Every wedding has noteworthy moments — but the first dance between Autumn and Jacob is, after 12 years of photographing weddings, perhaps the most incredible first dance we’ve seen.
But let’s back up. Autumn and Jacob reached out to us more than a year ago about photographing their wedding at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado, and at the Rose Event Center in Golden. The theme was cowboy Western.
First the church: We’ve photographed Holy Ghost Catholic church weddings on several occasions, and each time we’re awed by the beauty of the building, which was completed in the 1940s and whose architecture was inspired by both Spanish and Italian Renaissance. Five priests concelebrated the Mass with Autumn and Jacob.
After a beautiful wedding Mass, we traveled to Three Sisters Park in Evergreen, Colorado, where we photographed the bridal party and Autumn and Jacob. Mid-day bridal party photos during the summer for Catholic weddings can often be a challenge, especially on days when Colorado’s sun is shining so brightly. But we were aided by the large barn at the park, and Anya and I worked in the shade to capture moments with everyone.
We then traveled to the Rose Event Center wedding venue in downtown Golden, where the venue was set up for a great evening of food, drink and dancing.
So back to that first dance. Autumn and Jacob are practiced swing dancers. And it showed. As you’ll see in the later photos, at one point Autumn was nearly upside down while Jacob held on. As photographers, dances like this are our dream — and Autumn and Jacob made it look effortless. Then, they were joined on the dance floor with so many of their guests.
We ended the evening waiting for the sun to set behind Lookout Mountain so we could capture the iconic image of the “Welcome to Golden” sign over the town’s main drag.
