Kelsey + Dan | Sylvan Lake Wedding | Natural Escape Photography | Black Hills Photographer

Kelsey & Dan Mayer | Sylvan Lake | Custer State Park, SD

May 29, 2021

To be honest, our weather sucked about 90% of the day. Little rain was predicted initially but right before the first look, it started to rain. The clouds opened up briefly so we could actually do the first look outside, and then it continued to rain even harder. If you get married at Sylvan Lake, you probably don’t want the majority of your photos inside, so after about an hour of waiting, we decided to say to heck with the weather and shoot outside anyway. Honestly, the clouds made the rock formations of Sylvan Lake pop and if we can forget how cold and wet we were, I absolutely love how these photos turned out. 

Dan and I met a few years ago – we actually lifeguarded together at the rec center here in Spearfish. So I was pretty stoked when Kelsey & Dan reached out to me to photograph their wedding. These two are so sweet and so much fun. We shot their engagement photos in the Badlands (it was cold and windy that day, too – I’m starting to think maybe I’m bad luck? Ha) I love doing engagement sessions for our couples – it really helps me get a feel for their personalities, their style, and that makes it so much easier on a wedding day to photograph and pose a couple, rain or shine. And these two had some incredibly talented vendors for their wedding day – I was honestly beyond flattered to be included in this group, some of the very best the Black Hills have to offer. 

Even though the ceremony was a tad chilly, these two had an absolutely gorgeous wedding right on the lawn of Sylvan Lake. We got to do a few more bridal portraits outside of their bridal cabin, and then after toasts, cake cutting, and an ice cream bar, the sun decided to finally come out so we grabbed Dan & Kelsey and rushed across the lake to catch the last few minutes of golden hour. And those 15 minutes of sunshine were well worth it. A huge thanks to Sophie for helping me with this gorgeous wedding and DJ Marek for being one of the best in the biz and keeping the dance floor full for our dance shots. Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Mayer!