North Dakota gets awesome thanks to Lori & Nathan
This one is a extra near and dear to my heart, as I’ve always hoped to photograph my awesome friend Lori’s wedding. Aside from being an absolute badass when it comes to graphic design (see all my logos/typeface/branding and so on…), Lori is a kind soul and a sweet friend. No wonder she found her perfect match in equally-as-rad Nathan. They’re a stylish, beautiful couple.
AND NOW: Storytime! (you can skip this bit if you just want to get to the pictures already, but I promise, some of the photos will make more sense if you read on)
Lori is reserved and sophisticated. In our friendship, my specialty is yanking Lori violently out of her comfort zone by both arms.
So naturally, when I arrived for their Jamestown, ND wedding, I thought ‘How about photos in front of a giant buffalo? We might accidentally interrupt a wild west shootout, but that’s no biggie, right?’
No really, I swear the whole shootout thing really wasn’t planned, it was just bad timing.
We arrive. Old fashioned pistols and shotguns are firing and cowboy bodies are strewn across Frontier Town, which stands between us and the world’s largest buffalo statue. I think, ‘In no way is Lori going to be okay with walking through the middle of a wild west show, in a wedding dress, with a photo entourage.’ I meet her at her car window. “The only way to get there is through the middle. We should probably just go,” I say. She hesitates. Deliberates.
“Well we came up here, we should just go for it,” she declares.
I’m so proud. We sneak quietly past the show along the boardwalk of Frontier Town and take our buffalo photos in relative peace without a single tourist photobomber. We finish just as the show ends so there’s no point in sneaking about now. I lead the way through the milling tourists and actors who may have just come from the real saloon, trying to move quickly in a leave-us-alone-or-else-the-bride-will-kill-me fashion. Nope. Instead, Lori and Nathan are cornered by the shootout actors, who of course, want some portraits with the newlyweds.
To sum up the rest, Lori didn’t kill me, Nathan thought it was great fun, and we came out with some hilarious/ironic images. And I am sure Lori will be the first tell you, comfort zones are for wussies!
And now to the photos:
