Thrilled to be sharing this Valley Of Fire Wedding Photography session with everyone today. Heather & Chris had originally planned on having me photograph their actual wedding. Then COVID came along and changed everyone’s plans. They had their ceremony in Arizona instead on their original date but rescheduled our shoot together. Since they were married in the desert of Arizona, it made sense to keep the same type of vibe for their after wedding photo shoot. Heather chose Valley of Fire and I am always a fan of that choice.

Valley of Fire can get hot AF during the summer, but we sucked it up and kept out of the sun as much as possible and got some amazing photos.

Here is their story as told by Heather:

“Chris and I met when I moved to London in 2014. I was a receptionist for the Bank of New York Mellon on the 49th floor of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. One day this insanely handsome man walked onto the 49th floor and sat next to me as security relief for the other guard who was always on duty. For the next couple of months we talked while we were next to each other every couple of weeks but it wasn’t until December 24th 2014 when an email popped into my inbox asking me to go for a Christmas Eve drink that everything changed.

Unfortunately, in late 2016 I had to move back to the USA for visa reasons. We decided at the time that we couldn’t continue seeing each other as it would be too complicated and we just needed to move on with our lives. Saying goodbye to him the day before I left London was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. We lasted maybe 3 days without talking to each other before it was back to constantly being on FaceTime, talking multiple times a day, and texting every chance we could with the time difference. We carried on like this for almost a year claiming we were just “friends”. Then Chris went on a boys vacation for 4 days, we didn’t speak the whole time he was gone. As soon as he landed back in London and his phone worked again he told me “I can’t be without you, not talking to you for 4 days was unbearable.” I cried.

Within months he was in California with me and it was like no time had past at all. We have spent the last 3 years flying back and forth every couple of months to see each other. We have been fighting our way through the long distance, k1 visa applications, and what feels like an endless amount of time waiting for answers. We are finally almost done with being apart and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend by my side <3″

I just love their love story.

Cheers to lovers who meet across the ocean and find a way to make it work because they just can’t imagine it another way.

XO-Jamie

Permit obtained by Jamie Y Photography for this shoot.

Valley Of Fire Wedding Photography

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Excited to share today’s Valley of Fire destination wedding with Everyone. Here is Claire & Alex’s story as told by Claire:

“We met in Jersey in the Channel Islands where Alex is from, when I was over visiting a friend from university. We got talking because he had a really good watch 🙂 (Claire actually had this watch refurbished and presented it to him on the wedding day as a gift) We went on our first date the next week and Alex extended my stay in Jersey so we could spend more time together.

For the first two years we were going out we were travelling between Jersey and the UK to see each other, and had lots of dates on msn messenger 🙂 We lived in quiet a few dives in London before moving to the house we have now where we’ve been for 5 years, 3 of them with our adopted cat Kylo.

Alex proposed to me on holiday in Sri Lanka. He’d been a bit funny about the holiday, so I had suspected a bit that something might be going to happen but on the morning that we drove towards the Botanical Gardens in Kandy I had no idea it would be then. Until Alex kept fiddling really nervously with something in his bag. When he proposed he was so nervous and worried looking I wanted to hug him and make him feel better straight away, and didn’t realize until he said that I hadn’t said yes yet! Which of course I did.

We had a bit of debate about where to have the wedding, but decided pretty quickly on Vegas rather than London when our close friends and family said they’d be happy to join us. We’ve been so happy to see how many people we’ve invited have been able to come too.

We’ve been to Vegas twice before – once for Alex’s 30th birthday, and the second time as a bit of a last minute trip, and we’ve had such a good time both times. The first time we split the trip between the strip and downtown, and the second time stayed downtown for a week. We really love the feel of the area – all the independent restaurants and bars, graffiti and lights.

I’m vegan and the food scene downtown is really exciting – our caterer is from the Container Park and we’d had lunch there a few times. We’re keeping the wedding as vegan as possible – all the food and drinks will be, and my dress, shoes and felt flowers! We’re also making a lot of the decorations and details ourselves – we designed our website with a games feel we are bringing into the reception too – we play a lot of video games, apps and board games (and love the Circus Circus arcade!), and we’ve made the invites and order of service ourselves which we’re pretty proud of 🙂

Apart from games, the details of our wedding are teal and turquoise colors which I love and have painted most of our house in, and we’re going to be having a few agate details as well to bring the color in and to keep the geology feel from the ceremony venue. I studied geology at university and am pretty rubbish at it now, but the idea of getting married around some amazing rock formations was what helped us choose Valley of Fire over some of the other amazing venues in Vegas.

We’re hoping the wedding is going to be really fun for everyone, and bright and colorful! And a really good party!”

A good party it was.  So many amazing elements throughout the day.  I spent 10 hours with them all, but they kept the party going for a few hours after I left.

