You know when you talk with people and just instantly connect? That’s how I felt when I first chatted with Brenna and Nathaniel over the phone about their engagement and wedding photography. And I was just so, SO excited to get to make their Butte Montana engagement photos. We somehow avoided the rain, too! (Though it was cold enough we were actually wondering if it might snow, ha!)

Brenna and Nathaniel are just the sweetest, and have been together for 10 years. I met up with them at their (gorrrrrgeous) home in Butte that has a beautiful view of the Tobacco Roots. Brenna’s family used to own a ski hill right nearby (when it still got snow). And holy smokes, is it ever a stunning property!

We had so much fun traipsing all around, and finding the prettiest little pockets of aspen and sagebrush and wildflowers, hooray! As we were making photos, the running joke was that we were being watched (literally) by their cats, Milo, Purrkley, and Tapper, who were hanging out in the windows of their home, keeping an eye on us. (Also, how awesome are their cats’ names?! They’re all named after Butte-related things!)

As a bonafide nerd myself, I was pretty stoked to hear that Brenna and Nathaniel also consider themselves nerdlings (yay!), and wanted to make a few photos of them gaming together. (Yas, please!)

Suffice it to say, we just had so much fun together, and there was no shortage of laughter and smiles and blissful nerdiness.

Brenna and Nathaniel! What I’ve shared here doesn’t do justice to what an absolute delight it was to hang out with you and make these photos! You two are just wonderful, and I cannot wait to document your wedding day for you! Woohoo! :)

On the docket:

Lotsa portraits! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Ashley and Nick truly are two wonderful people — and I was so excited to be able to make Garden of One Thousand Buddhas engagement photos for them, which is one of their favorite places. Ashley shared with me that it’s particularly significant to them because it’s the spot they’d often visit together when they first started dating. (And if there’s one thing I love, it’s being able to make photos in meaningful places for folks!)

Zipping up to Arlee from Missoula, we somehow managed to be treated to one of Montana’s balmier days this winter, complete with a little sun and blue sky, which I think must’ve been timed just perfectly for Ashley and Nick’s session. The universe knew!

If you haven’t been to it before, the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas is a special place, surrounded by stunning mountains, dotted with Buddhas of all shapes and sizes, and permeated by a tranquil, positive energy that we all appreciated. We wandered through the grounds, stopping at various points to laugh and chat and make photos. I think everyone’s faces hurt from smiling and cracking up so much — always a good thing in my opinion!

Speaking of which, Ashley and Nick are just a blast to photograph, and I love to see just how much fun they have together! Even though things were somewhat chilly (I mean, it is still winter after all), the warmth and love they radiated made the temps barely noticeable.

I am just so excited to get to photograph their wedding in October, and I already know we’re going to have the best time together capturing such a special day! (Photo ninja mode, here I come! )

Ashley and Nick! Congratulations again on your engagement, and thank you for being just an absolute delight to photograph! You two are the bees knees, and I’m seriously stoke, stoke, stoked for your wedding! Woohoo!

P.S. Here’s a fun little GIF to enjoy, too.

On the docket:

Portraits! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

A few weeks ago, Sammy and James got to zip on over this direction from Manhattan (the New York kind) for their Missoula Montana springtime engagement session, and I’m so glad Montana decided to play nicely and treat them to a beautiful evening in town since we had a pretty rainy springtime this year. Sammy is originally from Missoula, and she and James currently live in NYC.

When I asked them how they met, they both happened to be at a mutual friend’s birthday party, and the rest is history. James proposed to her on the Tower Bridge in London, and, as it turns out, it seems that bridges are kind of a theme for them. We started out their session on the new pedestrian bridge over the south side of Reserve Street, for which Sammy’s dad did structural engineering work. (They fondly refer to it as “Dad’s Bridge.”)

It was such a beautiful evening – gorgeous light, fantastic views (which James was really happy to see since the last time he visited the mountains were rendered invisible due to all the wildfire smoke in the air), and these two are just so, so in love, which is always so fun to see and document.

