It’s no secret that I seriously have a soft spot in my heart for rock the dress sessions because these sessions tend to allow us to get a little more creative with what we can do outside of the wedding day. And when rock the dress sessions include horses, chickens, and dogs (not to mention an awesome bride and groom), then, oh yes, sign me up for the fun! Melisa and Zack’s Dutton Montana farm rock the dress portraits were the absolute epitome of aforementioned fun, and I’m pretty certain I did not stop smiling for one second of our time as we made these images together.

We met up again on their farm the day after their wedding, and just traipsed about the grounds, collecting animals as we went along. Song, their gorgeous horse (who also starred in their wedding) was first up for some portraits. Turns out, being a wedding superstar is a lot of (apparently tiring!) work, and he had us all cracking up as he yawned and yawned and YAWNED through his portraits. (And when a horse yawns, he YAWNS!)

The yawning bug must have caught up to Zack and Melisa’s dog, Junebug, too, who began to yawn as Zack and Melisa were sharing some smooches! Animals are just the BEST, amiright? :)

Eventually we made our way to hang out with all the chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and peacocks (the peacocks were camera shy though, so no photos of them). All the chickies ran hither, thither, and yon, but each one got some cuddle time with Melisa. Unlike the peacocks, Davíd, the male turkey, REALLY loved the camera (or me – Melisa told me he had a little turkey crush on me), and he literally strutted his stuff, back and forth, photobombing quite a few of my images to ensure that I got his best side (I’m pretty sure Davíd believes ALL his sides are his best side – haha!).

The pups joined us again in the hay for some more images (such sleepy puppies!), and the chickens, not to be outdone (and, Davíd, too of course!), hung out with us again, jumping onto hay bales, hanging out in Melisa’s lap, and scratching around for goodies while we made some fun photos.

We also zipped on over to the silos lining the driveway (because aren’t they just awesome!), and had a lot of fun creating some more editorial types of images with the graphic nature of the silos. (Gotta love those yellow doors!) Melisa had a great time dancing in her dress, playing with her voluminous skirts, and getting that beautiful veil to catch the wind. Junebug decided to join us again, too, and, really rocked her own poses as well! (Though I think it *might* have had something to do with the rabbit running around the silos.)

Last, but not least, we took a little respite in the shade of several of their trees near Melisa’s flower garden, and had such a good time making some stellar portraits of just Melisa – no photobombing turkey this time.

Suffice it to say, this session was just an absolute blast – thank you again, Melisa and Zack, for such a wonderful couple of days spent with the two of you and your menagerie of incredible critters! You absolutely rocked that dress and I’m so glad we got to make these images for you! Cheers to you both!

On the Docket:

Weddings, portraits and more! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

P.S. Here’s a fun little “behind-the-scenes” image from our session. :) And yes, Davíd was photobombing us again. :)

 

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My other office for today. What a blast to get to do what I do! Thank you again, Melisa and Zack! You absolutely rocked your rock the dress session, big time, and I loved every second of it! #kristinepaulsenphotography #behindthescenesphotoshoot #turkeysfordays #abrideandherbirds #ilovemyjob

A post shared by Kristine Paulsen (@kristinep_photo) on Jun 30, 2019 at 3:50pm PDT

Every time I get to work with Becka and Stephan (I’ve done their family photos and their wedding!), it’s a total blast, so it was no surprise at all to me that we had such a fun time during their Missoula Montana summertime rock the dress photos. AND they brought two of their good friends, Jes and Kara, and their pup, Daisy, too.

It was a *much* warmer day than their snowy wedding day back in November, and Becka joked that this time around she didn’t have to wear leggings under her dress! And what a gorgeous day it was! We couldn’t have been treated to more beautiful light or scenery for their session. And everybody was full of laughs and jokes and Daisy enjoyed herself as well!

I think one of my favorite things about Becka and Stephan (and there are a lot!) is just how easily they love one another. The way they look at one another. The way they laugh together. They way they goof around and just have fun – it’s awesome and such a treat to get to capture for them!

Becka and Stephan’s friends Jes and Kara were such a blast to photograph as well – they were game to walk through the super tall grass (in heels, even!), and were the best cheerleaders for Becka and Stephan’s photos. They got just as excited as I did when we hit those fantastic pockets of beautiful light!

Becka was just radiant and glowing as we made her individual photos. And every time Stephan joined her, her smile became even wider, her eyes sparkled brighter, and it’s like they were in their own perfect world – truly a joy to document!

Becka and Stephan (and Jes and Kara and Daisy, too!) – thank you, again, for such a fantastically fun session! I swear, you need to just keep having major life events so I can photograph them all for you. ;) It’s always such a treat to get to hang out and make beautiful images with you! Here’s to you two and your love!

