I had the pleasure recently of shooting at one of my favorite locations - Nestldown, in the Santa Cruz mountains, with the beautiful Ashley and Jared! It was a delight from start to finish. Here are a few of my faves, or if you'd like to watch the slideshow, you can do so by clicking on Jared and Ashley's Nestldown wedding slideshow here.
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It's true, I'm here and alive, and I am still a photographer, despite not having blogged about any of the recent portrait shoots or weddings I've done. I'm not gone, I'm just on maternity leave with my beautiful new son (which brings total McCord kids to a [final] three). So I am still shooting family/engagement portraits (even on maternity leave) and I'm shooting weddings later in the year, and am signing up couples for weddings in 2012. I also just created a facebook page for Kelly McCord Photography, and despite being on maternity leave, am planning on starting to blog again very soon. Thanks for your patience, and check back soon to see some of my recent weddings and photo shoots.
Here's Jack:
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It's a rare treat to get to shoot my friends' weddings, and I was privileged enough to do so when I shot Jamie and Jonathan's big day recently. I have known them both for a long time; I don't even know how many years I've known Jamie (and her family), but definitely an awfully long time (20+ years?), since we were very young, and I've known Jonathan (and his family) for about 10 years now, and so I was thrilled when they asked me to shoot their wedding.
Jamie and Jonathan are fun silly, sweet and kind and so clearly adorable together (and separately!), which makes them not only great to simply be around, but also very fun to take pictures of. I loved getting to be part of their wedding, and taking pictures of shooting them. Like I said, they (and their wedding party/family) are silly (in the best possible way), and were willing, ready and able to pretty much anything I asked them to do, in fact, they suggested some of the wilder shots we took that day, and in doing so, created some incredible shots. There are very few people as committed to photography as to design and paint special backdrops just to take pictures in front of, but they did(!) and we have some great (if I do so obnoxiously say so myself) photos because of it. In fact, Jonathan loves photography like I do, and has worked as my assistant on more than one occasion.
Not only was I excited to photograph their wedding because they're friends, and super-cute friends at that, and because I knew they would be be willing (and wanting) to do pretty much anything photographically, but I knew the day (and the pictures that resulted) would be great (visually), simply because Jamie has great taste, and as we'd talked at length about her wedding before-hand, I knew it would be wonderful; bright, colorful and well-thought-out and I was right on all accounts, much to my delight. =)
It was apparent that everything had been considered; the colors, the candy bar, the button cake, the stunning flowers [by Katie Gonzales], and it was so obvious how much care, thought and time they had put into everything, down to the tiniest things, like the label on a cookie jar, and being such a fan of details, I was not disappointed (and could of course, not stop taking pictures!).
But besides the aesthetic, and most important, it was a wedding of friends (not just Jamie and Jonathan, their wedding party and their families, but their guests, too) which is always fun; to be in the midst of people who know me, and aren't afraid to be just as crazy and silly (or sillier in some cases) as the bride and groom. And not only that, but a bunch of them went above and beyond, surprising Jamie and Jonathan with a 'Thriller' dance during the reception (it was so fantastic, and so funny it was hard to believe they'd only had a few practices before the reception).
The day was full of joy from the first to the last. When I arrived at the Jordans, everyone was stress-free, laughing and joking while they got their makeup and hair done, then right as the ceremony began, and I caught Jonathan dancing a jig with his brother immediately before he walked down the aisle to get married, to the ending of the reception, when masses of colorful confetti rained down on the dance floor, to all their friends lining up and creating a gauntlet for them to run through, to get to their car. It was a beautiful, special day and I was thrilled and honored to be asked to take part and record it.
And while shooting their wedding was admittedly a blast, even more so, I loved getting to see Jamie and Jonathan together on their special day. They (and their families) are both very dear to me, and I wanted to bless them, and hopefully give them photos they will love and cherish, and more than anything else, and to be able to capture who they are together through the lens as clearly as I see them with my eyes. I hope I've done that.
If you'd like to see more of their uber fun wedding, you can check out the slideshow, with a bunch of my favorite photos from the day, you can do so by clicking here. And as usual, I've included a few of my favorites within this post if you don't want to go through the (admittedly longer than normal slideshow [because-they're-my-friends-an- it's-nearly-impossible-not-to-include-more-than-usual, because they are friends and I do know so many of the players]). So feel free to check out the slideshow, if you want to see a bunch of the aforementioned adorableness, or if you just want a quick sample of the festivities, you can click on continue reading below, to see even more of my favorites...
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I had the privilege of shooting Robyn and Sean's beautiful wedding at Holy Cross church and the always stunning Hollins House. Robyn and Sean are absolutely adorable, and it was so fun to get to share their wedding day with them. I've included a few of my favorite photos, and if you'd like to see more of my favorite photos from the day, I've created a slideshow of all of my favorite photos, which you can see by clicking here...
Below is a great example of why I had so much fun; they were literally cracking each other up all day (and I love capturing moments like this)...
The gorgeous flowers were done by Teressa, of Bonny Doon Garden Company, who is not only uber talented (and specializes in organic flowers), but a wonderful person too; it was fun to get to work with her again! There are some pretty shots of her bouquets below, after the jump.
And of course, I can't forget the Hollins House, which is one of my favorites in town, it's so elegant and the views are phenomenal. All in all, this was a beautiful day, and as I said before, I was honored to get to document Robyn and Sean's special day; they were fun, silly, sweet and romantic and I had a blast capturing all their different sides. (Hollins House, below...)
I have to talk about their first dance, which was so great! They started off slow, but then quickly got down and busted a serious move. Below is a shot of the 'serious' part, right before the fast music started, and I love this shot. There are a series of hilarious dancing shots that you MUST see, including a moment where Sean whipped his tux jacket off and threw it into the audience (I was so stoked that I captured it!), but there were so many great dancing moments that I'd be remiss if I didn't include a few of them, after the jump, but in order to fully appreciate the fun and wackiness that was their first dance, you should definitely check out the slideshow!!
Here's the throwing-the-jacket moment...(like I said, more fun dancing shots in the slideshow, and below after the jump).
Close-ups of the dress, before Robyn put it on....
I absolutely love this silhouette, right-before-they-head-down-the-aisle shot! I was shooting the bridesmaids walking down the aisle, and when I glanced up I saw Robyn and her dad conferring, right before starting down the aisle. I love how intent her dad looks, with just that glimmer of light off of his glasses, and how even though it's in silhouette, you can tell that she's smiling...
The ceremony...is Holy Cross not just completely lovely?
Immediately upon stepping out of the church...
Details! I love details, and these placecards in particular were pretty fabulous...
Portraits...
How I love the long veils!
There are more shots, after the jump, click to continue reading below...
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I get asked by brides all the time if I do guest book engagement albums (or rather, if I can create a guest book using photos from their engagement shoot), and the answer to that is a resounding YES!!! In fact, I LOVE it!! I think it's such a fun, creative way to feature your engagement photo session, in a way that you'll actually keep out, and look at. Not only is it a unique way to display your engagement photos, (along with being archival; so it will last for your children's children to see), but it's something you can keep out and actually have on your coffee table, to look at and read your family and friend's wishes, blessing, and congratulations again and again. It's such a dear thing to have, especially to be able to read the loving messages left by those family members who are no longer with you, years after the wedding day.
Ross and I did the (also fun) mat-to-sign around our favorite engagement picture (which is another fun, keepsake-y way to feature your engagement photo, but the only bummer is, you can only do one or a couple photos -- this way you get to have MANY favorites). We've got our mat/photo framed in our bedroom, and I still (even almost 10-years past) read people's messages to us all the time. Unfortunately, since the wedding, two of my grandmas have since passed, but I treasure and love looking at what they had to say, in their own hand. I think the guest book engagement album encourages your guests to do more than just sign their name (as you would with a regular guest book. It asks them to pause and write something (hopefully) meaningful or funny (or both), that you can look at again and again. That's why I love these albums; because it turns into a dynamic memory from your wedding day. And like I said, instead of throwing it in a box, to rarely be seen again (as I would guess most traditional guest books are), it's a beautiful, photo-filled time-capsule from your wedding day.
I wanted to show you one of the more fun and whimsical guest book albums I've done recently. In fact, I just finished it and I'm so happy with it -- I can't wait to show my bride and groom, Shari and Austin. They asked for something fun and artistic, with specific colors that will be featured on their wedding day. I tried to make it exactly what they asked for, and I'm thrilled with the results of this latest guest book engagement album. If you'd like to see it in its entirety, you can do so by clicking here to be taken to their guest book album.
And I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful summer weather we've been having!! I've been looking at it longingly out the window while I've been working at the computer!! =) (Also, if you'd like to see the pages I've included here a little larger, just click on them to see them bigger).
