When it comes to winter, some people like to escape it, some like to complain about it, but Keri and Sam chose to embrace it. After a 24-hour sleepless journey over three flights (repeatedly cancelled due to storms), I finally made it to Devil’s Thumb Ranch, set beautifully in the mountains of Colorado. As it turned out, the Nova Scotia weather also followed us and brought so much snow that they shut down the only road in … leaving us with 26 inches of fresh, untouched powder.
Being an avid skier, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to kick off the week. In fact, the day before their wedding, in the middle of a storm, I followed Sam 12,000 feet up to the Vasquez Cirque near the summit of Winter Park. After trekking a little over a mile in near white out conditions, we were at the top of the Cirque ready to drop into a chute that to me, looked like a near vertical drop. Sam made it, I made it, and Keri breathed a sigh of relief knowing her groom (and wedding photographer) were both ok. One of the reasons why I love traveling for a destination wedding is to capture moments like this. I’m given the opportunity to spend more than just a day with the couple, their friends and the amazing setting they’ve chosen for their wedding. Connections are made, many, many, photos are taken, and I’m able to document a very complete story of the week they planned for themselves and their closest friends.
The day after their wedding, after waking up to another fresh blanket of powder, Keri was back in her dress and joined Sam for one last run, leaving on a genuine rocky mountain high.
Photography by Jeff Cooke
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY