It’s no secret that we are huge fans of Sara Lovell. We’ve worked with her before on weddings and her hair & makeup work is always flawless. We’ve also picked her brain before in this interview, check it out. So, when we got to work with her recently on this stylized session with Chris and Lauren, we knew it was going to be so much fun that we’d want to do it again!

What, you might ask, is a stylized shoot? It’s a collaboration of talent with a theme in mind to pull inspiration from. It can be an era, a movie, a poem, a book, basically it can be anything in your wildest of dreams.

Here’s where it gets good for all engaged couples…we are giving away one of these photoshoots complete with the hair & makeup talents of Sara Lovell along with a consultation that will make your dreams become a reality.

Check out the details of this epic contest on our Empire West Photo Facebook Fan Page. We can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

We have been going through all of our amazing weddings from this year and decided to put together a little montage of our favorite moments. Enjoy!

We can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are to share these beautiful images from Chris and Lauren’s Engagement session! They put together the most gorgeous details and were up for absolutely everything. I loved the fact that they were having so much fun together and that they have this amazing connection that just translates perfectly in these frames.  Put that passion and joy together with the awesome hair and makeup talents of Sara Lovell, and you have yourselves one STUNNING session!

Love this one!

After Mother Nature got tired of cooperating with us and the rain started to fall a little more steadily, we headed back to the studio for a change in wardrobe and hair & makeup.

We then made our way over to the Eastman Theatre for some nighttime shots under the lights.

Chris and Lauren, we love you guys and are so happy to call you our friends. We know that life has so many wonderful things in store for the both of you. Congratulations!!

A special thanks to Sara Lovell, who transformed Lauren from a beauty to a bombshell,  and provided us with excellent company and expertise.  Also, a shout out to our friend Mike, for letting us use his foxy ’57 Chevy.

Our goal with this stylized shoot was to kick engagement sessions up a notch and can’t wait to collaborate with more couples.

We had so much fun shooting Chris and Lauren’s 1950s style engagement session. We literally cannot wait to share more of these images. More to come very soon!

Many of our couples plan their weddings from out of town, so that means that we don’t always get to meet face-to-face. When we found out that Haley and Dave were living in the Denver area, we jumped at the chance to make another trip to Colorado. It is, after all, one of our favorite places in the world.

We met Haley and Dave at Washington Park and it seriously felt like we had been friends for years. We loved their easy-going nature and the way that they were around each other. You could just tell that they were so happy to be there, in that moment, together.

Congratulations Haley and Dave! We are so happy for you guys and we can’t wait for your wedding day!

We had a nice leisurely morning on Sunday complete with pumpkin waffles and bacon. Then, Dan and Brienne took us to Clear Creek Canyon to do some hiking and of course we took some photos.

Me & Zach and Dan & Brienne just hanging out enjoying the view.

The whole crew thanks to Zach’s arm reach!

After a quick bite to eat in Golden, we headed out to Washington Park for our session with Haley and Dave. We couldn’t wait to meet them! Here’s a teaser.

We headed out from Winter Park bright and early on Saturday, just as the sun was rising. The scenery was amazing and we had to stop along the way to try and capture the beauty.

Grand Lake

Here are some views from the roof of Dan and Brienne’s apartment in Denver. You may remember our dear friends from their amazing mountain-top wedding.

Ranger IPA in a can!

Great American Beer Festival!! Here we come!

Outside the convention center.

We were a tad overwhelmed when we walked in. There were more than 2,200 different beers from more than 450 of the nation’s finest breweries.

This shot was taken after Dave dropped his cup. At GABF when you drop your cup everyone within 300 yards of you will stop and yell “ohhhhhhh!!”

It was the 30th anniversary of GABF.

We had to stop at the Genesee station to represent ROC! Here we met ‘Dude’ the volunteer that was pouring for Genny.

Bacon Brown Ale from Uncommon Brewers? YesPlease.

Zach tried his hand at the bean bag toss and won…

What did you win, Zach?

He got himself a brand new shiny plastic harmonica.

Dave, Dan, Zach and Len

Me and the little bro

Zach gives his seal of approval

Yea, it’s safe to say that we will be back. The GABF was a blast and we got to taste some amazing brews in the company of some awesome people. Good times!!

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day Three’ fully image gallery (82 photos)

Sunday was our last day in Colorado, but we had some fun planned including an engagement session with one of our 2012 couples. Here’s a quick peek at Day 4.

Before we left Fort Collins, we had to show Zach one of our favorite spots in the foothills – Horsetooth Reservoir.

Horsetooth Rock off in the distance

Zach showing off his mad levitating skillz

Enjoying the view

After we hiked around and soaked in some gorgeous scenery, we hopped in our Turbo Volvo S60 T5…oh wait…did I forget to tell you that our rental car was upgraded? Well, yeah it was, and this car was flippin awesome!

We stopped for lunch in Estes Park at another favorite spot – The Wipiti Bar & Grill. Where else can you get served up a fine ale in a boot?

Aspen Trees

After lunch we started our trek through the park via Trail Ridge Road.

The Continental Divide, also called the Great Divide, is a natural boundary line separating waters that flow into the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico from those that flow into the Pacific Ocean. It runs north-south from Alaska to northwestern South America. Pretty cool, eh? You can read more about it HERE.

Zach’s awesome shot of the Hasselblad’s viewfinder.

Poudre Lake

From there, we kept climbing until we were up above the treeline. Eleven miles of this highway is above treeline, the elevation near 11,500 feet is where the park’s evergreen forests come to a halt.

We traveled along the windy roads across the tundra’s vastness to its high point at 12,183 feet elevation.

We were approaching dusk and hadn’t seen much wildlife, but we knew that it was the mating season for elk, so our eyes were peeled. Just as we made our way down towards the park’s exit we saw a giant bull elk in the distance.

We parked the car and got a little closer.

HA!

Here he is bugling. It was such a cool experience. There were several herds around us that we couldn’t see, but their sounds were unmistakeable.

Here’s a little video for ya!

We seemed to be interrupting this guy’s dinner.

Another bull elk leading his harem across the street.

Dave taking some shots with the Hasselblad

Here are the results

As we exited the park and were driving towards our hotel in Winter Park, I started feeling a little lightheaded and nauseous. Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous motorway in the United States and it seemed that I had a case of Altitude Sickness, which is not fun and quite scary. My symptoms were dizziness and vomiting -TMI? We contemplated driving to Denver from Winter Park that night. That way we would be sleeping at a lower elevation, but since I wasn’t experiencing any headaches we decided to stay put and get an early start to Denver the next day. If you ever have symptoms of Altitude Sickness, please take this seriously, it isn’t a joke and it could be fatal. Read more about it HERE.

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day Two’ full image gallery (100 photos)

OK enough of the dramatics, stay tuned for Day 3 which was the inspiration for making this trip out to Colorado – The Great American Beer Festival!! One word :: INSANITY. Here’s a teaser.

We try and make it out to Colorado as often as possible. There is just something about the mountain air that keeps us coming back for more.

Our first day was very beer-centric (which may or may not have contributed to my altitude sickness the next day – but more on that later.) My brother traveled along with us to celebrate his 21st birthday,  so we took this as an opportunity to introduce him to some of the very best craft brews around. First stop was one of our very favorite breweries – New Belgium. Their brewery tour is 2nd to none. Not only are they environmental stewards,  they make some of our very favorite beers as well.

We were lucky enough to be one of the first to try their new Lips of Faith IPA – Fresh Hop.

Our good friend Dan and I enjoying a sample.

Their motto is a great message and one that I think has inspired us along the way.

Can anyone guess what Dan is holding out for us to see?

After our lovely tour at New Belgium, we continued on the quest for great craft brews. Next stop – O’Dell Brewing. They had so many different tasting trays, so we wanted to try them all.

I’m pretty sure Zach and Dan approve!

We decided it was time for some grub, so we headed on over to The Mayor of Old Town, where they have 100 beers on tap. The food here rocks and we had fun making up our own rules for the game Farkle.

Dave even got a chance to check out their keg room. Look how immaculate!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to hydrate and get ready for what turned out to be one of the most amazing days ever – our drive through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day One’ Full Image Gallery (55 Photos)

Here’s a teaser from Day 2 – Stay tuned!!

Renee and Ryan are, hands-down, two of the nicest people we’ve had the pleasure of photographing.  They were so happy to be getting married and their infectious excitement made this a dream day for us.  What made it even better was that they were a referral from one of our favorite couples, Phil and Natasha.

Her something blue was a family heirloom and one of Ryan’s blueprints.