shane & heather: laguna wedding

so, this is how word of mouth works. you do photos for someone, they tell a friend about you and you do their photos for their christmas cards. they, in turn, tell their friend to check you out as their potential wedding photographer. bam! not exactly a math problem that good will hunting would be the only one to solve. pretty simple, right? so that was how i got contacted by heather and shane to shoot their wedding (and engagement shoot, as well). so, thanks to stephanie and stephanie   :)

it had rained the day previously and clouds hung around all morning…. but as you can see, the gorgeous came out for them.

i started with the bride-to-be and all her ladies as they prepped for the ceremony.

i would probably not do this again, nor should you try this at home. these vases were not so steady on this railing, so i had to shoot fast. down a few stories below, you ask? oh, just people laying around by the pool. i usually only put myself at risk… but i tried to go a little further for this shot.

balancing the shoes was not as tricky…

i took a minute to race over to the groom’s room (hmmm…. should i trademark that little snippet of catchiness?) for some “getting ready” shots of shane and his groomsmen.

i brought the rings along with me for some details shots, as well. i had picked up the newspaper on my drive down to the surf & sand for this very reason.

i’m a sucker for details and an even bigger sucker for shots of the rings. when i saw this big piece of coral in shane’s room, i had to incorporate it into photos too.

one last shot of the guys before heading back to heather and her girlfriends.

heather’s dress was simply beautiful.

before we did their engagement shoot photos, i had the pleasure of a quick lunch with heather, shane and shane’s father and sister. we chatted a little about the details for the big day and the topic of a “first look” came up. this seems to be a fairly new trend with couples (where they meet alone, shortly before the ceremony… a lot of times, with the photographer present) and it was rather interesting hearing the voices of fresher tradition discuss it with the opinions of more common tradition. gone, in many eyes, are the days of “it’s bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony!” and in comes the tide of a couple embracing the ability to calm their nerves a little. not to mention having a tiny, romantic moment alone, during the maelstrom and busy-ness of this all-important day.

long story short (i know… too late for that), shane and heather decided to have a brief meeting before they walked down the aisle. being there with them opened my mind a little more to the romance and beauty of those moments.

to everyone in attendance at the wedding, this below was the “first look” for shane and heather. honestly, i still think the magic of this exact moment was still palpable, regardless of them having just seen each other in private. this is always such an awesome moment at every wedding.

the ceremony overlooking the ocean was so pretty. what a beautiful day to get married by the ocean.

and the new mr and mrs…

as we walked to the reception site, i couldn’t help but ask the couple to stand near their sign

outside the reception site, they had one of their engagement shots that we took outside on a table for signing by their guests. this is one of my all-time favorite ideas for brides and grooms to incorporate into their wedding. (and i include the print in my wedding package for my couples who get an engagement shoot with me before the wedding *own horn tooted*)

everything at the reception was top notch. even the cake followed the beach theme.

i loved how they were able to seemingly block out the rest of the world on their big day… if even for the briefest of moments.

father-daughter dance:

and the couple’s first dance:

and come on… who doesn’t love cake?!   :)

everyone was tearing up the dance floor for most of the reception. including these two kids as pretty much the dance leaders. the younger one was cracking everyone up, constantly dancing and watching himself in the large wall mirror.

the wedding was so beautiful, all of the guests and family members had a great time… the weather had threatened to dampen the day but took a turn for gorgeousness instead. quite a day to remember, and i’m sure it will be happily thought of for many, many years to come by all who were honored to attend.

best of luck to you both, heather and shane. i hope your lives together are as happy as they seemed to be with the little time i was able to spend with you!