Jessi and Jake | Strawberry Creek Ranch Wedding

Savannah Chandler Photography | Granby Wedding Photographer

Strawberry Creek Ranch is one of my favorite locations in all of Colorado to host a wedding. I love the laid back vibe mixed with the stunning views looking back over the Tabernash hills and Winter Park mountains. If they had been open when I got married, I sincerely think that I would have opted to get married here. Back in 2016, my brother Alex did get married at Strawberry Creek Ranch… so it must be a family affair. I *may* have suggested he take a look at it.

Jessi and Jake have an amazing story. They’ve been together the past seven years and are high school sweethearts. At a party they both attended when they first met, someone thought they were such a cute couple that they “married” them back in 2011. One would think that this was an obvious joke, however, they had to explain to friends who saw their facebook status (and eventually change said status) so people knew they weren’t actually married. On July 28th, 2018 – they were ACTUALLY married. You know – the legally binding, saying vows, throwing one massive party kind. In the past seven years, before saying “I Do – Again”, Jake has gone to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Jessi studied abroad in France and modeled in New York City. They’ve already endured hardships, long distance struggles, and have remained strong throughout.

The morning of the wedding, I continually looked up the weather report. We were in a streak of weather that entire week – as often happens on July afternoons in the mountains. Nearly the entire state of Colorado was showing thunderstorms. As we pulled in to Granby, you could see dark clouds yet there seemed to be a decent break floating above us. As the ceremony started, we watched all of the dark skies swirl and twirl above the distant mountains, but they never came our way. The coordinator – Rami with PickMe! Weddings (check her out- she’s AH MAZ ING) let me know that all the other mountain towns were getting pounded with rain.

As we set out to take their couple’s portraits, the skies were absolutely fantastic. We spent some time walking through the fields (and of course by the amazing reflection pond) before we headed back to what would turn out to be one hell of a party. Jessi had family fly in from Helsinki, Finland (where her dad is from) to celebrate, and even play a lovely song for the father/daughter dance. Being high school sweethearts meant that they had a ton of friends in common, and a large group of Air Forcemen provided tons of dancing, chair lifting, and near the end of the night – whiskey throwing. I think I can honestly say that this was the first wedding that I came home smelling like whiskey. The entire night made for a ton of fun, and some really epic photo taking. I always tell my couples, I love it when there’s lots of events happening or a the party gets really cray cray – it’s an awesome opportunity for us to photograph a bunch of different things going on.

Thank you, Jessi and Jake, for inviting us to celebrate with you. And thank you for your kindness and patience. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the next seven(ty) years for you two.