Misha and Zach are entirely and fiercely themselves. They laugh hard, they tell jokes, and they love goofing around. But apart from that, they are serious about their love for one another.  The emotions I witnessed from these two on their special day could light a fire in even the Grinch’s heart!

Misha and Zach met when Misha was a senior at Northern Arizona University and Zach was living in Flagstaff. And they decided to do what all college kids do- try out Tinder. Because hey you never know who’s out there right? They decided to meet a local bar with their friends in toe, but Misha was getting too nervous to approach Zach. One of Misha’s bridesmaids (who is also engaged to Zach’s best man), pulled Misha over to Zach to introduce them.  From there, Zach grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor.  And these two have not stopped dancing since!

And when they got engaged on the beach in California, it was quintessentially them. I love the way Misha describes it as they went to the beach to take couples photos with their friends at sunset, and after taking funny photos, Zach insisted they take one more, and Misha “got down into her ridiculous pose,” while Zach was trying to take the ring out of his back pocket. Misha was waiting for her friend to take the picture when she realized Zach was on one knee.  Misha responded, “Is this a joke? What are you doing?” And then Misha “started to ugly cry. Zach was crying. It was a hot mess.” These engagement stories are my favorite because they are so true to who the couple is!

I’m glad they traveled from California, where they now reside, to celebrate their wedding day in the forests outside Flagstaff, Arizona. Everyone was dressed in cowboy boots and ready to two step in honor of the happy couple.

These two had lots of surprises in store to keep the day light and fun.  Misha’s friends acted as flower girls and as they threw flowers down the aisle, they also left beer for Misha and her dad to drink together when they got halfway down the aisle.  I was dying laughing.  Both Zach and Misha’s families are so fun to be around and were entirely in the country wedding spirit.

But the look on Zach’s face when he saw Misha was no joke.  He could not even turn around to look at her until he knew she was in the aisle.  His face as he tried to hold back the tears said everything. Seeing his bride and best friend for the first time in her wedding gown, it made all the planning and stress over knowing if the campsite would even be available for their wedding, worth it.

After they were officially husband and wife, they laughed and partied the night away.  And the pictures from them smashing cake into each other’s faces still has me laughing.

The night ended with 4 wonderful guests pushing my tiny car out of a giant ditch type thing in the parking area because we were about 2 miles into the forest on dirt roads and it was pitch black out. So thank you to the guests who saved me!! 😀

And to you both, Misha and Zach, keep laughing through life, making crazy faces during portraits, and being true to yourselves.