Even despite being eaten alive by gangs of gnarly, carnivorous mosquitos, Sammy and James didn’t let that bother them one bit. They were all about the hugs, the kisses, the soft shoulder caresses – and it was absolutely, perfectly beautiful.

Sammy and James, it was so nice to meet you both and have the opportunity to make these images for you (seriously, you guys are so darn sweet together!), and I’m so glad that Missoula treated you to a splendid week here! And, last but not least, here’s another huge congratulations to you on your engagement!

On the Docket:

Weddings, elopements and portraits! Don’t miss ’em!

Cheers,

-Kristine

As has been the theme in my recent posts, it has been a damp, damp spring in Montana. Which I’m a fan of, don’t get me wrong – if we can keep the green a bit longer and avoid fire season then I’m all for it. But it also means that scheduling sessions has required some creativity, probably a little bit of hand-wringing, and perhaps some subtle (or not so subtle) murmuring to the radar on my weather app to “just push the storm over that way a little, pretty pretty please!” Thankfully that pleading with my weather app worked (well, we’ll pretend it did anyway) for Andrea and Mike’s spring engagement session in the Missoula hills. It had been pouring right up until a bit before we started our session, so I was pretty darn thankful we didn’t need to pull out the galoshes!

And it was a gorgeous session with these two! The hills were lush, clouds hung in fluffy strips across the blue of the mountains, and the arrowleaf baslamroot wildflowers were out en force. Not to mention, Andrea and Mike were such a pleasure to photograph. (I think Mike wins the award for “opera-singing” along with me – we truly had a “Sound of Music” moment for a second there!) Two bears even wandered through our shoot location (of course, right before I arrived)!

Andrea and Mike were so gung ho about everything and braved the wet grass and chilly temps, all the while grinning and laughing with one another as we frolicked (there was indeed some frolicking!!) in the fields. I’m especially happy that we also hit wildflower time right on the nose since Andrea had been hoping for them to make an appearance in their engagement photos. They actually live in New Mexico currently, but Montana holds a special place for them since Andrea visited her uncle’s cabin on Flathead Lake every summer growing up. (And that’s where they’ll be getting married this summer!)

Andrea and Mike! Thanks again for such a fun session and for being flexible with our crazy weather! (So glad it didn’t snow on us! Egads!) It was so good to finally meet you both in person and see just how much fun you have with one another. I can’t wait for your wedding day this summer (hopefully with a little warmer weather, too!).

On the docket:

portraits and weddings! Don’t miss out!

Cheers,

-Kristine

I have secretly always wanted to photograph a session at the legendary Rock Creek of Montana since I absolutely love camping that direction (and one of these days I want to learn how to fish it!). So when Katie and Anthony mentioned that they’d like a Rock Creek Montana engagement session, ooooooh boy! I was excited. Not only because of my aforementioned secret wish, but because I knew I’d have such a blast with these two. And we totally did.

After what felt like days and days of rain, we somehow managed to luck into a dry spell (even though it was a fairly chilly day!), and had such a great time checking out the creek and surrounding area.

Katie and Anthony were so much fun to photograph, and it’s just so sweet to see how much they love one another. They are such a perfect fit, and to see how they look at each other, how they steal glances here and there, how tenderly they hold one another….well, it’s enough to make me all floopy. (That’s a technical term there for melty…which is a technical term for “ohmygoshIlovethesetwo.”)

Suffice it to say, it was pure perfection making their engagement photos, and I am SO excited for their upcoming wedding day this autumn!

Katie and Anthony! Thank you again for being such a treat to work with (I, no surprise, had a perma-grin post-session!). SUCH good times! And I can’t wait for many, many more come September!!

On the docket: After this Rock Creek Montana Engagement session, keep an eye out for weddings and portraits….and weddings and more portraits! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine