James and Melicia // Smithers Wedding Photographer

What a lovely wedding and what a lovely couple. It’s such a privilege to have strangers invite you into their lives for such an important milestone in their relationship ~ so much a privilege that in fact I often end up with new friends along the way and James and Melicia are no exception to that.

The whole day was a casual and carefree affair at Jadar Farms, where the couple lives. It was a small wedding with just family and close friends coming to celebrate, which is totally fine by me ~ I really, really love small, intimate affairs. Melicia rode into the ceremony area on her beautiful black Hanoverian and this was a first for me. I was looking forward to including a horse in the wedding day and Ferrari was certainly a good-looking model.

After a few tears during the ceremony and some family pictures, the three of us went off to sample the many outdoor locations the Farm had to offer, starting with a neighbors field. Ferrari seemed to really like it and proceeded to take up ginormous mouthfuls of the grain.

Being a riding center, Jadar Farms had a number of really great indoor spots too, like the riding stable with the amazing light. The directional light in here blew my mind! So we utilized an empty stall with a great whitewash backdrop and the open hayloft for some uber-cool silhouettes. The moment I saw those doors open up, I knew exactly what I had to do.

To top the day off, we took the ATV (all 3 of us piled on) and drove up an old dirt road to one of the prettiest open fields I have ever seen. It was up here that James proposed to Melicia and it seemed incredibly fitting to end up there ~ tall grass, barnboard fence line, Indian Paintbrush, mountain vistas and all. And not only that but we found some wild blueberries (well, at first we thought they were blueberries but then James said they tasted more like soap) and teeny tiny wild strawberries. We sat amongst the soft, tall grass under a canopy of sky that threatened rain all day but not a drop showed up. And when we had decided it was time to retreat, we hopped back on the ATV and drove back to the riding arena where the reception would be for an evening of food, drink and dancing.

I have to say, I truly love brides that can whittle sticks for little boys, run through fields with reckless abandon, ride on the front of ATV’s, go wild blueberry picking and still at the end of the day look absolutely fabulous. And I love a groom that just grins and loves her all the more for it. James and Melicia, thank you so much for everything ~ you are amazing people and I feel so fortunate to have met you two! Congratulations and I wish you many years of happiness to come!