Thank you so much to all of the wonderful couples who wrote such lovely reviews! Working with you and celebrating with you makes me so, so happy!
I’m thrilled to announce that my business has won these Best of Weddings Awards, which honor the top wedding vendors across America.
Jessica Schmitt Photography has been selected as a 2022 winner of The Knot Best of Weddings and The WeddingWire Couples Choice Awards, accolades representing the highest- and most-rated wedding professionals as reviewed by real couples, their families and wedding guests.
This year, five percent of hundreds of thousands of local wedding professionals listed on The Knot received this distinguished award.
To determine the winners, The Knot analyzed its millions of user reviews across various vendor categories to find the highest rated vendors of the year. These winners represent the best of the best wedding professionals that engaged couples should consider booking for their own unique weddings.
Please check out my reviews at the knot and weddingwire and this glowing review from a happy bride, married in August of 2021, “Great eye, attention to detail, and turnaround time. For our engagement photos Jessica was extremely accomodating with our time and location requests. At the wedding she and her assistant worked their way through all the standard photos while creatively incorporating the light and venue into a number of non-traditional shots. They were able to capture the feel and energy of the event without being intrusive. Turnaround time was extremely fast and we couldn’t be happier with the end results.”
In 2021, I photographed some gorgeous weddings, including:
Lauren and Cyrus shared a special wedding weekend with their guests including a rehearsal at the Napa Reserve, a wedding ceremony at Kunde Winery in Sonoma and a wine tasting tour to finish the celebration.
The wedding day began with preparations at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn.
Lauren shares, “Cyrus really only had one request of our whole wedding, that it was to take place in Northern California. Cyrus went to school at Santa Clara University and he really fell in love with the area- I can’t say I could really complain, it is gorgeous there. When we went through the process of selecting a venue, we went to a few places but there was only one where I felt that we were really in wine country. Kunde’s rolling hills with vines sold it to me. I told Cyrus, “You wanted Northern California, this is it plus some!”
There was some stress leading up to our big day; it was forecasted to be very rainy all week long. My dad passed away when I was in high school, but I still talk to him as if he is here, especially on significant days in my life. I asked my dad for a favor, “If there is any control of the weather up there, please send me the weather that you want me to have on my wedding day” – I wasn’t specific, just a simple request. The day before our wedding, the news had headlines of “San Francisco’s Weather Door is Officially Open” and “Impending Bomb Cyclone Hovers for this Weekend.” I was very focused on our friends and family not having to sit in any rain, let alone a bomb cyclone. When we woke up the next morning, the sky had opened up and there was even sunshine!
When we were driving to the venue, our wedding party was in awe of how gorgeous all of the fall colors looked. Then, when we arrived for the ceremony, the sun was really shining. Our ceremony was my favorite part of the day. I felt like my dad was right there with us and had sent the sun to really show off – that was always his style.
It was so special for Cyrus and me to hear our vows that we had kept secret from each other.
Beyond the ceremony, my favorite parts were being able to surprise Cyrus all night long with meaningful parts of our relationship woven into our wedding. We both always wanted a very classic timeless wedding, but I made sure to add in some subtle touches that are really us – our signature drink names, his Toro nigiri sushi groom’s cake, and “bottle service” from the night we met complete with champagne and pancakes. Even our string quartet played a Drake song when he came down the aisle. It was so much fun seeing Cyrus’s face light up through the night at so many of our inside jokes being represented subtly on our wedding day.”
The ceremony included Persian traditions. A mirror brings brightness and gives the couple a view of themselves with their support system – their wedding guests. Kaleh ghand (sugar cones) were rubbed together over the heads of the bride and groom to bring sweetness into their life and marriage.
Lauren and Cyrus shared their first dance to XO by John Mayer.
After the first dance, we snuck out to the vineyard for some golden hour photos.
After dinner, the sky got dark, the twinkle lights came on and the dance floor opened.
We had sun, flurries, and blizzard conditions all in one day for Steph and Steve’s wedding in Breckenridge! It was an amazing day with incredible views and lots of love.