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Every year for the last at least 20+ years of my life, (with a break of a few years when I was away at college), basically since sixth grade, I've been volunteering at our church's Vacation Bible School. Specifically for the last 4-5 (or six?) years, I've volunteered as the VBS Photography Director, and have had the privilege of shooting the 250+ kids for the entire week; every day, all day. It's exhilerating, exhausting and SO fantastic that I get a chance to volunteer for (and serve) the kids every year. I love it so much, and it's an ongoing debate whether we (the adult volunteers), or the kids (at the camp) have more fun , and I'd say it's a wash -- we all have a great time. It really is something very near and dear to my heart, and we eargerly anticipate the week-long fun every year. In fact, it doesn't feel like summer until we've experienced VBS.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel comes every year, to document and write about all the F-U-N that we have, and this year was no exception. What's kind of fun (for me, anyway) is that the picture they in the paper this year was of me! So, if you've been wondering where I've been, this photo is a good illustration of what I get to do all week. And while VBS is D-U-N, =) wedding season has ramped up, so while I've been very bad at updating my blog, I'll try and do better, despite being in the midst of my busiest time of year. I still haven't told you about so many of the fun weddings and cool portrait sessions I've shot; so stay tuned for lots more photographic phun! =)
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Just a quick note to let you know that I'm working on the blog header. I'm not sure WHY it looks all stretched out and pixelated, but that's not how it's supposed to look, and once it's fixed, you'll know how it's supposed to look. In the meantime, I'm sorry for how ugly it looks right now! (Also, if you're viewing this in Safari, and NOT Firefox, it probably looks fine, which is part of the mystery.)
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Natalie and Brian found me though one of the wonderful Briggs sisters, Julie Dunn! Julie started out as one of my brides, years ago, and also happens to be an amazing and talented wedding coordinator up in San Francisco. Julie (and the other Dunn sisters) have referred me to a number of brides (often times, some of my very favorite brides, in fact. So Ryan, Julie's husband is related to Natalie, who I originally met when I was shooting Ryan and Julie's wedding. When Julie let me know that Natalie was interested in me, I was excited, because like I said, the Briggs sisters always refer GREAT brides to me, and I knew Natalie (and Brian) would be no exception, and that was in fact, the case.
The breathtaking bride. I love the excitement and happiness in her eyes, it's one of my favorite portraits of her...
Natalie and Brian, both from San Francisco, were excited to celebrate their city, and their wedding felt like a very old-school San Francisco wedding (in the best possible way). They were married at a venerated private social club, which I actually am unable to name, but it is a San Francisco institution, and I was thrilled to get to work in a place with so much history, not to mention the fact that it's incredibly beautiful inside!
We started the day in a park at the top of Nob Hill, where all the guys met me for their photos. We had a lot of fun with them, walking all over, taking photos on the steps of Grace Cathedral, going into the Hotel Huntington, and taking pictures of the guys at this really cool old bar, walking around Huntington park, and down to the Fairmont, and ending up in front of another San Francisco private social club, the Pacific-Union club, which has an amazing edifice.
Here's our San Francisco-looking homage to the Beatles Abbey Road cover.
There were so many remarkable landmarks on top of Nob Hill to take pictures around, and the guys were really fun, so we had a blast, even doing some sillier photos, even doing a San-Francisco version of the Abbey Road photo, with all of San Francisco in the background (which I loved!).
From shooting with the guys, we walked a few blocks down to Natalie's parents gorgeous apartment, where all the girls were gathered and in various stages of readiness.While the girls were getting their hair and makeup done, I was able to roam around the apartment taking pictures of the getting-ready madness, which I love so much, along with all the detail shots (flowers, makeup scattered everywhere, the dress hanging up, etc., etc.), which are always so fun for me to shoot. All the girls looked so lovely, and the apartment was so gorgeous that no matter where I shot, it looked great!
The veil, blowing in the breeze coming through the window.
The dress (as it was already set-up -- thanks Julie!), when I walked into Natalie's parents' gorgeous apartment...
The dress, two ways...
I'm grateful to Natalie's mom and dad for making us feel so welcome and basically giving us the run of the entire place, so we could get so many varied shots! Once Natalie had finished getting ready, and the girls were good to go, we did some quick bridesmaid and family shots, and then we were able to get some beautiful bridal portraits of Natlie, (with the light streaming in from the fantastic bay windows - with views of the entire city all around), it was a photographers dream. Not only does their apartment was so elegant, it could have easily been on the cover of a high-end decorating magainze, but Natalie looked radiant; I really didn't have to work hard at all, because the combination of the two were perfect! I loved the bridal portraits we got of Natalie, and then it was time to rush to the church!
Notre Dames des Victoires is sugh an amazing church, which also has a long history in San Francisco, which dates back to 1849! The ceremony was lovely and afterwards we all went back up to the top of Nob Hill, and met in Huntington Park, and shot all the bridal party and faimly portraits. Once we finished those, we did almost the same loop around Nob Hill that we did with the guys, but it was just Natalie and Brian. I really love the portraits that we were able to take, especially the ones where the city is featured so prominently in the background. It was an absolutely perfect day, and there wasn't even a bit of fog in the sky, so we had a clear view all the way to the water, and just enough wind to move the veil around a little.
When we finished the portraits, we zipped over to the club, and we were able to take some fun shots of Natalie and Brian in the library (which is my DREAM library; it even has the library ladder, because the books are basically floor to ceiling, and a catwalk(!) no less, to reach all the books - it was a heavenly room, to me). After we took a few shots in the library, we left Natalie and Brian alone to have some time together, and then the reception went into full swing. The dinner was great, the toasts were funny and sweet, and the dancing was the best! As is true of the best weddings, the dance floor was PACKED the entire time, they had a great band, and everyone was ready to rhumba. Natalie and Brian both have classic, elegant taste and it was reflected in every detail. I felt honored to be asked to be their wedding photographer, and was thrilled with how the photos came out. Thank you, Natalie and Brian, for asking me to shoot your special day!
If you'd like to see the slideshow of some of my favorite shots, you can do so by clicking here to be taken to the slideshow, or if you want to view some of my favorites, I've posted a bunch below, after the jump. Just click on the 'continue reading' link, directly below...
Continue reading "Natalie and Brian's San Francisco Wedding" »
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First of all - I'm so sorry I've been gone so long!! I've been in crazy-wedding-editing land for the last few months, and I know this blog has seen neither hide nor hair of me, and I while it may look that way, I haven't abandoned the blog! I've just been extrememly busy. I've had the pleasure of sh0ooting so many amazing, fun, distinctive and gorgeous weddings in 2008, and I wanted to (properly) share them with you! And I would have done so along the way, however, due to all the time and energy I put into each one of my weddings I haven't been able to find the time to actually blog about them (and I like to talk about the day, not just throw up a bunch of photos, which is why blogging about them takes me a little extra time)! But now the madness is finally easing up a bit, and so I thought I'd start back up again with one of my wonderful couples; Leslie and Scott, who had their wedding at one of my favorite wedding locations in the entire Bay Area; Nestldown! First of all, I must apologize to Leslie, as she's been wanting to see some of my favorites on the blog for awhile, and she has been incredibly patient in waiting on me to have time to write about her beautiful wedding! So thank you, Leslie, for your patience! Now, on to Scott and Leslie's Nestldown wedding!
(A
quick aside: I learned last year that it's NOT Nestledown, but
Nestldown, with no e! Yet every time I write it, I have to keep going
back and deleting the e, since it seems like it should be there. Plus,
for those of you who didn't know there was no e in Nestldown, I didn't
want you to think I was continally mis-typing it). =) Glad we could
clear that up! Now on to Scott and Leslie's wedding!
I liked Scott and Leslie the moment I met them, when they came for a wedding consultation at my house. They were referred by a good friend of mine, Melina, and I was so glad she referred them to me. Not only did I like Leslie and Scott right off the bat, but I was thrilled when I heard they were going to be married at Nestldown! Double bonus for me! And their wedding did not disappoint! Not only was every detail carefully thought out, but they made such gorgeous choices! From the largest to the smallest details'. Everything was classy, yet stylish and modern. The cake was completely different than any other cake I've ever seen, and all their other details were perfect for photographing them (and looked even better in person!), the table-number cards, the place settings, the flowers (which were lovely) and bouttonieres and table arrangements, and all the other choices they made, it was just a lovely wedding, and very well done. Leslie has great taste, and made my job super-easy! I'll talk about more in detail below.
(Another quick aside: As always, if you want to see the photos larger, click on them, and they'll pop up even bigger, and if you don't want to read all about their wedding, in detail, and just want to go directly to the slideshow, you can click here, to go to the slideshow, or if you just want to look at all my favorite pictures, and skip the words (I know I can be wordy!), then click here, and you'll be taken to below the jump to see a bunch of my favorite shots from their big day. )
Leslie, getting ready and putting her earrings on.
So as I said, I felt really lucky to be asked to shoot a couple weddings at Nestldown this year, and I say 'lucky' because I really do love it, for so many reasons and while I already discussed some of the distinctive features on Nestldown, in a previous post about another wedding I shot there, I thought I'd give you a quick refresher, in words and pictures, since it's been awhile. =) To begin with, the property is not only so beautiful, but it's completely unique, as I talked about previously (the aforementioned post when I shot Jen and Jame's wedding there).
The lovely bride.
Married! I love the expression on Leslie's face -- such elation.
The barn area, where appetizers and drinks were served, with the barn in the background.
