The Kanias - Aspen, CO

Y’all, y’all, y’all, y’all. I shot a micro-wedding in Aspen - IS THIS REAL LIFE?!

I’ve known Anna-Kay since she was 16 (we worked together as cute little hostesses at Texas Roadhouse) and she has been in a relationship with Jimmy pretty much this whole time. They quietly got engaged in October 2018 and planned their intimate wedding to be almost exactly two years later in Aspen, where Jimmy’s family has vacationed his whole life.

We were supposed to do their Engagement Session there over the summer and they were supposed to go to New Zealand on their honeymoon and I was supposed to be leaving my six-month-old at home for a few days of alone/work time, but 2020 (and Cy’s bottle refusal) said “nahhhhh bruh” to all of those. But NOTHING could keep us from getting them married in the mountains surrounded by 18 of their absolute nearest and dearest!

Ben and I loaded our tiny, teething human into the car and made the 14 hour drive to Aspen, which was actually like 18-20 hours when you factor in stopping to feed/change a kid every 3 hours in addition to food/fuel/bathroom stops. She didn’t sleep much in the car but she doesn’t mind her carseat, so we all made it without losing our minds! We had 36 blissful hours in Aspen’s cool weather, surrounded by breathtaking mountains and awe-inspiring fall foliage that you just don’t see in Texas. It was worth it!

Aside from getting stuck at Maroon Bell’s for an extra 20 minutes because a park ranger’s car was parked behind us - everything was perfect! Anna-Kay had her late grandfather’s shirt wrapped around her bouquet as a surprise for her grandma and they surprised ALL of their guests by printing fun photos of themselves with that person and hiding them under the guest’s napkin at dinner. Dinner was dreamy and relaxed as we watched the sun set behind the mountains. Oh and their reception florals were HANDS DOWN the most stunning I’ve ever seen…so make sure you go all the way to the end on this blog. You’ll be glad you did!

Dope vendor shoutout: