and fun Bride & Groom shots! Thanks Dan and Benj!! I was having so much fun with Vin and Frieda and I guess they were too. It was a lot of pressure, yet total pleasure to photograph Vin since he is such an amazing photographer and artist, and so are all of his friends. I still can’t believe that I was the hired photographer for the event. That alone is total and complete flattery. As he said, though, I’ve shot all of his friend’s weddings, so he needed to keep it consistent! Heather and Trent (wedding 2008) were in attendance as well as Tony & Vivianna (wedding 2007), also Mat, Erich and Craig.. all of whom have been in weddings I’ve photographed. The reception was an absolute blast, to say the least. There was a vegan chocolate cake in the shape of a skateboard, made by Vin’s friend Sarah Austin. Even the caterer said that it was the best cake she had eaten! Oh, did I mention that there was more amazing vegetarian food? Well, it was the best part about our experience at the Botanic Gardens! Skip to the end, just because it is the best part… When all was said and done. The food eaten, cake cut, video shown, toasts given, masks made… in marches Boba Fett and his All American Marching Band!!!!! All I can say is that even though I was totally exhausted, and had packed up all of my gear… this band was amazing and totally got everyone back on the dance floor! They were completely worth the wait, photographically and audibly! I was stoked too because two of the members of the band are also in the band, Devotchka, which has entered my life this year and keep seeming to permeate.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. I slept in a little, checked out of the hotel and headed over to the post-wedding brunch. Camera was packed up so it was great to actually talk to everyone! I had done a very very quick edit of the wedding images and so was able to set up my computer for a slideshow of the best images! Wow, what a hit that was!! I wish I could do this for each wedding! It was so great to hear everyone’s reactions to the images. I never get that! So cool, and apparently too cool for the closest guests and family to see the images so quickly as well. I’m glad I took the time to do it.
Congratulations to Vincent and Frieda! It was absolutely my honor to be such a huge part of your wedding and I cannot thank you enough for taking such good care of me during the weekend. I am honored and amazed to have been your photographer and I wish you both a lifetime of happiness in love! You are two of the most kind and wonderful people I’ve ever met.
Thank you Heather for posting Vin and Frieda’s pictures. Could you please add just a couple of the cermony at the DBG? My family is asking for some pictures of the wedding and I don’t have any. My brother-in law took some but they were travelling west after the wedding. Thanks, Sheila
How many wedding photographers can also shoot skating this well? Only one. Heather you ruled. You are so much fun and stayed so positive. We just can’t thank you enough!
Great pics from Vin & Frieda’s wedding! When we got there, I knew this was going to yield some of your best work. Great job, Heather! Great to see you & catch up, too.