this is why i still keep at the ready and make those dumb little jokes here and there… i love this completely natural moment:

another fave:

models, i said!!!!!!

a lovely afternoon spent with such a loving and tenderhearted family. thank you all again for trooping through the day with me and making it fun! i wish you all the best with the birth of your newest family member and continued blessings to you all down life’s road!

thanks again to the entire family for being so generous and welcoming to me. i hope you love your photographs and that they grace your walls beautifully.

mike was hankering to get inside the dinosaur’s head so we went through the little museum they have on site to get on up in there.

after the dinosaurs, we took a little drive further into the desert to use more of the scenery for their backdrop…

yes, we found a car graveyard / junkyard on our journey. yes, we did not hesitate to go in. more from this spot will be in the normal post for sure. these are slight teases, remember  :)

more to come in the future from this… just wanted to let y’all see a little bit of it. a fun fun day in the sunny sun sun.

so this TTD session ended up being a little different from the norm in two ways. these won’t always have the couple involved, normally focus more on the new bride. and because of where we were and how much traveling we had to do from spot to spot, the actual dress was only featured at the beginning… and the shoot became more of a couples’ romantic shoot from there on.

let’s get started. this first building, just before we began for the day, a guy drove up and i chatted with him for a few minutes. he told me he would be coming out here in a matter of days to tear this structure down. another reason why this area is constantly changing.

for any of you who saw my work from a session with michelle out here from last month, you will get more of a feel for the constant flux of this area from this next set of shots as well. my previous visit was at the beginning of the december rainfall, and this whole area was full of water and mud. so i had no idea that in the dry period, it is like this: covered in salt and looking much like snow.

j & j changed their clothes and we headed back to the road to something jay spotted during our drive to this last location. this was a fantastic find and worked perfectly with my scheme to “shoot big” that day.

thus ends another fun day with clients / new friends. thanks again to the newly (and very happy) weds! you both did awesome and it was great to hang out more with you. i wish you both all that happiness has to offer in every aspect of your lives. hopefully our paths will cross again.

and, jay… maybe we will be rooting against one another this winter if the sox and phils meet in the world series   :)

here are some of my faves from their engagement session:

i am ecstatic to be a part of their big day and extremely honored to be able to document it for them. i love you guys…

while the couple “worked the room”, you could tell how deeply loved they were. i love this first moment of a ring display  :)

this friend of the happy couple was cutting a mean rug all afternoon. he and karen had everyone entranced while they shared a dance…

with the enormous windows, i could not help but take some silhouette photos of karen and nick together. this is one of my favorites:

as i said before, thanks again to the happy couple for trusting me with documenting your day with you. it was a pleasure to meet you both and your families. i wish you both the an amazing life together.

these two were so incredibly cute. the night before, at the rehearsal, they walked up to each other and held hands before going down the aisle and i think all of the adults’ hearts collectively burst at once. so adorable.

so, here is a little factoid or interesting detail about the church they were married in (red hill lutheran church). i noticed this during the rehearsal the night before the big day. this is regarding the altar bench that’s between the couple and their pastor in the photos above. i asked the women who worked there and were acting as the couple’s coordinators if they had ever noticed this. i said, “now, i’m no tom hanks… and i’m not on a search for some albino monk. but, i know as a fact from an old building that i used to work in as well, that sometimes architects can get kinda fancy schmancy with their designs.” i assume cathedrals and churches could very often have these little nuances to them that people maybe do not see right away.

so this may or may not mean anything to you, but i thought it was pretty cool. and it may just be the way my mind works, but it seems that the way the lighting and everything from the ceilings would hit this cross, it creates three shadows. thus, as you look below, there are now three shadow crosses. one larger one in the middle (Christ’s cross) and the other ones beside it (for the other crosses that were there when He was crucified). when i pointed it out, a few of us just stood there in silent awe for a minute.

because of the timing and location of the wedding / reception, we had arranged to do a TTD (trash the dress) shoot a few weeks later in the month. however, we still caught a few of the bride and groom together to celebrate their special day.

the second part will be coming soon (no need to check your local movie listings or anything like that… i will let you know).

here is a little sneak peek from our brief time together.

this little spitfire was seriously one of the cutest little girls and overflowing with personality.

as i started to pack up my gear in my car, i thought to myself: why not head back and try to get a couple of quick shots outside and maybe even of the groom. i was glad i did.

it was difficult for me to wrap my head around leaving when i did… not being able to continue telling the story of their day. but i am hopeful they will love what i deliver to them of even just the brief time i was there.

i usually allow myself one or two photos from a wedding to play with… to just get a little outside of the box… this was that shot…

and here is one from the beach in front of their reception hotel location:

while we waited for the grand entrance time, we got to play a little more in this fantastic room:

and what bride doesn’t love a little audrey?

the sand castle candles were such a great touch for this beach wedding…

during the father/daughter and son/mother dances they had a photos slideshow playing. it coerced some strong emotions from the dance floor participants.

they had so many people serenading them throughout the night. it was another testament to the couple as to how much people love and wanted to honor them.

and even david got into the act. a surprising and uber-romantic performance of a song he had written for stephanie. yes, even us male wedding photographers can well up while shooting a wedding. or… at least… this one does   :)

as a former break-dancer (hey… i could do some crazy legs and an egg spin on the cardboard in my living room!), i give it up for the bride’s brother:

as i said in my previous post, the sense of family and love from this entire day was just something that washed over you. it was refreshing to see how two families just completely embraced one another, from every extension of it.

thanks again for inviting me to be a part of your amazing day, stephanie and david. it really was an honor and i wish you both and all of your family the best of what life has to offer.

one more shot of the passion between these two love birds in parting   :)

stephanie came to me through my good friend ryan (thanks, ryan!). she had been the nanny of ryan’s little girl for a while, and it was easy to see why ryan and his wife were so sad to see stephanie stop being their nanny after this wedding. stephanie’s love for family and children (that is reflected in david, as well) was so completely evident within the first minutes i was with her.

stephanie’s hair and make-up all courtesy of her sister:

one of the three adorable bridesmaids:

a couple of ring shots before we move along…

while we waited for the walk down the aisle on the beach, the bridesmaids practiced some dancing. i loved these with the shadows and all:

sometimes, if you look my way while i’m shooting, you may see an enormous grin on my face behind the mask my camera creates. i was smiling immensely during this beautiful moment. everyone was lined up to walk down the aisle… waiting for music… people to sit… the usual. and the mother of the groom and the mother of the bride just kind of smiled at each other genuinely, both equally excited for what was about to happen. they had not met before this and then it hit them who they were. in that moment, they became like old high school friends that had not seen each other for years and years: smiling these tremendous smiles and laughing and hugging. it was incredibly touching.

just look how gorgeous this set up is! right on the beach and they could not have personally written a letter to God to ask for better weather. it was just perfect (after having been very gloomy right up until that afternoon).

i never pass up a good “picture in picture”

and, i know… i say “i love” this and “i love” that… but it’s true. i love weddings. sorry. i admit it. i am a sappy so and so. but i really do love hearing the vows and seeing how some couples make it their own. at one point drawing tears out of you, and making you laugh at the next:

and their two youngest, standing next to them, were cracking me up:

and i now pronounce you… halfway through my blog of this wedding. part two will come shortly.