On the Docket:

Weddings, elopements, and portraits! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Ali is one of my dear friends, and we’ve known each other since we were 6 and 7 respectively. It’s become a bit of a tradition for me to make photos of her (she was a muse of mine back when I was in college shooting film and developing images in the darkroom – she and I attended different colleges across a river from one another!). And, I think, for going on 10 or 11 years now, she’s made a trek out to visit me in Montana every summer. This summer she got married in the midwest, but I wasn’t able to go to her wedding since I was already slated to shoot one here in Missoula. BUT…ButButBut…I told her to bring her dress out here during her visit this summer so I could make some fun Missoula Montana rock the dress photos for her as a wedding gift – and the day before my birthday we did just that.

It was a quick session (just about 15 minutes – believe me when I say it that light disappears rapidly!) because we got started later than was perfectly ideal since Ali was driving in to Missoula from spending time down the Bitterroot, and we were seriously losing our light. But we made the most of it after hurriedly dashing up a mountainside (Ali in her dress and me laden down with my gear like a pack animal – let’s just say it’s a good thing we did *not* document this part of our wee adventure – ha!), shot as quickly as we could before it was pitch black (I literally could barely see her it was so dark out), and we combatted some seriously insane wind (it was a devilish little bugger knocking over my gear! wah wahhhh!) but we had a BLAST! (Which is really no surprise since Ali and I always have a great time when we’re making images together.) To anyone who may have happened upon us, you would have heard a heckuva lot of laughter and crazy exclamatory yelps!

Anyway, thanks again Ali for racing back to Missoula and catching the last of the light in the smoky skies with me, for being my photographic muse over the years, for not laughing *too* hard when I get overly excited and tumble over into the dirt and grass, for trying your best to save my wind-catapulted gear from totally committing harikari, and for understanding my utter excitement over a fantastic image. Here’s to many more Montana sessions in the future (though let’s give ourselves more time and less impish-wind next go around! ;) ) Love you, girl, and congrats again to you and Garner! 

On the Docket:

Weddings and portraits! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Rock the dress sessions are always such a blast for me to photograph, and they’re even better when you get to work with a couple like Daniella and Rob who were both just so completely stoked to 1) be in Montana. And 2) to get to just have fun! They traveled all the way here from New Jersey, and totally rocked their Missoula Montana rock the dress photo session, despite the massive amounts of smoke that had poured into the valley from all the wildfires we’ve been experiencing in the west this summer. (I promise, Daniella and Rob, there really are mountains out there!)

Even with all that smoke, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t lend an interesting and beautiful look to these photos (check out those layers of trees in some of the images, and that bright orange sun – no fancy editing to get that!). Daniella had a great time twirling in her dress (so pretty!), and she even hopped into the water for a few frames, too (as did I – always a good time!).

Daniella and Rob – thank you again for such a fun session! I truly hope Montana treats you to some clear skies on your next visit! :)

On the docket: portraits and weddings! Don’t miss out!

Cheers,

-Kristine

When Megan contacted me about doing a Missoula Montana rock the dress session with her and her husband, Scott, I admittedly got a little nervous – it’s not every day you photograph other photographers (they are the couple behind Megan Lane Photography out of Helena). But they were so excited and so gung ho about doing this to celebrate their upcoming 11th anniversary (yay, you two!), I knew it was silly of me to be nervous, and more importantly, that we’d have a great time making these images. Plus, it’s always fun to work with folks who’ve got a vision for how they’d like their photos to look (magical, fairytale, editorial – yahoo!).

And oh! What a great time we had! I think Megan and I have got the exact same excitement level when it comes to making photos, so we were probably both a little ridiculously excited (let’s just say there were many, many peals of laughter and giddy sound effects), but for good reason – these two truly rocked their photos!

Megan and Scott! It was such a treat to meet and photograph you two, and I’m so happy that you did this as a treat to yourselves. What a fantastic way to celebrate 11 years together! Congratulations again, and here’s to lots of photo fun in front of and behind the camera! :)

On the docket: portraits and weddings! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Oh, how I adore rock the dress sessions! They are just so much fun – relaxed, beautiful, playful, creative, and most importantly they take place outside of the wedding day timeline to allow more flexibility with image-making. Don’t get me wrong, I love making photos during wedding days too, and Kristeen and Colt’s day was certainly no exception, but there’s something just so special about doing these types of portraits without time constraints, and simply allowing yourself to go with the flow of the day and just follow the light and let it do its thing.

So that’s what we did. It happened to be a very smoky day since wildfires in Canada, Washington and Oregon were pushing smoke into the Missoula valley, but that didn’t stop us from wandering around in the woods. We had quite a bit of fun with these dandelion weed things (we’ll pretend they aren’t weeds…and maybe they aren’t? Any botanist-minded folks willing to enlighten me as to what this doodads are?), Kristeen and Colt were both willing to toss their shoes to the side and meander barefoot for a while (seriously – there’s something so beautiful about a couple walking barefoot together…amiright?), and Colt picked Kristeen a true Montana wildflower bouquet (what could be more perfect?).

We laughed, we smiled, we ran, we soaked in the beauty, we had a heckuva darn good time. And we got to play with those GIANT dandelion things.

Such a fun evening! Thanks again you two. :) Anytime you want to wander in the woods with me, just let me know.

