Every once in a while I get a bride who contacts me and I feel a little tingle in my belly; like yes, she gets me. Emilie reached out in the winter time to see if I could photograph her intimate wedding at the Boulder Dunshanbe Teahouse in June and after googling it, I knew right away I wanted to be there.
Before heading to the Tea House, Emilie got ready at the historic Boulderado hotel just a few blocks away with her mom and sister and never have I seen such a low key bride. I loved the fact that she didn't wear makeup and was stunning in her natural beauty. Emilie is one of those brides that understood my love of slow shooting and film and I was able to shoot like it was 1975.
Tom, fitted with a green suit saw Emilie for the first time as she came into the Tea House and you could see the love radiating between them. Once he lifted her veil for the first kiss, you could sense a huge sense of happiness spreading throughout the room.
The Tea House is one that was steeped in history (get it?) and while the front was under scaffolding for preservation, the side of the building still showed off for stunning portraits. Tom made a joke that they brought the scaffolding of NYC where they fell in love to their wedding in Boulder, which was truly a fitting comparison. I chuckled.
A blip of history from the Tea House website: In 1987, during his first visit to Boulder, Mayor Maksud Ikramov announced that Dushanbe planned to present our city with a Teahouse to celebrate the establishment of sister city ties. From 1987 -1990, more than 40 artisans in several cities of Tajikistan created the decorative elements our Teahouse, including its hand-carved and hand-painted ceiling, tables, stools, columns, and exterior ceramic panels. Often these skills are handed down from generation to generation within families. Lado Shanidze served as chief architect.
What I love most about this couple is not only their love of celtic music but their love of film, their love of each other, their respect for my art and the way this wedding felt like a true celebtration with their closest friends in the city.
All photos shot on a Canon 1n with kodak portra or a Pentax EZY-R.
Scanned at Mike's Camera.
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