Calluna Community | Cocktails with Alp & Isle

Here at Calluna, we are always looking for new ways to highlight and honor some of the amazing creative partners we get to work with. We feel incredibly fortunate to work with some seriously talented vendors in the industry, and we are showing them off to you in our Calluna Community Series! We are sitting down with some of the fabulous vendors of Colorado to get to know about them, their business and what life is like behind the scenes.

This week for Calluna Community, we caught up with Emily and Zach of Alp & Isle!

Cheers! Xo, Calluna

Describe what you do!

Zach and I are a husband-wife photography duo. We love working together for our couples and it results in a holistic experience. Our deep, romantic style is achieved with our use of medium format and 35mm film. We love how skin tones and movement are rendered on classic film.

What is your idea of a dream project?

We love working with couples who want a wedding that reflects their own personality and style! A wedding that feels authentic to them. We invest time getting to know our couples on a personal level so we can pull out little pieces of their story as inspiration for their portraits. We enjoy finding real life inspiration and watching it evolve through design and art direction. The images that result are always so original, epic, and timeless.

What has been your favorite wedding that you have worked, or attended?

That is tough to pin down, we have favorite moments from each and every one. One wedding day that has always stayed with us was an intimate mountain wedding. The couple built the day around exactly what was important to them- their union, their closest family and friends, their culture, and lovely food and wine. It was carefully curated with plenty of time for each part of the day. They had several epic locations they wanted to be captured in for their portraits so we shuttled around, driving from one beautiful scene to another, but each with special meaning to them. The couple honored everyone in attendance with a wholehearted experience, truly trying to tend to everyone and honor their place in their life. We all left feeling like we just witnessed something truly beautiful and special.

What does your morning routine look like?

We both have always been night owls though we give mornings the old college try. I love the beautiful light and stillness of the morning so I try to embrace those early hours often. We rise with our pup, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Estes. We review our planner for the day over some buttered coffee, laying out our tasks, making sure to cover ground on each of our core goals. We then get our son Noah off to school or on his home days we help him start on his lessons. We respond to our emails, and then start on checklist of client galleries, consultations, creating mood boards, art direction etc.

What are some of your favorite trends that you are seeing?

We are really loving that couples are bringing in elements of their own style and personality. We are seeing new traditions being chosen over conventionality and an embracement of slow al fresco dinner party receptions with vintage silver or crystal and modern menus, beautiful textures of velvet, leather, and vellum, eye catching structural and textural floral installments of delicate blooms and pampas grass, and fun evening activities of sunset bonfires and whiskey flights, or transitioning into a party vibe with a hip after party.

What advice would you give to a younger you?

We have embraced a live-each-moment-fully mentality from a young age, but if we could talk to a younger self, we would speak to him or her gently, telling them to give themselves more credit and grace. We would hope for more scheduled self care and to focus efforts on our core values and goals.

What makes you excited to go to work in the morning?

Sharing the beauty we see in the world and it’s citizens, using our talents and voice for originality is deeply inspiring and gives us great purpose. Seeing our hard work and heart bring our greatest dreams to life makes our daily tasks joyful.

What is your favorite cocktail, or what are you drinking tonight?

Zach would order a black manhattan, while Emily would reach for the french bubbly. We both love prohibition style cocktails and host cocktail parties at our home speakeasy, The Pike & Poppy, complete with a hand carved family heirloom bar from Scotland.

Check out Alp & Isle and follow them on Instagram!

See some of our favorite photos from Alp & Isle from Rachel + Ryan’s wedding at Devil’s Thumb Ranch last fall!