On the docket: more portraits and weddings! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Dusty and Tom are so fab – first, remember their gorgeous Glacier wedding last July? Secondly, when Dusty told me what she wanted to do for her rock the dress session, I was loving how her goal was to incorporate some of their favorite things – golfing, their love of Missoula, their passion for the Griz and, the cherry on top – quintessential Missoula summer awesomeness: floating the river with beers in hand.

We started out golfing a few holes and took advantage of some gorgeous Missoula vistas as well. Talk about a perfect day for all of what we had planned! After hitting the course, our next stop was the “M” trail at the university, and yet more amazing views! (I think we all surprised quite a few of the hikers on the trail – we’re pretty sure Dusty even got instagrammed by a lady finishing her hike).

We couldn’t leave the university without a nod to the Griz, so we headed over to the stadium to make some photos there. We were all kind of secretly longing to get into the stadium (or perhaps not so secretly longing), but discovered it was locked, and decided we probably shouldn’t break in. ;) However, luck was on our side and we ended up running into a friend of mine (yay Adelle!), who works at the U, and also happened to have a set of keys on her. Serendipity, baby! We were in! And boy were we excited.

After we did our photo thing in the stadium, we zipped on over to the river and ended our evening with some tube-floating, river-wading and a TON of laughter. I’d say that makes for one heckuva a great rock the dress session. Way to be, D&T! You seriously rocked your session!

On the docket: portraits galore and weddings! Stay posted!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Reason number 5 million and one why I think Lauren and Thad are the bee’s knees: they are avid rock climbers AND they wanted me to document, quite literally, a rock the dress session for them the day after their wedding.

When they first told me this, in my head I was all giddy and yelping and saying (in my head, mind you), “Can I get a heck YEAH!?!!!” (Though now that I think about it, maybe that wasn’t all in my head.)

Because 1. How completely, totally awesome.

And 2. I’m a rock climber as well. Albeit a bit rusty after not having had a partner for a couple years, but I GET rock climbing. I get it. I love it. I understand it. I know the thrill of it, and the mental hurdles you’ve got to tackle. And the pure exhilaration of being on top of the world. So, this made me pretty darn excited, if that wasn’t already apparent. Plus, they wanted to climb near Lake Koocanusa, which is one of my favorite spots to climb, and also a place where I did a little write-up and photo story for the Daily Inter Lake (when I was working there), about my own climbing adventures.

And 3. How completely, TOTALLY AWESOME. (Yes, I had to reiterate that.)

Anywho….the day came, it was early and a wee bit on the chilly side, but holy moly. SO worth it. We all giggled and shivered a bit as Lauren and Thad slipped their rings onto necklaces, got their harnesses situated, the rope flaked, knots tied and wedding dress and suit adjusted. But as soon as they hit the wall to climb “Road Kill” and “To TNT or Not to Be” (the names of their routes), it was game time. And oh….how unbelievably beautiful!

I love climbing. I also adore watching climbers do their thing. There is something so amazing and truly incredible about witnessing the human body defying gravity, and seeing muscles come to life, fluid and beautiful in the light.

Add wedding day finery to the mix and a touch of a breeze – holy HECK. I was practically beside myself with pure excitement. (There may have been some leaping around involved.)

Have I mentioned how much I adore Lauren and Thad? :)

And now, I’ve gone on far too long with my words….I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves. Prepare to be awed by these two. They. Are. Amazing.

On the docket: portraits and weddings! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

When Starr called me up to ask me about photographing her intimate wedding Memorial Day weekend, I just knew I’d have a blast working with her and her fiancé (now husband!) Ian. She has such a positive, happy energy and it just radiated on her wedding day. She said her vows in the twinkling lights of the Missoula Children’s Theater and then she, Ian and I took a walk through the woods to make some fun portraits outdoors after the ceremony.

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day for these images – sunny and gorgeous! As we were heading back to our respective vehicles, Starr proposed the idea of an impromptu rock the dress session. And who would I be to say no to a fun idea like that? So we all rolled up our pants (and wedding dress!), and waded into the extremely chilly water to make some fun, memorable images. We were all laughing pretty hard, and I think our smiles were about ready to jump off our faces – such a blast! We even had a bit of a crowd greet us after we took our frozen selves out of the water to dry off a bit.

Thank you again, Starr and Ian! It was such a treat to document such a special day in your lives, and so nice to meet your family. Congratulations again!

On the docket: weddings and portraits! Stay posted, folks! Blog posts are coming your way, fast and furious! :)

Cheers!

-Kristine

Rock the dress sessions – I seriously can’t get enough of them, especially when they’re as fun as Sarah and Jeff’s! I met up with them at Sarah’s family’s cabin on Placid Lake in Seeley Lake, and we had a blast traipsing about the area making some gorgeous day-after images of these two newlyweds. Placid Lake is especially important to both Sarah and Jeff because Jeff actually proposed in a kayak not too far from the family cabin. We even got a photo of them with the kayak!

Sarah and Jeff – thanks again for having me do this! Oh my gosh – so much fun, and so beautiful! And now, to the photos!

On the docket: weddings, portraits, and more weddings! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine