When I moved to Las Vegas five years ago, after a decade in Oregon and Montana, I joked with my friends, “Just never let me get married in Las Vegas!” As a mostly outdoor girl but a photojournalist first, I moved to the wilds of Las Vegas for a great job. To keep my wits about me I would head to the mountains or desert on my days off, and sometimes before work on Sundays. That’s where I met Kirk, on a ski lift on a Sunday morning at the small ski area on Mt. Charleston, just outside Las Vegas. The romance and outdoor adventures together grew from there.

Engaged around our two-year anniversary in December of 2010, we had talked loosely about a warm water, tropical destination wedding. After weighing out the options, cost and travel time would limit who would be able to attend and we decided having all of our friends and family present was most important. That’s when Mt. Charleston dawned on us. It’s outside of the city, technically not IN Vegas proper, and it has special significance of where we met and spent many a great days snowboarding and getting to know one another.

I had never really thought about what I’d want for my wedding. I knew I wanted to create a day that would be aesthetically beautiful, relaxed and abundant in thoughtful, personal details, but I had no idea of the limitless creative discovery I was in for.

Photography was my first priority once we reserved the venue and date. I have known Kitty & Craig Fritz, of Twin Lens Images, through our common professional circles since before I moved to Las Vegas. As soon as they crossed my mind I knew they would be our dream pick. Luckily they were available for our short notice March wedding. Kitty and Craig and I didn’t have to talk about too much. I knew their work well and had 100% confidence that they would make magic in images of our day.

It’s hard to believe all the work by so many that made the weekend come to life. It was a perfect day, kissed with sunshine and the warmest day in the month and blessed by our friends and family. The best part was the memories made and shared, and to boot, now we’re married!

Wedding Design & Planning: Yelena Johnson, The Stylish Soiree / Flowers: Enchanted Florist / Photography: Twin Lens / Videography: Lovespun / Ceremony Music: Phat Strad / Venue: The Resort on Mt. Charleston / Bride’s Dress: Maggie Sottero / Bride’s Bag: BeeGee Bags / Groom’s Suit:  Stitched / Guestbook: Rag & Bone / DJ: Smiles Davis / Deserts: Red Velvet Café / Print design: Coco Paperie / Paper Printing: Mama’s Sauce / Ring Pillow: Llubav Choy Duerr / Photo booth: Shutterbooth / Cake Topper: Celeste Welch / Dessert Flags: Victorian Station

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Post tags: Acrobats, BeeGee Bags, Celeste Welch, Coco Paperie, Color Palette Red, Cupcakes, Dessert Table, Enchanted Florist, Etsy, Las Vegas, Llubav, Lovespun, Maggie Sottero, Mama's Sauce, Mount Charleston, Mountain wedding, Nevada, Outdoor Ceremony, Phat Strad, Pinwheels, Rag & Bone, Red Velvet Cafe, Shutterbooth, Smile Davis, Stitched, The Resort on Mt. Charleston, The Stylish Soiree, Twin Lens, Victorian Station, Wedding Photography, Winter Wedding
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Whimsical

From Kitty and Craig … Adrianne & Stephen’s New Mexico wedding was the best of all worlds… rustic, fun, simple, elegant. They were married in an art-deco Catholic church in Downtown Albuquerque and then traveled north to the Hacienda Vargas for an outdoor gourmet luncheon and afternoon fiesta. Going through their photos, it’s hard to find a photo without everyone smiling!! We were honored to have documented their beautiful, flawless day.

You can see more of this delightful day on Twin Lens’ Facebook page and in our gallery!

My fiancé Stephen and I always knew we wanted to get married in New Mexico. Though we both have lived in California for most of our lives, he was raised in New Mexico. We wanted to give our wedding guests a chance to get away for a weekend and explore the beautiful NM scenery.

Stephen’s number one priority was to have delicious New Mexican/Mexican food. We both enjoy eating… our shared meals with family, friends, and one another have been a definitive part of our relationship and love for one another. It was only fitting that our wedding would be a chance to share a delicious meal with our close community. After some internet research, I came upon Marja Catering in Santa Fe. We visited her kitchen and instantly knew that she was our woman! She offered us tastings of carnitas and fresh tortillas as we all talked about our favorite places to eat in San Francisco where we had all lived for a few years. We were sold.

Once we settled on Marja as our caterer, our focus was on finding a venue. We looked at a few locations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque but nothing was quite right. Our vision for our wedding day was to have an outdoor reception that was relaxed, and where our guests could enjoy hanging out and grazing on Marja’s delicious food. We also wanted a venue that reflected the natural beauty of New Mexico. We finally found exactly what we were looking for at the Hacienda Vargas. It’s a quaint bed and breakfast right outside of Albuquerque. It has a beautiful outdoor courtyard with huge trees providing cool shade, and spots of bright turquoise fencing. Once the goat on the property noisily welcomed us when we first visited, we knew we’d found our venue! Hacienda Vargas embodied the perfect rustic charm for our wedding. The owners (Cynthia and Spence) were helpful, sweet, and did a fantastic job assisting us with our preparations.

I did some research on photographers but once we met Kitty and Craig of Twin Lens, we knew they were the ones for us. We first met them at their home (just 5 minutes away from Hacienda Vargas) and we were instantly impressed with their photography; not to mention how lovely and warm they are. Their photojournalistic style was exactly what we wanted for the day, especially since we did not plan to have a videographer. After seeing their photographs and trusting that they understood our vision for the day, we could rest easy knowing they would produce fantastic photographs.

My older brother Christian prepared our beautiful invitations. He’s a graphic designer that’s never done wedding invitations but he created our invitations as our wedding present. We gave him a few ideas of what we wanted, what we hoped our wedding day would be, and a copy of our menu. He exceeded all our expectations. He designed an invitation that gave guests an idea of the mood we wanted to set for the day and a sneak peek of the menu and our wedding attire!

The wedding day could not have gone better. Our ceremony was at the Immaculate Conception Catholic church. Its art-deco style and its location in downtown Albuquerque were in wonderful contrast to our rustic, verdant reception location. My cousin is the priest who married us. This was a beautiful, personal touch to our wedding. He’s also really funny which fit the celebratory mood of our wedding day.

While our guests were whisked away to our reception in a tour bus that we provided, we were off with Kitty and Craig for a few portraits in downtown Albuquerque. We stumbled upon a small farmers’ market and decided to pick up a few things. I love Farmers’ Markets so it was only fitting that we stop by on our wedding day. Locals greeted us with some fresh fruit and hearty congratulations. As it turned out, much of down time during the wedding day was spent with Kitty and Craig. We loved talking and hanging out with this beautiful couple. They stealthily captured many lovely moments during our wedding day and we had the utmost trust in them. Many of our guests complimented us, not only on the wedding photos, but also on how unobtrusive and sweet our photographers were. Because of Kitty and Craig’s style and talent, we consider our photos from the day works of art. I still get teary watching the slideshow they prepared for us and many of the photos are hung up in our home to remind us of our wedding day.

Marja’s food did not disappoint. We had a simple buffet of carnitas, beans, tortillas, fresh salsas, and some roasted shisito peppers that Marja happened to find at the farmers’ market that morning. The food was local, fresh, tasty, and almost all our guests – as well as my fiancé and I – went back for seconds. Everyone feasted. Instead of a cake, we opted to serve sundaes and popsicles. These were both a hit. The sundaes were decadent and the popsicles were a nice way for our guests to cool down since the weather was warmer than we expected. Marja’s staff was friendly and so helpful. We only wish Marja had a restaurant so we could enjoy her food again!

Since we really wanted Marja’s food to shine, we kept our tables pretty simple. We named each table after our favorite restaurants, with the bride and groom’s table named after the restaurant where Stephen proposed to me. We wanted to recreate the feel of an outdoor bistro so we opted for butcher paper and crayons on each table. The crayons were a hit with the kids and the adults. Our guests created some beautiful art work and wrote some fun poems on these simple canvasses!

To add a splash of color and in keeping with our overall food theme, our centerpieces were small silver tins filled with delicious tangerines provided by our florist. We gave our guests small burlap bags so they could take some tangerines home. My aunt did a fabulous job putting these centerpieces together! For our wedding favors, Marja prepared tasty New Mexican biscochitos and I printed and laminated the recipe for the cookies so our guests could make them at home.

Thanks to our vendors, our wedding day was a complete success. We were relaxed and because we trusted our vendors so much, we were able to enjoy our wedding day to its fullest!

Photography: Twin Lens / Caterer: Marja Catering / Flowers: Jessie Abrams / Ceremony Location: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church / Reception Location: Hacienda Vargas / Invitations: Bride’s brother, Christian /  Dress: Deborah’s Bridal

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Post tags: Albuquerque, Deborah's Bridal, Hacienda Vargas, Immaclate Conception Catholic Church, Jessie Abrams, Marja Catering, New Mexico, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Photography

Kitty and Craig of Twin Lens Photography helped make Adrianne & Stephen’s New Mexico wedding a day that was the best! “Thanks to our vendors, our wedding day was a complete success. We were relaxed and because we trusted our vendors so much, we were able to enjoy our wedding day to its fullest!”

photography by Twin Lens

We have Adrianne and Stephen’s wedding from Twin Lens Photography coming up a little later this week on The Little Black Book Blog. If you’d like to see more of Kitty and Craig’s unbelievable style, take a look at their facebook page feature of this wedding!

We also have the most incredible collection of bridesmaids EVER coming up this week! From Cori Cook Floral Design ~ a rainbow of beautiful ladies and gents with flowers and smiles to nudge any one of you into that big huge grin!

photography by Laura Murray

You can see them all ~ up close and personal right here on Cori’s blog!

An excerpt from Wednesday’s feature (from Weddings by Windy) … I’m one of those people who firmly believes in fate, destiny & that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. I love retracing steps in any event figuring out “if this didn’t happen like this, then that wouldn’t have happened, etc.” I also understand, however, that not everyone is on that bus. But I think even the biggest naysayer would have agreed after seeing the shots of Katie & Lee’s October 9th, 2010 ceremony at Veritas Vineyards in Afton, VA outside of Charlottesville. We had about 90+ guests we had to transport from 2 hotels in 2 different parts of the Charlottesville area. One in the city of Charlottesville – The Marriott, and the other from the Best Western in Waynesboro, VA. Of course, the bus carrying the majority of the 90 guests coming from the Marriott… broke down prior to picking anyone up! And it happened at about 5:00 for a 6:00 ceremony! If EVER there is a reason to pay good money for a great venue, great photographers and to have a wedding planner on site – this was it. Into crisis mode we went …

photography by Worthington Photography

As with any great love story, this one, too has a happy ending. So, as they say, for the rest of the story … you’ll have to meet us back here on Wedding Wednesday!

The last LBB Blog preview we’re going to give you today is from a spectacular ~ and I mean spectacular~ wedding choreographed by the brilliant team of wedding professionals at Exquisite Affairs Productions that took place in an A. M. A. Z. I. N. G. old savings bank building ~ Skylight One Hanson.

full SMP gallery here

We’ll pick up tomorrow morning … 10-ish … with EAP’s stunning wedding feature!

Have a wonderful day!!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cori Cook Floral Design, Exquisite Affairs Productions, Laura Murray, New York Weddings, Skylight One Hanson, Twin Lens, Weddings by Windy, Worthington Photography
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Real Weddings, Wedding Photography

First up ~ we have Lexy and Steve’s New Mexico wedding from Kitty & Craig at Twin Lens. The depth and the emotion that Kitty and Craig capture in each and every one of their weddings is unparalleled.

You can see, from this first shot just why Lexi and Steve wanted Kitty & Craig to capture their wedding weekend … AND why they decided to hold their wedding in Lexy’s parents’ Albuquerque backyard!

From Lexy …

I know I stand with a countless number of people in saying that my wedding day was the happiest day of my life, but I really don’t know how else to describe it. With all of our amazing vendors and the breathtaking landscape combined with the presence of our beloved friends and family, there was little left to ask for.

The only thing that seemed certain about our wedding was that we wanted to have fun and be relaxed enough to be able to laugh. Beyond that, my fiance and I started with very little.

Location came first. We wanted something a bit out of the ordinary and were hoping for a location with some sentimental value. We started to look at a few locations in Southern California (where we live), when it dawned on us that my parents’ house in Albuquerque, New Mexico backs up to the beautiful Sandia Mountains and has a fantastic multi-level backyard.  New Mexico is definitely out of the ordinary, considering all of our Southern California possibilities, and the sentimental value of my parents’ house seemed obvious. My mother’s excitement for our backyard ceremony idea was contingent upon only one requirement… a wedding planner. My sister suggested that I call Rebeca Reategui. All I can say is that there are not enough words to describe Rebecca’s brilliance as a wedding planner. She was there every step of the way to ensure that every last detail was perfectly in place.

When asking for help finding our wedding vendors in the Albuquerque area, we received some great recommendations from a San Francisco based photographer who spent fifteen years shooting weddings in New Mexico. He only gave us one name for our photographers … Kitty & Craig ~ Twin Lens …

After one look at their website, and one in person conversation, we knew why he only bothered with one recommendation. Craig and Kitty are creative photojournalists with eyes for capturing the moment, exactly what we wanted. They are also two of the most enjoyable people to be with, above and beyond what we expected.

Once we had these delightful people in place, and got to start working on the details, we knew we could embrace our location. One of my favorite things about Albuquerque is the beautiful sunsets ~ they cast an incredibly brilliant glow on the Sandia Mountains.

With this in mind I let my bridesmaids choose any dress they wanted as long as it was somewhere on the color wheel between yellow and red, which actually turned out better than I expected. In the same vein, the groomsmen wore orange ties with tan suits.

Our wonderfully creative florist, Andrea Soorikian, put together fantastic centerpieces. I wanted depth of color and texture which Andrea created from flowers I didn’t know existed before I met her.

Angela Reece, and her crew at Walter Burke Catering, put together the perfect menu with a little southwestern flare. We also had a dessert bar that had even those without a sweet tooth going back for seconds. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

{more of the sweets and florals in their gallery}

Their invitations and accompanying wedding pieces were designed by Elizabeth Hubbell …

Calligraphy by Papineau Calligraphy

This is one of those weddings that we’d love to keep on going and going and going with the photos sent to us by Kitty and Craig. But ~ now that we are able to share the whole gallery with you, we’ll let you check out all the pics right here: Lexy & Steve’s gallery

In the gallery, you’ll see a few shots from the rehearsal dinner as well …

Lexy and Steve’s Wedding Vendors: Photography: Twin Lens ,Wedding Coordinator: Rebecca Reategui, Florist: Andrea Soorikian Design, Caterer: Walter Burke Catering, Invitations: Elizabeth Hubbell Studio, Calligrapher: Papineau Calligraphy, D.J.: Matt Mizell ~ Lighthouse Entertainment, Rehearsal Dinner: Casa Rodena, Gown: Vera Wang

LOVE!!

So ~ if you’re as awed by Kitty and Craig’s work as we are, here are some links to see more …

Lexy & Steve’s Wedding {a fantastic slideshow from Twin Lens}

Twin Lens Website

Twin Lens Facebook page

Style Me Pretty Gallery: Steve and Lexy’s wedding

Style Me Pretty Gallery: More Twin Lens weddings previously published on Style Me Pretty! {23 pages of stunning weddings}

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Albuquerque, Elizabeth Hubbell, New Mexico, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog, Traditional Elegance, Wedding Photography

I think a lot of women probably go into their wedding planning with the idea that it’ll take at least a year. So, let me be the one to assure you it can be done in three months, with a lap top and iphone, while running hockey summer camps with your fiance, in rinks with extremely sketchy internet and phone service. Ladies, it can be done! We picked two dates that we loved in September and began the journey of wedding planning. I remember researching places that we might want to get married. We spent hours upon hours on the internet researching cities and resorts that fit our vision of our wedding day.

There were many places that we loved, but there was just something about Santa Fe and specifically, the Encantado Resort. It looks so peaceful, romantic, organic, chic and serene. It was all the things that we wanted in our day. Once we decided on the Encantado Resort and luckily our quickly approaching day just happened to be available, we received a list of recommended vendors from the wedding coordinator at the Encantado Resort.

It is amazing how important a wedding vendors website is when you’re planning a wedding from 1,917 miles away from the wedding site, without being able to meet anyone in person. I think we had a very similar experience when picking vendors as we did while choosing a resort. We wanted to see who could see our vision, understand it and most importantly make our “vision” a reality. We were looking for a wedding that reflected who we are as a couple. Simple yet elegant. Never overstated, yet delicate and beautiful.

Our wedding was elegant, natural and romantic just as we imagined. An arch of willow-tree filled with fresh herbs and blooms in tones of lavender, white, ecru and silver with accents of green framed the alter to perfection. Our spanish guitarist set the mood and provided entertainment at our ceremony and cocktail hour. We always wanted a small, intimate wedding which we received in our nineteen guests of close family and friends. Since we chose a small wedding we had the benefit of using the courtyard for both our cocktail hour and reception, it was more like a dinner party, which we loved.

Of course not everything on your wedding day will be perfect, there is always something or in my case someone missing. A few years ago my older sister, Bridgitte, passed away very suddenly. I always thought she would be standing by my side as my maid of honor on my wedding day and now I was faced with the reality that I had one vision that couldn’t come true no matter how hard I tried. I have many wonderful friends that would have stood up with me on that day, but to me no one could fill her shoes. It fit us best to not have a wedding party and I think that’s a good thing for couples to remember, you don’t have to follow every tradition. Let your wedding represent you and your fiance. We did find some great ways to include Bridgitte into our ceremony and reception, which was extremely important to us. Our officiant, Martha, suggested mentioning Bridgitte in our ceremony to acknowledge what we were all thinking about that day, and that was her absence there. She was definitely right, on that day she was respectfully acknowledged in the ceremony and although there were tears, it was so nice to think of her during that moment. I also had Andrea place a small charm with the letter “B” on my bouquet, so I could feel her presence with me as I walked down the aisle.

