These styled prairie bridal portraits were featured in Rocky Mountain Bride.
Country Living Inspiration
This product of this shoot was 4 years in the making. I first had the vision for these Montana prairie bridal portraits while driving to a wedding. Being based in Central Montana some of my weddings are over 4 hours away. Driving through the plains, the drive can be long. With cattle outnumbering people in our state you can always guarantee that there you will pass fields and fields of cows. Did you know that we just reached a million people the other year and we have over 2.5 million cows?
Either way, on one of the drives, I started thinking that of all of the bridal portrait sessions that I had seen colleagues post you never see a bridal shoot with a cow. You see a ton with horses, but with all of the girls who do 4H and those who raise dairy cows you never see any pictures of a bride and her pet cow. I was completely stuck on the idea that one day I WOULD photograph a bride and with her cow. Flash forward a couple of years and wedding after wedding it didn’t happen. I have worked at many ranch weddings and the cows were never dairy cows or tame enough to let people near them. They always would get spooked and run.
Bringing The Vision To Life
Then last year I met a model named Rachael when I was in New York. Her family owns a ranch in Roy, Montana and her neighbors raised dairy cows!
Once my time in New York was over and I was back in Montana we started making a plan to shoot together and finally make this vision happen. Due to our long winters we put the shoot off several times, but we finally set a date in June and it was perfect. In the days before and after we saw everything from snow to rain, but the day that we shot it was warm and sunny. Combine the great weather with the fact that we had not one, but two cows cooperate for photos, the shoot was a ton of fun.
Our shoot was complete with a custom designed ring set, a vintage lace bridal gown, lovely calligraphy, gorgeous boots, a boho bouquet, and an insanely tasty vanilla bean cake that was topped with salted caramel drizzle. With the help of an amazing vendor team we had a great time creating some beautiful and unique images that we hope will be inspiration for other girls who want to put a country living twist on their bridal portraits.
Vendors
Styling & Planning – Olivine Fox
Venue – U-Cross Ranch
Ring Set – RAW by Olivia Mar
Boho Florals – Wild Iris Floral & Home
Model – Rachael Simons
Cows – Disney & Melanie
Vintage Bridal Gown – Feather Your Nest
Veil – Jaclyn Jordan New York
Bridal Boutique – Belles & Lace Bridal
Hair & Makeup – Shelby with Capital Hill Beauty and Bridal
Calligraphy – Glenn Avenue Calligraphy
Bride’s Boots – Hoglund’s Western Wear
Cake – Crooked Tree Coffee and Cakes
Bridal Manicure – Jeanna J. Mane
