My twin sister, Michelle, and Krystle have been friends for years. They use to work together. Krystle started following my work many years ago because of this. And she thankfully referred the Laughlin family to me back in the day, when Michele and Justin were engaged. Now they have become some of my most loyal clients! I was so thrilled when Krystle and Matt hired me for their wedding too! Their Colorado fall engagement pictures turned into quite an adventure…but they ended up so great!
Since this little family lives in Fruita, and I am in Firestone, we wanted to find somewhere relatively “in between” with great fall colors. In one of my Facebook groups, folks indicated that Kenosha Pass was “on fire”. Thankfully, not really on fire, but meaning that the fall colors were peak. I was so excited, because even though that’s quite a trek, I have always wanted to photograph there.
So we met at Kenosha, and womp, womp…we missed the great colors! There was a tiny, little bit, but for the most part, it didn’t look that great. I had seen some fall colors along the highway, not terribly far from there. So they decided to follow me and we would find somewhere else for the photos. After snapping a couple photos of the moose in the water at Kenosha, we headed out. Although, I am good at many things, “leading” like this is not one of them 😉 I just couldn’t make up my mind so we ended up driving way more than planned. I would see a patch of colorful trees, but there wouldn’t be a safe place to pullover, so I would keep going. We were starting to lose light a bit…I was beginning to get nervous…
Finally, a pull-off with some nice color! We took advantage of this little area, but it wasn’t going to be enough variety for a “full” session of Colorado fall engagement pictures. So, back into the cars we went!
Driving, driving, driving, we get stopped in Bailey, Colorado. Which ends up being a freaking Homecoming parade. Needless to say, we were stopped for entirely too long. High school kids dressed as spiderman and dinosaurs keep waving at me and throwing candy our way. LOL…it was like the twilight zone!! Oh, and of course, the rain starts too :/ I am worrying this shoot is going to have to be rescheduled.
Finally the crazy parade is over. I start hauling butt out of there, and as we pass the little town of Bailey, I see a small patch of colorful aspen trees, so I dive bomb over that direction. Krystle and Matt probably thought I was completely crazy at this point 🙂 There is tiny, quirky park called McGraw Memorial Park. We do their shoot there, and you know what? It ended up being totally perfect! The park didn’t have epic fall colors. But we did get a lot of variety, which is even better. There were rustic buildings, a cool bridge, a train car, a stream, etc. The rain also let up, and we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset, with crazy, cool clouds to boot!
We included Krystle’s daughter, Kaylee, in a ton of photos too. Since they are going to be a little family now, we needed more than engagement photos, we needed great family portraits too 🙂
Favorite of their Colorado fall engagement pictures right here…hands-down, no doubt!! Love those amazing clouds, colorful sunset, and lovely couple that pops in their blue attire 🙂
What a fun and memorable shoot this was! I don’t think any of us will soon forget it 😉 Looking forward to your fun-filled July wedding in Pine, Krystle and Matt. Thanks for being such troopers on this day. I hope you love these Colorado fall engagement pictures, and will cherish them always!
To see another of my favorite fall couple’s sessions, click here to see Alyssa and Dustin’s colorful Boulder session.
Maybe you aren’t around Bailey, or will never make it to McGraw Memorial Park. If you are looking for other great ideas what to do in Colorado, check out this awesome list of ideas from Your RV Lifestyle. They have provided 100 great ideas of things to see and do in Colorado. Check it out HERE!
I just realized you post these! Such a fun adventure! Thank you for all you did that day. I cannot wait for you to capture the wedding in 2 weeks! I love your work!
Very beautiful pictures ! Love the one with your daughter rolling her eyes when you are smootching. !