Chelsea and Dave | Wedding @ JW Marriott Desert Ridge, Phoenix AZ

What do you get when you cross an LPGA golfer with an AD of college sports? An awesome wedding at a kick ass golf resort. Doug and I were drooling at the chance to round out our Aruba vacation by shooting a wedding in Phoenix. And in the dead of winter, we were happy at the thought of 70+ degree weather. We landed on Thursday night, hopped in our rental (which we scored a Mustang Convertible), and headed to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Golf Course. We spent time with both families at rehearsal on Friday and had a really relaxing morning prepping for the wedding in the bridal suite. By following Chelsea, I know how very hard she worked to look stunning and amazing on her wedding day. She was posting gym photos at like 5 am on Facebook when I would be still in a sleepy coma. Her hard work paid off because she looked like a rock star. We felt we already knew Dave, that’s how cool he is. Thankfully he was up for our humor and he and Doug bonded a bit over sports. And now that Dave and I are best friends, he is going to take me to every football bowl game he has in Hawaii to shoot the game… Right Dave??? What we also loved, is both sets of parents/siblings of these two lovebirds. Seriously. I could have a serious good time with Chelsea’s parents and Dave’s parents were like the pure definition of sweet and loving. I’m pretty sure I held back some sniffs and tears during both father’s speeches. Chelsea had every detail planned down to the T. Pictures that she had planned out she was prepared for with props and ideas (THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY LIFE EASY) and it also helped that we were at one of the most gorgeous resorts in the Phoenix area. This place had immaculate grounds and so many places for photos I could have literally spent all day there (which is why I’m glad we did a next day shoot). Both Chelsea and Dave were really outgoing and flexible when it came to photos and that makes photography SO much fun. Also, she had a cathedral length veil (AMAZING). The ceremony had literally perfect weather, no harsh shadows, and went off without a hitch! The reception was a blast and had some awesome DJ’s at Got You Covered (website HERE). They were awesome and professional so if you need a DJ in that area, look them up! We were able to sneak off from the reception for a bit to take some fountain night shots and Doug and I got to enjoy staying at the beautiful resort (in PERFECT weather) following the wedding day. We took some awesome next day photos to better utilize the grounds of the resort and then we hopped a plane back to the cold St. Louis temps. It was just an absolute blast we were so honored to go out to Arizona to document this wedding. Key-Films will be rocking a wedding trailer soon, stay tuned! We wish them many years of happiness and hope that they continue to post photos of their adorable puppy (cause we love her).

-Kate and Doug