The day begun with Claire & Alex getting ready at separate locations.  Claire got ready at the fun retro Atomic Style lounge downtown.  Alex got ready at his hotel and met up with all of the guests who would be riding in a full sized bus to the ceremony location. The ceremony was held out at Valley of Fire.  Claire and some of her girls and parents rode down in a limo.  The bus actually got into an accident right after leaving downtown.  Thankfully everyone was ok and they made it in time.

The reception was held in front of the 7 sisters location at Valley of Fire.  There were vintage chairs and furniture set up by Dogwood Party Rentals.  The guests were given a program which doubled as a fan and on the back side had the lyrics to two songs which were sung by all during the ceremony.  The songs were Stand By Me and So Happy Together.  It was such a fun element to add and made everyone a part of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, everyone enjoyed some champagne and snacks before heading back to town for the reception.

The reception was held at Place on 7th in downtown Las Vegas.  The tables and chairs were set up in the outdoor patio area surrounding the stage where the Lucky Devils Band played for the evening.  Inside the roll up doors, there was seating and various fun things for guests to do.  One thing they had was a glitter bar.  I have never seen one, but apparently they are big in the UK.  Guests added glitter to their faces and facial hair and had a great time with it.

As Claire mentioned, she is vegan and everything at the wedding that could be vegan was.  She also chose pretty much all women owned businesses for her wedding vendors.

I loved getting to know Claire & Alex and witness their love for each other, see them and all of their guests have a blast at the wedding, and capture some amazing photos of it all.

To see even more, watch the slideshow below.

Vendors:

Hair/Makeup: Atomic Style Lounge

Coordinator: Weddings & Events By Emily

Officiant/Permit: Weddings By Bonnie

Felt Florals: Charlotte Laurie

Men’s Pocket Squares: Mrs Bow Tie

Cake: Bleu Moon Bakery

Catering: Simply Pure

Band/MC: Lucky Devils Band

Dress: Lucy Can’t Dance

Shoes: Beyond Skin

Photography: Jamie Y Photography

Reception Venue: Place on 7th

Vintage Furniture Rentals: Dogwood Party Rentals

XO-Jamie

Valley Of Fire Wedding

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It doesn’t get much better then this amazing Valley of Fire elopement shoot.  Camille and I had been in talks for awhile about doing their wedding photos.  Due to Annice’s job schedule, it was difficult to get it planned in advance.  I am so glad that it happened when it did.  Winter is usually pretty slow.  I had been really craving a wedding.  They really truly are one of my favorite things to photograph.  Camille & Annice showed up looking amazing and picture ready.  So happy that they chose Valley of Fire, it is now one of my favorite locations.  I mean look at it!!!  Camille & Annice live in Edmonton, which is a gorgeous place in itself.  Valley of fire perfectly shows off the beauty of the Nevada desert.

To see even more from their session, watch the slideshow below.

If you are thinking about having a photo shoot at Valley of Fire, the permit is $50 but it is so worth it!

XO-Jamie

Valley of Fire Elopement

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Heather & Riley, these two hold a special place in my heart.  I got to spend two days with them earlier this month and it was pretty amazing.  Our adventure together started at Valley of Fire for their engagement photos.  I am going to share most of their story on their wedding photo post coming in the next week.  However, so you kind of get what the sign is all about at the end, I will share just a bit.  Heather is a member of our U.S. military and Riley is a member of the Australian military, which is where he is from.  The two of them met in Kandahar Afghanistan.  They are both still active duty and have maintained a long distance relationship for some time.  These two don’t get to hang out as often as most couples do.

We played around a bit with some fun things during our shoot.  Heather brought two smoke bombs, which we may or may not have been allowed to use on top of a mountain at Valley of Fire.  It was the no light kind and we were super safe though.  Heather also had a great sign made from an artist on Etsy.  Perfect way to announce the wedding to friends and family back home.  I also had an idea to use firework fountains in some portraits.  We didn’t light those in the park.

We witnessed a pretty epic sunset on our way out of Valley of Fire.

This was my first time trying to photograph portraits with fireworks and I had no idea how it would turn out.  On the way up to Valley of Fire there is an Indian reservation which sells the illegal fireworks.  There is a huge desert lot next to the store and there was thousands of used up fireworks all over the ground.  I knew we had to use that spot on the way back down and we did.  It was perfect.

I literally cannot wait to get started on their wedding day images and share more of their story with everyone.  They are such amazing people and I am so thankful to have documented this huge milestone for them.

Hair & Makeup by the talented team at Makeup In The 702

To see even more, watch the slideshow below.

XO-Jamie

Heather Riley Engagement from JamieY Photography on Vimeo.

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Mahailey & Mark were married earlier this year.  They set up a shoot with me for a honeymoon type shoot.  They were coming to Vegas and wanted to go to two of the iconic locations in town, Valley of Fire and the Neon Museum.  Before our shoot, the newlyweds found out that they were expecting!  So the shoot was kind of an early maternity/honeymoon portrait session.

Mark rented a Porsche for the day to make all that driving just a little more exciting.

Congratulations to the two of you!

XO-Jamie

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