Sparrow Hawk Ranch Wedding Inspiration • Larsen Photo Co.

In September, on one of the hottest days of the year and with wildfire smoke hanging low over the mountains, a dream team of vendors got together at Sparrow Hawk Ranch for a styled wedding shoot. Planner Judi with Dotting the i put together this shoot to showcase a brand new wedding venue on the north-east side of Longmont, Colorado. And while I don’t photograph many bigger weddings these days, I always love working with Judi and was happy to make an exception for this shoot.

Sparrow Hawk Ranch is a newly renovated barn wedding venue that’s open for bookings for 2023 and on. (At the time I’m writing this post, they are offering special pricing for dates in early 2023 for the first couples to book weddings at their brand new venue.) On clear days, the property has a beautiful view of the mountains with Longs Peak perfectly positioned behind the ceremony deck. While the wildfire haze hid the mountains from us for this shoot, it also gave us one of the best golden hours I’ve photographed in a long time.

Judi’s inspiration for this shoot was a mid-century modern living room, with clean, minimal furniture and pops of orange and green velvet. The furniture all came from Wallflower Rentals in Denver, and looked right at home in the barn. Sparrow Hawk Ranch is a clean slate of a wedding venue: dress it up any way you want. (Just book a planner like Judi who can make it all come together for you!)

Our models, Lauren and Tirzah, are married “in real life” too—although I think it’s pretty clear from their photos that they’re not just models pretending to be in love. Tirzah runs NearlyWed Coaching, where she offers premarital and wedding coaching, officiant services for weddings, and inclusivity consulting for businesses in the wedding industry. After working with her on this shoot, I can’t wait to photograph an elopement that she’ll officiate one day—she’s got such a joyful presence that I would want her guiding my own ceremony if I wasn’t already married!

I also loved working alongside Emma from Buffalo Film Co; our videographer for this shoot. Overly intrusive videographers who make couples repeat the same actions over and over again is a huge pet peeve of mine, because it interrupts the flow of the day and the couple’s experience—and Emma was the exact opposite of that. Fingers crossed we’ll be working side-by-side again on an elopement one day.