07/18/2026
Such a beautiful evening it turned out to be. Honestly, we weren't sure what and if this was going to happen. When I showed up at the Cabin to meet with Sarah and Brandon, it was dumping rain and the radar showed it not going away until sunset. Our plan was to do photos and work our way to the top for a sunset ceremony. Not knowing if this would actually work with all the rain we called the officiant who had planned to meet us at the top around 8pm, and turns out he was already driving up to Red Lodge.
We all said our prayers and as soon as the officiant showed up the skies parted long enough for a beautiful ceremony in the valley. We couldn't have asked God for a better evening. He was definitely on our side all evening. Giving us a show for some golden hour photos, a rainbow and even those moody clouds. We made it up to Visata with some crazy golden glow through the clouds and a few sprinkles.
The next thing you know I have my couple standing on a cliff and when I went to clip my camera back on my harness, it didnt snap.... it fell....down the rock shale cliff......down and rolled....panic mode hit me and I froze, watching my camera say its goodbyes to me....Adrenaline kicked in and down I went, after it! There was no way i was going to loose this camera and lens, let alone half of their elopement photos! Thankfully a big rock stopped it and I grabbed it just in time before it started sliding again on the wet slippery rocks.
In all of my 16 years of photographing clients, this was a first. This is why Im always shooting with 2 cameras and everything is fully insured! But thank God for stopping it in time for me to get it! Any further it would've been too steep for me to get down too. What an eventful evening!
