Vail Wedding Expedition / Day 2 (post by Desiree)

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."   - John Muir I know it may be difficult to look at the snow here as it has juust finally left and spring has officially arrived...but really...this spring snowy mountain wedding is worth the view ; )

Family, friends, good food, wine, music...just a few things Courtney and Keith's wedding expedition was all about. Originally the two are from Bemidji, Minnesota but have a deep love of the mountains. They actually met while Courtney was living in Israel!  Yes, it's so cute that Keith flew all the way to Israel to meet her for the FIRST time. So, all the Minnesotans flew out to Colorado and everyone made it up to Shrine Mountain, about 3 miles from Vail pass in Colorado. (Check out our Day One hike here!) Yes the weather man predicted APRIL blizzards ...but that was not about to deter Courtney and Keith from getting married! The wind died down JUST when Courtney walked out with her dad down the aisle.  Both families have strong Scandinavian roots and are very tied to their heritage. Swedish and Norwegian poems were read and of course Keith's family wore their Norwegian knitted sweaters too!  For a moment, I forgot I actually had left Norway and flew to the US.  Capturing their story was so awesome....and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Much love to you Courtney and Keith!!!!

Vail, Colorado // Day 1 (post by Desiree)

This wedding was SO special to me and there were sooooo many photos I had to break it up into two posts. : )  My big sister, one of my biggest role-models, the one who loaned me money to buy my very first camera, and walked for hours with me under the sun in Israel taking street photos....was getting married!!!!! We all knew Courtney and Keith's wedding was going to be something out of the ordinary. They're true adventurers and with Keith as a pilot - true vagabonds as well. They are in LOVE with the outdoors, so it wasn't a huge surprise when they said they were getting married atop a mountain in Colorado. We soon found out that we had to ski or snowshoe 3 miles up to get to the top of Vail Pass - Shrine Mountain - Elevation 11,209 to reach our destination ! Yes, it was difficult to breathe, especially coming from sea level but we did it!!!  We even brought cans of oxygen!  Courtney and Keith's immediate family with a few of their closest friends spent 2 nights up in the Shrine Mountain huts...and it rocked.  Stay tuned for - the wedding day!