July 25th, 2009 will be remembered as one of the most unique wedding celebrations I’ll ever photograph! I adore Nathan and Jalene, and their wedding was so beautiful. It took place in Roswell, New Mexico (yes, the city known for UFOs and aliens!), which is 3 hours south of Albuquerque. It was SO SO hard to choose only a few photos to post from this day, as I love how so many of them turned out! I’ll explain the unique details of the wedding throughout this post.
The rehearsal dinner was at this really neat cafe in Roswell called Tinnie’s. They serve all sorts of sandwiches, ice cream, fine chocolates, ect., and they have a super cute gift shop attached to the cafe. Check out these intense yellow walls!! That made for some interesting color correction in photoshop! =) Also, notice the photography display on the walls…so great!
I think I wrote a little about Nathan and Jalene when I posted their engagement photos. Just as a recap, they are a hunting couple! Actually, everyone in both of their families hunts, which I find so unique! At the rehearsal dinner, they exchanged gifts for eachother…and without knowing it in advance, they both bought each other a gun! How cute! They both had a specific type of gun on their wish-list, but I couldn’t tell you what they are, since I am far from knowledgable about guns. =)
Jalene has the most beautiful, thick strawberry blonde hair I’ve ever seen. I love this shot of her personal attendants taking the curlers out of her hair; doesn’t she look like a princes?!
Here is the handsome groom as he sees his bride for the first time on their wedding day!
Their wedding took place at Grace Community Church in Roswell.
Jalene asked me to come up on stage to get photos of them lighting the unity candle. It was a little nerve-racking to be in front of her 300 guests, but I’m thrilled with how the shots turned out! The joy radiated from their faces…even though in this first one Nathan is quite serious as he works to light that candle!
The church had two very small balconies on each side of the auditorium, which made for a fun perspective. In order to get up there, I had to climb an intensely steep ladder – SCARY!! Especially carrying a camera!
Such a stunning bride!!
This one is my favorite from the whole day! They are such a gorgeous couple!
The reception was held in the backyard of Nathan’s parent’s home. This windmill is at the entrance of their driveway, and his mom requested we take some photos of the couple next to it. When we drove in from the ceremony, I commented that there were cars parked all around it. No problem for Jalene; without hesitation she said, “No problem, I’ll get in it!” I love it when brides are adventurous to do things like this!
This is Michelle and I. She’s a sweet friend I got to know during my year on staff with the Navigators in Albuquerque. We led worship together at each Nav Night – she is a very talented guitar player! It was so great to catch up with her!
Is it just me, or does it look like there is an ocean in the background?!
A couple more unique things about their wedding: For dinner, they roasted two pigs underground. The day before, they built an incredible 5-feet-deep hole with brick to cook the pigs in – wow! Also, Nathan is not much of a “ring-wearer”, so rather than giving Nathan a ring as a the symbol of her love, Jalene gave him an engraved pocket knife! I can just hear it now…”With this pocket knife, I thee wed…”! So unique!
Congratulations, Nathan and Jalene! Thank you for letting me be a part of your day!
If you would like to purchase prints from Nathan & Jalene’s wedding, click here. The password to view their gallery of photos is their new last name, in all undercase letters.
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