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Glen Alps Engagement: Paolina & Garrett

1 Comment January 25, 2013|Joe Connolly|Glen Alps/Flattop

On Friday I met up with Paolina and Garrett to do their engagement photos at Glen Alps – Flattop. We had been trying to do this shoot for a few weeks, but kept delaying, waiting for the right combination of fresh snow and sunshine. Fortunately, we had a few inches of snow on Thursday night and into friday morning, and by late afternoon the sky cleared and it got really cold. During the shoot it was only 3-4 degrees above zero, but Paolina and Garrett toughed it out and made it look like a warm spring day. They had to take blanket breaks, where they’d hide under the blanket to warm up, and that worked pretty well. Here are some pics! Enjoy…

Destination Wedding: Sarah & Seth in Maui, Hi

2 Comments October 20, 2012|Joe Connolly|Maui HI

Hawaii 2.0! Another group of Alaskan’s decided the middle of October would be a good time to escape and get married in Hawaii. Technically, Sarah and Seth live in Washington, but they’re both from Alaska originally and there were a lot of Alaskan’s in attendance. Also a lot of Pacific Northwest-folk. Before the ceremony, we had a few hours to go explore and find places to shoot. I did some homework and found some great spots that covered a wide variety of Maui scenes; rocky coast, lava field, flowers, rock wall, etc.. it was good stuff. La Perouse Bay was especially nice and pretty quiet. Their ceremony and reception was held at the Wailea Blue Gold Course, a beautiful place on the south side of the island with great views. Dinner was really yummy – the fish tacos were especially good and I heard a number of people discussing their greatness. The lighting in Hawaii is always so good.. even in the middle of the day you can make it look easy. I tried bottling some of it up and hope to bring some back for the next round of Alaskan winter weddings. Stay tuned for those, we’ve got a few coming up!

Destination Wedding: Maddy & Cody in Kauai, HI

3 Comments October 11, 2012|Joe Connolly|Kauai HI

On Thursday, 10-11-12, Maddy & Cody were married at a private beachfront residence along Anini Beach, on the island of Kauai, HI. There was a good turnout of about 40 guests or so, with a lot of Alaskan’s in attendance, which made for a fun crowd. Before the ceremony, Maddy gave me over an hour to do some photos of just her – so we drove down the road and hit up a few spots along the beach. Then we made our way back to the house for the ceremony and reception, where there was a lot of dancing and good food to be had. The music was loud enough to disturb someone in the campground next door, and after some heated debate over the legality of playing music at 8:30pm, the DJ politely defused the situation and got the guy to leave without being too upset, and kept the party going.. Very cool DJ and easy to work with – Kustom Sounds Kauai. Because we didn’t have much time for bride and groom stuff on the day of the wedding, we met up the next day and spent a good 3 hours all over the north shore hitting up some of my favorite secret spots. Below you’ll find a nice sampling of the goods..enjoy!

Destination Wedding: Michelle And Todd at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina

1 Comment September 29, 2012|Joe Connolly|Asheville

On Saturday I was at the historic Biltmore Estate for Michelle & Todd’s wedding. I escaped Alaska just in time to miss the first snowfall and was immediately reminded of what southern heat and humidity feels like. Former Chugach Peaks’er Nick Gillespie has setup shop in Asheville, NC as Blue Bend Photography and booked a few weddings for me. You might recall he was in Alaska with us for some time doing weddings for the Peaks’… Despite a morning rain-shower and a hot and humid afternoon, the day went amazingly and I got some great images. It was fun to be back in the states for a big formal wedding – Alaska weddings are usually less formal and more chill. This one was actually pretty chill by southern standards which was nice.. Michelle & Todd were married in the Butterfly Gardens. Beforehand, we had a couple hours to go wander the grounds of the estate, which have some of the prettiest spots I’ve seen. The day before the wedding I went to hang out with the guys while they shot skeet at the shooting range. Check out the pics below!

Anchorage Wedding – Stephanie & Kevin at Amazing Grace Lutheran and Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge

0 Comments September 23, 2012|Joe Connolly|Amazing Grace Lutheran Church

On Sunday I wrapped up the 2012 Alaska summer wedding scene by shooting Stephanie and Kevin’s wedding at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church followed by a reception at Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge. In-between, we stopped at a park along the way off Elmore Road to do photos of the wedding party with the nice fall colors. Everyone in their crew was pretty ridiculous which made for some easy picture taking. At Bernies they had the whole place to themselves, and it was our first time shooting there so it was fun to see something different – it’s a really colorful room with a cool modern vibe.

Girdwood Wedding: Rebekah & Paul at Our Lady of the Snows Chapel

0 Comments September 22, 2012|Joe Connolly|Our Lady of the Snow's Chapel, Seward Highway

On Saturday I teamed up with Chris Beck to Photograph Rebekah & Paul’s wedding at Our Lady of the Snows Chapel in Girdwood. It rained all day but we managed to get some amazing stuff along the Seward Highway at the end of the night! Check it out..!

Anchorage Wedding: Signe & Marco at Kincaid Park Chalet and Table 6 Restaurant

0 Comments September 9, 2012|Joe Connolly|Kincaid Park Chalet, Table 6 Restaurant

On Sunday I teamed up with Jonathan Gurry to photograph Signe & Marco’s wedding at the Kincaid Park Chalet and Table 6 Restaurant. It was our first wedding to this new Anchorage restaurant and it went great! Good food, cool atmosphere and colors.. I hope we end up doing more weddings there.

Anchorage Wedding: Johanna & Eric at St. Benedicts Church and O’Malley’s on the Green

0 Comments September 8, 2012|Josh Martinez|O'Malley's On The Green, St. Bennedict's

On Saturday Josh Martinez was at St. Benedicts Church in Anchorage followed by a reception at O’Malley’s on the Green. One of the nicest fall days of the year! Check out the photos…

Talkeetna Wedding: Kimberly & Brad at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge

0 Comments September 8, 2012|Joe Connolly|Talkeetna Alaska Lodge, Walkabout: Talkeetna

On Saturday I was up in Talkeetna for Kimberly & Brad’s wedding at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. The mountain made quite an appearance! We managed to get a lot of photos with Denali/Mt. McKinley in the background. Very nice!…

Seward Wedding: Moorea & Terril at Fox Island Lodge

2 Comments September 3, 2012|Joe Connolly|Fox Island Lodge

On Monday I was down in Seward with Jonathan Gurry to photograph Moorea and Terril’s wedding at the beautiful Fox Island Lodge. We had never been there before so it was a great new place to shoot with a lot of options. The day started with rain and clouds but the rain stopped and the sun came out towards the end of the day and we had some incredible light. Moorea and Terril are both Marine Biologists, so there was definitely a theme here that went well with their personalities.