Weddings.  Such joy.  A lot of work.  But totally worth it!

This wedding was particularly special to me.  I have known the bride my whole life.  She is a bit like the little sister I never had.  You see, her sister and I are best friends and we lived across the street from each other growing up.  Now she is all grown up and finally found her perfect match.  She is wild and crazy and silly and funny.  He is quiet and shy but grounded and adores her!  What more could you want?

This family is big and fun and full of love and I just ADORE them!  What a privilege to be a part of this day and help this family celebrate Sierra and Allen.

It was amazing that all 7 of the Davis kids (and their wives and kids) were all able to be there to help celebrate.  Even the Arizona Davis family, whose 13 year old just beat cancer for the second time, was able to make it!

How’s this for an immediate family?

Immediate family with spouses and children.  Love it!

I guess when there are this many family members there are bound to be a few hiccups.  By the end of the day I was laughing with one of the brothers when he mentioned that the day went a little bit like a country western song.

The Mother of the Bride and one of the brothers woke up with migraine headaches.  Ugh!  It was SUPER windy while we were trying to take pictures (also straight up noon isn’t the best for lighting, but we made it work).  One of the flower girls got sick (luckily she has a lot of nieces and another one was able to step in). One brother was trying to get the doves ready for the ceremony (Yes, they trained doves for the ceremony. How cool is that?) and stood up quickly and cut his head open on the edge of the coop.  Probably should have had stitches, but who has time for that on a wedding day?  (By the way, you can’t tell which brother it was because I worked some photoshop magic and you can’t even see the wound).  Toward the end of the reception they noticed that one of the horses was laying down and wouldn’t get up.  Poor horsey.  Didn’t make it.  We were laughing (because what else do you do at a time like that) saying that Ray lost his horse and his daughter on the same day.  Hence the country song.

Despite all of the craziness…..Sierra never lost her smile and she didn’t let anything get her down.  I was so proud of her spirit and that she enjoyed her day.

A few years ago, the family moved up to Loveland to be closer to work and to be able to have more property for their horses and their big family.  I love rustic and cowboy.  Perhaps because I grew up with it across the street.  But don’t let the cowboy fool you….there was plenty of bling and sparkle at this wedding. Perfect combination!

The ceremony.  Short and sweet.  I by short, I mean 3 1/2 minutes.  What?  I barely had any time to take pictures!  They were just ready to be married I guess.  Check out the doves.  They let a bunch of them go and then they circled the wedding once and went to rest on the barn.  So cool!

Party time!

This girl loves the camera and the camera loves her!  She is so photogenic and knows just how to look at the camera.  It was so fun to take pictures.  Allen took a little more coaxing and he is REALLY shy, but I think his love for her shines through the pictures.

Despite all of the craziness, it was a beautiful day filled with love, joy and family.  What more could you want from your wedding day?  Congratulations Allen and Sierra.  I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness.

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