Jackson Hole Wyoming Vow Renewal

Author // Meg & Luke
May 29, 2020

Before You Start

Before you read these two’s story, GUESS WHAT! This vow renewal has been featured in Rocky Mountain Bride’s Wyoming 2020 issue. How amazing is that! We are so psyched and honored that Rocky Mountain Bride would think our work worth featuring! Click here to read the issue!

The Love Story

This vow renewal felt, and looks like it’s straight out of a hallmark movie. Only it has a lot more substance. These two have quite the story, one filled with land that has been passed through the hands of generations, and a whole lot of cattle. They both grew up on their family’s ranches in Sublette County- both Sydney and JW being the 5^th generation of each.

These two actually met in early elementary school through their families and saw each other on and off throughout their childhood. Syd’s family would attend JW’s dads bull sale every year and they would spend time together during that. It wasn’t until they went to college in 2014 at The University of Wyoming that they started seeing each other. They saw one another outside a convenience store and started swing dancing at the Cowboy Bar on Wednesday’s and from then on they were inseparable. Their story was a whirlwind and so was their wedding in 2015. Because of that, Syd and JW loved the idea of celebrating almost 5 years of marriage and getting some more recent photos that they felt captured them and their relationship as it is now.

Fun fact for city folk like us- ranching strictly means cattle and hay, which means JW is basically a cowboy. In the spring he calves cows and in the fall you can find him riding horseback in the mountains gathering and sorting cattle. How insane is that! I wasn’t kidding when I said it feels like this story is out of a movie.

The Experience

The evening before, we arrived at Syd’s family ranch and her and JW and their two adorable kiddos welcomed us with open arms into their home. Syd had just been serving up some fresh homemade key lime pie when we got in and generously shared some. We chatted for a while and Syd (who is a bomb photographer, check out her website here) was gracious enough to show me the ropes in a some areas. She was actually the one who introduced me to Pic Time, which is the gallery service I use now and love. I can’t believe that there was ever a time when I didn’t use it.

That night they took us out in their car to tour the family ranch. There was so much history there, as you could imagine. They took us to the ruins of a log cabin home from 1918 and pointed out some of the native wildlife. Wyoming has more antelope than all the rest of the continent, which is obvious when you are there as they are literally everywhere.

At the end of the night Luke and JW drank a few beers and chatted and Syd and I got to talk more and a friendship was most definitely born. Syd is a rare combo of down to earth, intelligent, funny, and also gorgeous to boot. We had a great time venting and laughing and I think it’s pretty rare when you make quick connections with people like that.

The next morning we all got up well before sunrise and hopped in their car to drive some 15-20 minutes to another section of their land. We had so much fun capturing them in the sagebrush. Their family ranch is 50 miles south of Jackson Hole, WY and their whole ranch is surrounded by the Wind River mountain range. It was such a picturesque and low-key spot for their session. Definitely one perk of doing a session on our clients land- no worries about strangers popping into the viewfinder! To finish off the session they changed into some more casual clothes and we went in a more goofy and fun direction. When it was over, we drove back to their place, offloaded our photos, and were off again. It was hard saying goodbye to Syd and JW. We had found friends in them and knew it would likely be a long time before we could chill in person again. Until next time! Love you guys.

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