Maddie and Simon | The Landing at Estes Park Wedding
Savannah Chandler Photography | Estes Park Wedding Photographer
In late 2024, my phone blew up from multiple couples finding out that their wedding venue had been sold, and thus their 2025 weddings would no longer be held there. Maddie and Simon were one of the couples that were displaced when SkyView in Estes Park was shut down as a wedding venue – a topic which many of us wedding vendors are still rather sore about. They went on the hunt to find a new wedding venue, and even had to move their original wedding date.
If you’re looking for a Wedding Planner here in Colorado – Mountainside Events comes HIGHLY recommended from me.
The team at Mountainside helped Maddie and Simon get their wedding details moved over to their new venue, The Landing at Estes Park. This was my first time photographing at this wonderful venue – they have a riverside ceremony site, cabins to get ready in, and tons of Mountain charm. I think that Maddie and Simon truly found the perfect location to host their Estes Park wedding – even amidst all the chaos.
What to do when the forecast shows Rain
Like most brides, Maddie had been keeping an eye on the weather for quite some time leading up to the wedding day. Fun fact – Simon has a few meteorologist friends, one that was in attendance and helped us keep an eye on the incoming radar.
The day started out with rain. We had small drops move in right as Maddie and Simon were set to do their first look, which isn’t particularly unusual for early August in the Colorado mountains. The radar showed that we’d have a break in the rain – so right as the drops began to lessen we headed out for their first look. The Landing has wonderful portrait locations, and their florist Painted Primrose had the ceremony site all set up and looking fabulous to take photos in front of. We had timed it perfectly, as drops began to reappear just as we finished taking bridesmaid photos out at the ceremony site.
As rain does, it showed up for a little while right as guests began to arrive. Some of my favorite images from ceremonies are when guests have their umbrellas – I can’t explain it but they just make for the best candids.
Right before Maddie came down the stairs, the rain went away. As Maddie and Simon said their vows, the sun came out from behind the clouds. Maddie and Simon had said their personal vows a few weeks prior when we all headed up to Long Lake in the Brainard Recreation area (check out those photos HERE). They had decided to have a shorter ceremony in Estes Park to allow them more time to see their family and friends – and we were able to get those big, booming mountain portraits without having to take the time to drive off-site on the wedding day.
The rain, however was not done with Estes Park. It came back as diagonal sheets during cocktail hour (after a WONDERFUL and sunny family photo session in the aspen trees). The thing about rain is many times once it stops, rainbows appear.
Just before it was time to sit down for dinner, one of the largest double rainbows I’ve seen at a wedding showed up. I’m pretty sure the entire Estes valley could hear me yelling at Maddie and Simon to run down to the lawn (along with my light stand) so we could capture it since rainbows are fleeting.
Capture it we did.
Power Outages across the entire Estes Park valley
The DJ, Mountain Sound, was all set and music started pumping to kick off the night. Everyone was up and ready to dance… then everything went black. The power went out. Come to find out, the storm had cut the power to the entire Estes Park valley. To say there was a few moments of panic and thoughts that the party would be cut short would be an understatement.
Enter Sarah from Mountainside Events.
When I told you they’re amazing, I’m not kidding. She went up to the DJ and asked if his laptop/speakers had an AC outlet – they did. She took the cable, ran it OUT TO HER CAR, and powered the DJ booth from her Ford Bronco. The entire reception continued on due to the quick thinking and ingenuity of Sarah.
The Landing had some extra glow sticks and wands that they got out of storage. We now had sound and fun colored lights. I (thankfully) operate on my battery powered off-camera lights. The party was back on. And it was one to remember.
Everyone had such a blast despite the blackout. This is why you hire a wedding planner. Maddie and Simon’s day could have turned out much differently and ended very abruptly had Sarah not had the foresight to power the evening from her vehicle. Also, had Mountain Sound not had their own speaker system and relied on that of the venue, there would have been no music. Your vendor choices matter – choose ones that will do whatever it takes to make sure that your wedding day runs smoothly.
I had such a wonderful time photographing your wedding, Maddie and Simon! It was truly a wedding day that will stick with me over the years.
Cheers-