Steph shares, “Steve and I love Colorado. Both of our older brothers live in Denver and we take a trip out to see them at least once or twice a year. Last year in August we went out to Palisade and had an awesome family weekend visiting the wineries and having some great laughs. Our Airbnb had this super creepy gnome in the yard so it became the joke of the weekend. We all kept hiding it in different places for someone to find (hence Brian and Anthony gifting us our own zombie gnome for our wedding!).
After leaving Palisade, Steve and I headed to Breckenridge, which was a first for both of us. We instantly fell in love. The quaint, unique shops, delicious food and cocktails, and of course the views made it feel so special. Hearthstone became an instant favorite spot where we went three times in two days. We ended up celebrating our welcome dinner there with our family the night before the wedding.
For the proposal, Steve had a whole plan that quickly went south due to Covid restrictions. He planned on proposing at Sapphire Point, but it was unfortunately closed. He quickly had to find a backup spot the morning of the proposal. Someone from our hotel suggested Blue Lakes so, after several hours of transportation issues, we started heading there… and then came the downpour. I suggested turning around and going back but Steve was adamant about us going there and having our picnic he so carefully packed for us. So on we went in the pouring rain for our picnic. It started to slow down as we arrived and was just drizzling so we decided to push on. Thank God we did. The rain stopped and we found this beautiful, secluded area right next to the lake where we built a Little Rock sculpture together and then Steve got down on one knee. I was so stunned I forgot to say yes right away, but then shouted “that’s a big fat yes!” while jumping into his arms.
Fast forward to wedding planning and having to make the difficult choice to forgo the big wedding due to all of the Covid issues we saw our friends having. We decided it was fate to elope at Sapphire Point and we wanted to bring along those closest to us – our immediate families and our bridal party. Our vision for the weekend was an intimate, personalized ceremony followed by a house party, totally our style. We love music, dancing, and sharing good food and drinks with our loved ones and we did exactly that. We wanted the location to be the highlight and we selected the villa based on its Tuscan look and awesome bar and patio areas. The menu was a joint collaboration influenced by Steve’s brother, Brian Hubner, and his friend, RJ Harvey, who are phenomenal private chefs in Denver. We wanted it to be an experience and have things on the menu that were a little different from typical wedding menus, almost like elevated BBQ.
My favorite moment from the day was when Steve and I were delivering our vows we had written to each other. It was raining and then snowing that morning, but during our ceremony it was beautiful, as if the clouds parted just for us. As Steve was reading his vows, the sun came out and there was a bluejay behind him in the tree. The moment just felt so ethereal, like it was all meant to be. I remember feeling this deep emotion like there was so much love surrounding us that you could see and feel it. It was beautiful. I also had a blast playing flip cup later with our friends and family and singing and dancing all night – it was by far the best day of my life.”
Steve shares, “It’s hard for me to pick just one favorite moment from the day so I’ll share my top two that came to mind. First would be when we finished our “I do’s” at Sapphire Point and we finally got to celebrate with friends and family. I remember everything looking so scenic and the way things turned out with the weather was just amazing. It was one of the happiest moments for me to be at such a beautiful place surrounded by the love of my life and the people closest to us. I’ll never forget that.
Second, another top moment for me was when we got back to the villa and were able to finally sneak off for a quiet moment together. Our private chef set aside a nice plate of all the good stuff from cocktail hour that we couldn’t wait to get our hands on, having barely eaten all day. The food was absolutely delicious and I remember being able to finally take a breath and relax for a moment with my wife. Although we spent the last couple of hours together during our ceremony, taking pictures, etc., we really didn’t have a chance to just talk and take everything in. It was a much needed moment alone and gave us the quick recharge we needed before the party really got started.”
Leenae and Chad were married at a beautiful mountain getaway in Evergreen, Colorado. The Juniper Mountain House is a unique modern lodge with spacious grounds and a meadow for ceremonies, tucked away in the forest.
