Montana native newlyweds Lisa and Noah got married on his family’s property in Kelly Canyon just outside of Bozeman Montana last weekend. The perfect sunny weather blessed the day where these two celebrated their Quaker wedding with their close friends and family. I’m working hard to edit through all of the fun photos I made throughout their wedding day. For now, check out a preview of some favorite photos I made for them. Stay tuned for more… -M
A few weeks back, I had the absolute pleasure of photographing the Livingston Montana Wedding Day of Erika and Josh near the banks of the Yellowstone River at the Livingston KOA. For newlyweds Erika and Josh, it was all about returning to the source of where they met. Little did they know after a chance encounter over a foosball game table in Livingston, Montana, two years later they would be celebrating their wedding at the Livingston KOA in the beautiful Paradise Valley just south of town. Both being well versed in hospitality (Josh as a chef at Feast Raw Bar & Bistro and Erika as a former wedding planner now operations manager for the Shane Center for the Arts) wanted to have their wedding day be “about letting their friends and family know how much they’ve impacted us in our lives.” Great food, meticulous decorations of 1,000 paper cranes and rock cairns, homemade booze-infused cupcakes and the right tunes to keep the dance floor busy. It made the day a true delight. Not even the constant rainfall throughout the day could dampen the spirits of those in attendance. As the background sounds of the consistent rain and the high waters of the nearby Yellowstone River serenaded the evening, the big pavilion transformed smoothly from the ceremony, on to dinner and then into an energetic dance party. Happiness, smiles and good times abound. What a day!
Here are some of my favorite highlights from my day photographing their wedding celebration. Congrats again to the bride and groom Erika and Josh! Wish you guys a lifetime of happiness! -M
Spring in Montana is a sight to behold and yesterday could not have been a better setting for my couple Camille and Matt’s wedding day celebration at the Springhill Pavilion just outside Bozeman, Montana. The warm spring rains promised in the weather reports failed to dampen the day. Not that it would matter. Instead, the wonderful combined family energy of Wisconsinites and Montanans raised the level of a wedding celebration to a new high bar.
This was a group that shrugged off uncertain weather, raised their Coors Light libations with smiles and focused on the task at hand, celebrating two special people through hugs, laughter, songs, and dance.
I met Camille at a fishing friend’s house over ten years ago when I was working weekdays at newspapers in Northern California and spending my weekends chasing steelhead in the multitude of incredible Pacific Coast streams nearby. She was raised splitting time between Montana and Alaska, where she’s spent every summer since she was a little girl at her family’s fishing lodge on the Nushagak River in Bristol Bay. She began guiding at a young age, enveloping herself in fly fishing and the great outdoors. When I met her, Camille was about to graduate high school and buzz in the fishing circles was that she was already quickly becoming one of the most successful women anglers in the United States. Presently, she is dominating the internet dividing her time advocating to protect against the Alaskan Pebble Mine efforts, working as Alaska & Christmas Island Program Director for Yellow Dog Flyfishing and living her dream traveling the world with a fly rod in hand.
It was only natural that she would find a partner with the same passion for the outdoors. Through her I got to know Matt – a kind, caring and incredibly talented hunting and outdoor lifestyle photographer based here in Bozeman. As I’ve gotten to know them both more over this past year, I am convinced. Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a better pair of people so perfectly suited for each other.
It is was only natural that they fostered their love of the outdoors to help style their wedding day. Yellow flowers intermixed with whitetail deer antlers accentuated the venue as their wedding guest dined on wild game appetizers and sipped local Montana wine and microbrew. Their mutual love of fishing was noted by cute artwork details of fly fishing files for the table settings and bridal party flair. The day was a wonderful, complete representation of all that was important to them in their lives.
Their wedding celebration at the Springhill Pavilion was such a fun experience. These photos are some of my favorite highlights from their big day.
To view the entire wedding day photos and purchase your own special memories from the day, follow this link to see all of the goodness.
I could not be more thrilled for these two newlyweds! Congrats Camille and Matt! Thank you so much for letting me and my photo team be apart of your special day! Wish you guys a lifetime of happiness! -M
I’ve gathered up my Best of 2017 Wedding Photography by Greener Visuals Photography images that made during this recent trip around the sun. As the last days of the year tick away, I find myself reflecting back on all of the fun photos I made of my wedding couples over the course of this past year. 2017 was a lot of fun! Lots of growth, new places explored, new challenges overcome, new faces met and many good times were had. I feel blessed for all the new relationships I made throughout the year and for being able to tell candid, creative stories through photographs! I look forward to what “adventures in documenting the love” await me in 2018.
If you or a loved one you know is in need of new family portraits, business portraits, head shots, engagement photos, boudoir or an epic wedding photographer, Greener Visuals Photography is available for all your professional photographic experiences in 2018! I look forward to hearing from you!
Happy New Year everyone! -M
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of photographing the beautiful Paradise Valley Montana Wedding Day of Brita and John along the banks of the Yellowstone River. Unlike most of my wedding I photograph, these two opted for my two hour elopement collection where I focused on documenting their wedding ceremony and making portraits of their friends and family. While perhaps one of the shortest wedding days I’ve ever photographed, it was still just as fun. These two had all of their wedding guests meet at this really cool VRBO rental south of Livingston, Montana in Paradise Valley right on the river. As the sunset over the mountains their family and friends circled around them for their intimate ceremony then the celebration evolved into one heck of a pig roast. In my brief time with them, I had so much fun getting to know them and their tribe. Here are a few of my favorite images from their wedding. It was a true pleasure to be able to document their union. Congrats to the newlyweds! -M
It’s not every day that I get to go photograph a wedding in the historic small town of Virginia City, Montana. So when Marissa and Tyler told me they wanted to have their wedding celebration standing in the old territorial Capitol of Montana, I could not have been more thrilled. The town is a true piece of history. In fact, it is considered a National Historic Landmark. Of the nearly three hundred structures in town (standing in their original condition), almost half were built prior to 1900. It was like stepping back in time to the Old West period and we took advantage of the amazing Old West architecture and explored the grounds making some cool photos of them and their fun bridal party along the way. When the time came to head to the ceremony, we all took a ride on the Virginia City Shortline Railroad from Nevada City over to the wedding ceremony site in downtown Virginia City. These two Helena residents work in the state government and styled their special day with their own nod to history, to their love of politics and to each other. Their boss just happens to be State of Montana Gov. Steve Bullock who with humor and charm, officiated the ceremony. It was a rare cool August day and the perfect venue to celebrate the start of their new journey together. After these two newlyweds tied-the-knot, we walked the streets of the historic downtown over to the reception hall where we spent the night dancing, playing in a photo booth and celebrating these two amazing people. It was such a fun day and I felt so grateful to be apart of it. Here are my favorite images from the day. I wish these two all the best!
This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing the Virginia City, Montana wedding day of Marissa and Tyler. These two wanted to celebrate their wedding celebration standing in the old territorial Capitol of Montana. The town is a true piece of history. In fact, it is considered a National Historic Landmark. Of the nearly three hundred structures in town (standing in their original condition), almost half were built prior to 1900. It was like stepping back in time to the Old West period and we took advantage of the amazing architecture and made some cool photos. These two Helena residents work in the state government and styled their special day with their own nod to history, to their love of politics and each other. Their boss just happens to be State of Montana Gov. Steve Bullock who officiated the ceremony. It was a rare cool August day and the perfect venue to celebrate the start of their new journey together. Here is a preview of some of their wedding photos I made throughout the day. I still have many more to go through and I’m excited to show you all. These two are incredible people and I wish them all the best. Stay tuned for more. -M
This past Saturday I had a great time photographing the lovely Spring wedding of newlyweds Becky and Kyle at the El Western Resort in Ennis, Montana. Sometimes in life you can’t always plan for the unexpected. I got a early morning message from a photographer friend of mine that had become quite ill on the morning of her client’s wedding day and was unable to work it. That is a nightmare situation for any working creative. God forbid that I ever find myself in that position. But knowing I having a pool of talented photographer friends in the industry here in southwest Montana to call upon, makes handling that situation a little easier. I was able to help take over the reins for her and photograph her client’s El Western Resort wedding without a hitch. I’m proud that I live amongst a community of wedding professionals that go the distance for their clients and to help each other out, working together to provide the best service possible for wedding couples here in southwest Montana. While not an ideal news for bride Becky and groom Kyle to find out on their wedding day, they understood and I stepped up to make the best wedding photography experience for them that I could create. The result was a fun country wedding celebration filled with good people in the heart of horse and fly fishing country just outside of Ennis, Montana. A great time was had by all. I have a lot of great photos to edit through but I wanted to share a few favorites so far that have stood out to me. I’m excited to show them all the goods from their special day. Stay tuned for more wedding photos! -M
These wedding photos are from a recent fun wedding themed project that I organized in a pinch the other day. Last Tuesday I was talking to my friends Jacy and Matt, owners of Gallatin Valley Botanical, a local organic farm here in Gallatin Valley. I’ve been photographing and supporting their family farm here in Bozeman for years now. They mentioned that they would soon be taking over management of the popular Rocky Creek Farm (another farm down the road from theirs) and in addition to farming the increased acreage, would also be pushing to make it a successful new farm wedding venue. As she was gathering material together for their wedding advertisement for this past weekend’s Bozeman Bridal Walk, they realized they would need some new photography to showcase their new endeavor to potential wedding clients. I told them I could help.
Time was short. We set a photo shoot time for 2pm the following afternoon and after hanging up the phone, I sprung into action. I got in touch with my engaged friends Sky and Tara and invited them to be my models for the afternoon. Regardless of our short time table, if we were going to do a proper photos shoot, we would need to do things right. Quickly needing a fine suit and beautiful wedding dress for my couple to flaunt, I called upon the talents of Persnickety Formal Wear owner Anne Porter. In between all of her fittings for her prom season busyness, she got Sky and Tara looking just top notch. For their hair and make up, I stopped in to Indulgence to have my friend the lovely Deirdre Quinn see to it that Tara looked just radiant as a bride for the photo shoot.
Our shoot lasted about two hours and we had a blast. By the time of our photo shoot, the Wednesday morning rain clouds had subsided and we were given a nice window of an early Spring day to utilize. Rocky Creek Farms has a lot to offer both in capacity and scenery. We played with an assorted canvas of old barn wood back drops to open fields accompanied with views of the Bridger Mountains in the distance to even photo opportunities along the on-property spring creek. I could have created there for hours. Together we explored the property grounds and made a lot of fun photos of two friends in love complete with baby lambs and I even brought along my new labrador puppy Tippet to be featured in the shoot. It was a perfect way to spend an Montana afternoon. This photo session could not have happened with out the hustle and team effort by all the vendors who worked together to make something special on such short notice. A great time was had by all. Congrats to Sky and Tara on their engagement and well wishes to Matt and Jacy and they grow their new wedding venue out at Rocky Creek Farms! -M
To view all of the photos from our styled photo shoot, click here.
Winter has arrived and it’s snowing in Montana now. I’ve been reminiscing about the past year. It’s funny how time flies when you’ve been having so much fun. 2016 was another great year of documenting the fun memories of my client’s wedding day. I kept busy this year photographing over the Spring, Summer and Fall. Southwest Montana offers up so many beautiful places to get married and I feel thankful that I was able to continue to explore the hidden pockets throughout. It was such and honor to be apart of my clients wedding celebration.
My travels this year took me all over Montana. Traveling up to Whitefish down to Yellowstone National Park and as far away as downtown Chicago, Illinois. I even got to witness a wedding in northeast Mongolia.
In addition to having fun documenting the love, one of my favorite highlights of the year was moving into my new photography studio inside of Gallatin Event Rentals. It has been a wonderful place to house my wedding and portrait photography business. Having an inviting, comfortable space to host my clients and hear their wedding story has been such a pleasure. If you haven’t stopped by already, I’d be happy to give you the dime tour and geek out on photography with you.
Here are a few of my favorite wedding images that stood out to me from this past year.
I am now booking for the 2017 wedding season and I travel all across the country. I’m looking forward to the new smiles and faces I’ll meet and photograph in the new year. Wishing you all a fantastic new year ahead! -Mike Greener
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