People always say to enjoy every moment in your wedding day because it is over before you know it. I never believed this could be true, until my day arrived and was over in what felt like an hour! It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re enjoying the company of friends and family, over great food, wonderful music and, of course, cocktails. I remember the day we received our photos and slideshow from Kitty and Craig, we relived our wedding all over, and over and over! The photos were just stunning. Their style is documentary- which isn’t for everyone- but it was exactly what we were looking for. Their photos are not just pictures, they are artwork. In the end our memories were all captured to perfection. We can not thank them enough.

We want to thank all of our vendors for making our vision a reality and helping us to achieve our dream.

Dress by: Monique Lhuillier / Bride’s Shoes: Pedro Garcia / Groom’s Suit: Burberry / Photography: Twin Lens / venue: Encantado Resort / flowers: Andrea Soorikian Design / Invitations: Bella Figura / officiant: Martha Spring / d.j.: Absolute Entertainment

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Absolute Entertainment, Andrea Soorikian Design, Bella Figura, Encantado Resort, Martha Spring, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance

This wedding has an altogether joyful, stylish vibe that I just love. Lots of pretty details, a stunning setting and one very happy couple…

Now, normally I like to wrap up a wedding with a photograph of the newlyweds, but I just couldn’t resist this image of the bride Lauren. Sorry David… but your new wife is just having too much fun… love it.

***

Credits: Flowers by Andrea Soorikian Design, Ceremony and Reception location Encantado Resort, Wedding Coordination byHeidi Anderson, Cake by Maggie’s Cakes, Dress by Vera Wang, Shoes by Manolo Blahnik, Music from Sauce, Invitations and Paper Goods by Ceci New York, Calligraphy by Betsy Dunlap and last but not least, photography by Kitty and Craig Fritz from Twin Lens.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Encantado Resort, Manolo Blahnik, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Real Weddings

From the bride, Lauren…

The ceremony was my favorite part of the entire day. Dark-colored storm clouds rolled in a few hours before that looked quite ominous for rain (August in New Mexico is known for afternoon showers). We certainly lucked out though because the storm never made its way to the Encantado, yet the clouds created an awesome backdrop for spectacular photos.

Luckily for all us, the jaw dropping doesn’t stop with the ceremony. Lauren was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting, “White Trumpet Flower”, so she hired Santa Fe floral designer, Andrea Soorikian, to turn her vision into reality and create an evening that was as expressive as the painting itself.

From Lauren…

Overall I wanted the look to be very natural and organic: grasses, succulents, driftwood, pods, etc, with tonal cream blooms, complemented by tons of candlelight. I wanted the floral arrangements to each be unique, so we had a mix of tables with varied vessels to adorn each. The round tables had rectangular wood vases or bamboo bowls, while the long tables had an arrangement of driftwood, white blooms and greens running down the length of each table. I had my heart set on creating a “tree” for the place card table, which I found out is no easy task. Thankfully Andrea did not shy away from the challenge and went above and beyond to create the most gorgeous orchid tree I could have ever imagined!

Credits: Flowers by Andrea Soorikian Design, Ceremony and Reception location Encantado Resort, Wedding Coordination by Heidi Anderson, Dress by Vera Wang, Calligraphy by Betsy Dunlap, photography by Kitty and Craig Fritz from Twin Lens.

More photos of the gorgeous reception coming up next.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Calligraphy, Encantado Resort, New Mexico, Orchids, Outdoor Wedding, Santa Fe, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance

From the bride, Lauren…

Santa Fe holds a special place in my heart as I grew up visiting there. It was also the destination of one of our first trips together, so the location was an easy answer for us. Overall, we wanted to create an event that was natural, laid-back, was understatedly elegant, and most importantly, was a fun celebration for all! With the help of some fabulous vendors, we were able to do just that… The very first thing I did was research photographers. I have always been drawn to photojournalistic-style photography as I love seeing background moments and candid shots that might otherwise be missed. I fortuitously stumbled upon Kitty and Craig and instantly fell in love with their amazing talent. They also just so happened to be locally based to Santa Fe, so the partnership could not have been more perfect! They were such a joy to work with during our engagement photo session and the wedding weekend, not to mention extremely easy-going and just plain cool as a couple.

Coming up next, some stunning photographs from the ceremony…

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Encantado Resort, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Twin Lens
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Destination