This weekend I attended the wedding of my brother-in-law Chris in Missoula. He and his fiance, Sacha, had intended to get married in September … but when they got the word a couple weeks ago that Chris's mother's cancer was back with a vengeance and her time is limited, they moved the wedding up by four months.
The wedding was positively beautiful, and lead to me to think about how in many ways wedding planning will expand to fill as much time and/or money as you want to throw at it. If you have two weeks to prepare, you strip it down to the most important things and the result is deeply meaningful. In the case of this wedding, the top priority was that the mother of the groom be present. And she was.
I acted as stand-in wedding photographer:
More of my pictures of this backyard Montana wedding are over here.
Comments on "The beauty of simplicity"
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Jess
May 19th, 2008 · 3:57 PM · #
Wow. You my dear are pretty f'in talented with the camera. You took all those great pics? Ever think about doing some engagement photos? I'll hire you
N.
May 19th, 2008 · 4:34 PM · #
We are trying to keep our wedding as simple as possible and it has made the whole process so stress free. Our parents keep calling and offering to help and there just isn't anything that they need to do- it's awesome.
brooke
May 19th, 2008 · 5:55 PM · #
Congratulations to them… now I am going to go hide in the bathroom and have a good cry.
Pazz
May 19th, 2008 · 7:05 PM · #
Congratulations to them both. We are having to push forward our wedding date due to family members with cancer too. It may not be the wedding I dreamed of, but its more than worth it.
Amy
May 20th, 2008 · 8:27 AM · #
Where did she find the beautiful dress? It is simple and perfect, just like the rest of the day, by the look of it.
Melissa
May 20th, 2008 · 8:53 AM · #
This brought me to tears. Thanks for keeping things in perspective, Ariel.
JustaRabbit
May 20th, 2008 · 9:45 AM · #
What a beautiful wedding. Really hits home that weddings aren't so much about the party details, but celebrating with those you love.
kmontana
May 20th, 2008 · 10:21 AM · #
Hi Ariel – Beautiful job on this post! Your sister-in-law's dress is amazing… I'm in Montana as well and have had the toughest time finding an casual/elegant tea length dress. Any idea where she got it? Thank you!!
Ariel
May 20th, 2008 · 10:25 AM · #
Hey dress-curious ladies: I emailed Sacha about her dress. Hopefully we'll hear back soon!
Sacha
May 20th, 2008 · 10:28 AM · #
I am the lucky sister-in-law who had the good fortune of having Ariel snap all of her amazing pictures. I found my dress in Portland, OR. It was made by a local designer, Lena Medoyeff. Her dresses are handmade, fair trade and amazingly affordable.
kmontana
May 20th, 2008 · 1:35 PM · #
Thank you!!
Cate
May 20th, 2008 · 5:41 PM · #
So beautiful, so bittersweet, so very real and true to life rather than a fantasy wedding.
Cassandra
May 27th, 2008 · 9:28 PM · #
Gorgeous photos…and beautiful day.
abigail
February 5th, 2009 · 11:58 PM · #
Ahhh! This post is great, the pictures rock and I LOVE Sacha's dress- I will check out the website she posted under her comment…I am living in India right now, getting married in October, and am going to get a dress made here. The tailor's here can make anything I want…is it possible to get a pic of Sacha in her dress? I want the top of mine to be like hers!!
Ariel
February 6th, 2009 · 7:43 AM · #
There are lot of photos of Sacha's dress over here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariel/sets/72157605134572567/