Balistreri Vineyards Denver Wedding Photographer | Amanda + Zach
Amanda and Zach have such an authentic and lovely wedding story that all begins with their venue at Balistreri Vineyards. Just north of Denver you drive through an industrial area and arrive at an absolutely gorgeous venue complete with a huge indoor reception (or ceremony space!) and a lush green exterior lawn that they used as their ceremony space and their cocktail hour hang-out spot.
There is a getting-ready room is upstairs at the top of the beautiful grand staircase of the venue that provides a picturesque location for photos. Another getting-ready location is down in the wine cellar. The cellar itself is unassuming but absolutely awesome. I really loved the moments we were able to capture in each of these getting-ready spaces. Though the couple chose not to have a formal wedding party they each got ready with their parents and friends and enjoyed all the moments laughing and reminiscing.
Being a pretty hot day we had the option to do their first look indoors and it was such a beautiful spot for the couple to embrace for the first time on their wedding day.
The Balistreri Vineyards indoor space has massive garage doors that open to their lawn and patio area which creates a lovely environment to be inside or outside while having the two spaces connect and feel like they are all in one. The ceremony space itself has a gorgeous gazebo structure with plants crawling up all the sides. Bonus for a photographer - they thought about the direction of the lighting at this spot so the couple is always shaded and the pics ALWAYS come out awesome. I love it when a venue thinks about the lighting of the ceremony site.
I absolutely loved that we had a mix of different portrait locations to be able to escape to. The greenery all around the venue is stunning at all hours of the day and really cools things off if it’s a hot day. The downstairs area in the wine cellar however, really blew me away. I did a little different style of editing and shooting and I absolutely love how dreamy the images of this space came out. The way that Amanda and Zach interact with one another is such a beautiful thing to witness. It’s a passionate and gentle love you can really feel when you are with them.
Cocktail hour boasts an open bar and this venue is BYOB! The groom Zach actually works around wine and knows a ton about it so they had some really excellent wine picked out to enjoy with their friends and family on their special day. This was one of my favorite things about the whole day. The couple was really allowed to make it true to them, what they drank, and who they are. You could tell guests were very comfortable as soon as they walked in.
As the night went on there were some beautiful and emotional speeches that came into play from family and friends. I loved to see how much they are loved by their close friends and family. This wedding was an amazing reminder that your friends can become your family. That’s how it felt the entire night - that everyone at that wedding was family to one another.
We had to party the night away with the super fun DJ from A Plus Music playing new songs, throwbacks, and I distinctly remember some disco, too. We even snuck out for some fun flash portraits at the end of the night.
Venue: Balistreri Vineyards
Hair and Makeup: BeautyKit Studio
Florals: Amore Fiori Flowers
DJ: A Plus Music
Feel free to take a nice, slow scroll through the whole wedding day!
