A Mountain View Turnout Ceremony
The day of their wedding, we planned to meet Tylar at Salon 22 to capture her getting her hair and makeup done. She had the kindest makeup artist/hair stylist. Her name was Christie and I just want to give a big shout-out to her skills! She made Tylar look stunning and if I ever have couples that choose to get married here again, I will be putting her name on the list. The salon is located on the second story of a building in Victor, ID. It’s almost hidden and it seems like most people don’t realize it’s there. Probably because there is a delicious coffee shop on the main floor that pulls people in 😉. I might be guilty of this on occasion, I love coffee shops!!! The first thing Christie and I talked about was the lighting. She apologized profusely about the lighting. I told her no worries, I’ll make it work! There are windows that line the whole salon meaning that it has very strong backlighting. But to the naked eye, and to the hair stylists, it makes the environment perfect. Tylar’s hair was pinned back with curls while Christie finished her makeup. As I was walking around the salon, I noticed a magazine laying on the table. It had a bride and groom doing a lifting shot with the bride’s feet kicked high in the chair. I held it up to Tylar and told her we have to try this later! Spoiler alert, we did and it turned out epic!!! I even made it the first image in this gallery! As the hour came to the close, Tylar jokingly told me to tell Hunter that she had to completely restart on her makeup 😂.
Alex and I hopped back into the car and headed to Teton Valley Resort where Hunter was patiently waiting at the cabin. When we arrived, Hunter was already ready and dressed. I felt bad asking him to take off his shoes, his only request was to not take off his tie 😂. It took quite a bit of effort to put on. I went to work capturing his details and I love how his flat lay picture turned out. Once I completed his details, I had him put his shoes back on and head outside for a few portraits. As we were finishing, he spotted Tylar pulling in and we wrapped everything up so we could sneak Tylar inside. If I didn’t already mention, Tylar and Hunter were staying in the coolest cabin. It was essentially a tiny home and had everything you would possibly need. A kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room. It even came equipped with a diffuser. I might have been a little jealous 😂. Hunter closed his eyes and Tylar ran past him to the back bedroom. I went to meet with her and left Alex and Hunter to chat.
Tylar pulled out her details and she told me that she realized her necklace was badly tangled. I put my best effort into trying to get it apart as her godparents, Todd and Leslie, arrived. Leslie entered the room. While Leslie said her hellos, I hadn’t realized there was something else going on. Poor Tylar had a nose ring that we could not for the life of us put on. It was a stud with a curved hook on the end and I think we attempted so many times that Tylar's nose started to become red. It wasn’t until a YouTube tutorial that she figured out the trick! Luckily, you can’t tell anything happened in the photos 😂. While we had success with the nose ring, the necklace was a different story. I passed it off to Leslie, who passed it off to Todd, and then finally to Hunter. Hunter gets all the props as he was the one to officially untangle it!!! In all the transitioning of the necklace, Tylar put on her dress, shoes, jewelry, and perfume and we were officially ready to go.
The drive to Mountain View Turnout from Teton Valley Resort was around an hour and forty-five minutes. Alex and I were in one car, Hunter drove himself, and Todd drove Tylar and Leslie. As we made our way to the park, I received a phone call from Tylar. While we remembered all of the items needed to wear and/or eat 😂, the one thing we all forgot was the marriage license and ceremony site permits. Luckily, Tylar had the permit on her phone and I told her we would just plan to meet the following day to sign 😃. If that’s the only thing that went wrong, I’ll take it!!!
Alex and I arrived to Mountain View Turnout first, followed by Hunter, and then Todd. Hunter and I went to work setting up his tripod so he could film the ceremony. Once everything was set up and Hunter was in the perfect spot, we gave the thumbs up to Todd, Leslie, and Tylar. Throughout the ceremony, darker clouds began to move in and temperatures began to drop. The wind was blowing strong in the valley. Even though the skies were dark, this didn’t hamper the joy that the 6 of us felt as Tylar and Hunter said their vows and exchanged rings. Hunter’s face broke out into a smile, dipped Tylar, and gave her a kiss to seal their marriage. They were officially husband and wife.
Todd and Leslie gave them the biggest hugs and said their goodbyes. Todd looked reluctant and said, “it feels weird for us to leave you,” as him and Leslie climbed back into their truck. They backed out of the space, but next thing we know they pulled right back in, opened the truck doors, and cranked the song “Dandelions,” for their first dance. Needing no cues, Tylar and Hunter joined hands to share their first dance as husband and wife. After dancing, they pulled out their custom glasses to share their first drink. Todd then opened up the cupcakes box and pulled out one for Tylar and Hunter to share. What they didn’t know before they both bit into it was that the middle was filled with a large amount of jelly LOL. The jelly went everywhere. It was all over Tylar’s face, in Hunter’s hair, and even ended up on the train of Tylar’s gown 😂, it caused fits of giggles from all of us. Once the dance, drink, and cake were complete. Todd and Leslie officially made their way back into the truck and said their goodbyes. It was now time for all the husband and wife photos we could muster before we ran out of light.
We took a few pictures at their ceremony site and then made the decision to head north. I decided on Jackson Lake area. I knew we would have access to the lake, creek-bed, and potentially more fields. I was trying to get the most bang for our buck 😉. As we parked, we told Tylar to stay in the car while we scouted the area. A staircase completely covered in snow led the way down to a creek bed while a hill of rocks led down to the lake. We chose the lake and it was absolutely stunning!!!! We also spotted a field of red-orange bushes and decided to make our way over for another round of pictures. I didn't know this at the time, but this is the Willow Flats area. At this point, the sun started to peek through tiny cracks in the clouds. MAGIC!!!!! After the flats, the light was fading fast. I knew that we might not make it to Jenny Lake area in time and said if I got inspired on our way back we would pull over and stop for more.
It wasn’t 5 minutes of driving when Alex and I made a last minute decision to stop at a lodge that we knew Tylar and Hunter had visited the day before. We took a few more pictures and knew that we were officially out of light. We made our way back to the parking lot and Hunter pulled out their “Just Married” sticker and stuck it on the back window of the car. I was throughly impressed because I’m pretty sure I would have messed up the application within the first second 😂. Those stickers are harder than you think. I took one final photo of them driving away as their wedding day came to a close. I wish we could have made it last even longer!!!
The following day, we all met up one final time in front of Persephone Bakery so I could sign their marriage license. We chatted for a while and then finally said out goodbyes. Tylar texted me later that day and raved about the bakery and I knew I had to go. Right before our flight, Alex and I made our way to Persephone and it was the best meal we had all trip! Personally, I think it was the best Pumpkin bread I’ve ever eaten 😃. Thank you for the recommendation you two!
Tylar + Hunter
Dream Team
Hair and Makeup: Christie Schuster at Salon 22
Dress: David's Bridal
Suit: Men's Wearhouse
Officiant: Todd Pierce from Riding High Ministries
Photographer: Christina Zapata Photography