Sophie & Matt | Besler’s Cadillac Ranch | Black Hills Wedding Photographer

Mar 19

SOPHIE & MATT PETERSON | BESLER’S CADILLAC RANCH

MARCH 13, 2021

This shoot was honestly a dream. I’ve always wanted to do a full-blown styled shoot but with my hectic schedule, the timing has never really worked out. I’ve never really had the time to pour this much into a styled session. But a few months ago, Nathaniel with Nathaniel Wilson Video and I sat down to chat business ideas. I wanted to hire him to do a branding video for me to showcase my style and my personality when shooting a wedding, but we figured this might be too difficult to pull off during an actual wedding. So we started brainstorming a possible shoot and began reaching out to a few of our favorite vendors. I don’t think we envisioned this all coming together as well as it did. I’m honestly still shocked so many incredible local vendors agreed to help us and devoted an entire Saturday to making this all happen.

When Tom and I got married, I was new to the wedding photography game. Pinterest was newly born and I wasn’t keen on that yet, so I wasn’t overwhelmed with ideas. I was also still finding my ideal style of photography. We ended up having a tropical themed wedding (duh) and although I’m biased and I think it was pretty freaking awesome, there are definitely some things I would have changed style-wise after being in this business for almost a decade. So this shoot was kind of a way for me to express my wedding dreams and see them come to fruition without having to actually be the bride. And what’s even better is: DJ Marek was our DJ for our wedding 9 years ago, and he’s still one of the absolute best in the area. He knows how to get a dance floor hopping and keep wedding guests dancing all night long. It meant so much to us that he gave up a rare Saturday night off to help us out.

When it came to a couple for our shoot, I obviously thought of Sophie & Matt right away. Sophie is our long-time assistant and we got to photograph their actual wedding a few years ago! Sophie is the most genuine, sweetest, and most beautiful girl and her and Matt are always down to help us out. Plus, I knew I wanted a couple with a lot of chemistry and who I was comfortable with so I wouldn’t be as nervous being on the opposite side of the camera for part of the day. How sweet is it that they even wrote their own vows for our styled shoot? And Sophie’s dad even got to walk her down the aisle again. Julie with Becoming Blooms made THE most beautiful florals for us, and we decided to try a new spot at Besler’s for the ceremony with the arch and bridge as the background. I worked perfectly! Tom got to be the officiant and Marina got to be our little flower girl. She definitely isn’t sad that her parents are wedding photographers and she gets to be a part of so many dances. And Daniele Jones with Bake My Day in Sturgis just killed it with her desserts. I’ve always wanted to have our bride & groom share a macaroon instead of the traditional cake in the face, and I heard so many people say that “they were the best macaroons I’ve ever had!”

This was such a beautiful, emotional, and classic day and I’m so excited to share these photos. I owe an absolutely huge THANK YOU to all of these awesome vendors for the team effort. It wouldn’t have been possible without them all!

Bride & Groom: Sophie & Matt Peterson

Venue: Besler’s Cadillac Ranch

Photographer: Natural Escape Photography

Videographer: Nathaniel Wilson Video

DJ: DJ Marek

Cake & macaroons: Bake My Day

Florals: Becoming Blooms

Dress: Love Struck Bridal

Suit: Main Street Menswear

MUA: Create Beauty Studio

Hair: Brooklyn Zietlow

Styling & Design Suite: Natural Escape Photography