As I mentioned, I loved all of Leslie's choices. They had multiple table centerpiece arrangements, (other styles below, after the jump). I particularly liked this one, with the three separate flower arrangements.
From the lawn, as it started getting dark, everyone made their way into the barn, where all the dancing, cake cutting and revelry was held, (and I'll talk about all that fun and craziness more below). Oh! And I almost forgot, there is also an incredible tree fort, (which I used to do some of the groomsmen's photos, below), and a small, Alice In Wonderland house, just big enough for little girls, surrounded with shrubs shaped like animals, and next to the train tracks. When I tell you it's a dream, it really is! I don't think there's anywhere like it in the Bay Area.
I love all the details, from the smallest of the flower choices...
I loved getting to be there, to shoot their big day, and one of the things that made it so fun for me, (besides Nestldown, whcih I love, an besides the gorgeous colors and flowers, was Scott, Leslie and their bridal party). I had a lot of fun shooting them all, and the guys were very sill and playful,, which is always fun for me; to have people who are totally at ease in front of the camera, and are in fact suggesting ideas for photos -- really, could a photographer ask for anything else?
The dancing was SO crazy and fun! The DJ did an incredible job, and kept everyone on the floor from the moment the dancing began, 'til Leslie and Scott left. He also had some seriously awesome lighting, which allowed me to get some really fun shots, like the one below, which I absolutely LOVE!
Really,
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but this was really such a fun,
gorgeous, entertaining wedding! The bride and groom, and their guests,
friends and family were all fun and ready for a party, and of course,
Nestldown looked beautiful -- Leslie did a great job, and the staff
were quick, friendly and efficient and kept everything moving right on
track the entire evening. I was honored to be asked to shoot Leslie and Scott's wedding, and I had a great time, which I hope is conveyed by this blog post, (and hopefully I *don't* sound like a broken record!). Thanks so much, Leslie and Scott!!
If you want to see some more of my (many) favorite photos from the day, you can either go see the slideshow (link above), or, feel free to browse through some more of my favorites, after the jump, just click on, ''continue reading.." directly below.
Continue reading "Leslie & Scott's Enchanting Nestldown (not Nestledown!) Wedding" »
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I have been so crazy-busy lately, that I haven't posted in AGES, and for that I'm super-sorry. I have so m any gorgeous weddings to get caught up with on here, so please bear with me if I start cranking out posts in the next few weeks; I'm feeling super-remiss in not telling you all about these beautiful weddings I've been shooting this season. However, the reason I haven't been able to blog is BECAUSE of all those awesome weddings, so I suppose that's a bit of a catch-22... =)
Okay, enough of my apology, and on to Brian and Kristin's beautiful Seascape wedding! The wedding was gorgeous, and the day was crazy, weather-wise: while the day started out beautiful, (in fact, it was really hot and muggy at the beginning of the day -- you can even see a shot of Kristen with her dress practically up and around the fan while getting ready it was so hot), but then it quickly (during formal portrait time, of course!), morphed into a down-pour, and finally, during the ceremony, back into blue skies again.So it was a strange day weather-wise, but it was a wonderful day, wedding-wise.
Kristen and Brian are both really fun, outgoing, silly (Kristen is especially silly, which is a positive personality trait in my book), and they seem like such a good match for one another. They're one of those couples who you can just tell really love one another to peices, and while I get to shoot those couples in love on a weekly basis, the way they felt about one another was evident whenever I was with them, which is a wonderful thing to be around (especially for a sentimental sap like me!).
So after the gorgeous (if somewhat puddly, in the beginning) ceremony on the bluff of Seascape Resort, (which for those of you who are local, know is a beautiful place to get married in town; arguably one of the prettiest spots in town to have a ceremony), after some family portraits on the bluff, swung inside to get the party started. And what a party it was!!! It seems this year I've been inordinately blessed with really super-fun receptions, and this one was no exception. Their family and friends were more than game to hit the dance floor and it seemed that from the moment they opened the dancing, to the very end, the dance floor was PACKED with people, which not only makes it more fun, as a photographer, because there is always SO much action on the dance floor, but fun for everybody there - to have so many people singing and dancing along with the music -- it was just really fun to get to capture.
In particular, Kristen's uncle (I think that was how they were related...?) was just going for it, and dancing like there was no tomorrow, and it was SO hilariously funny, because he was this somewhat staid (at first glance) looking guy, yet when he got on that dance floor he was yelling and dancing and shaking to "I Like Big Butts," louder and more enthusiastically than almost everyone there. I am almost embarrassed by how many shots there are of Kristen and her uncle dancing. I even had a hard time, at one point, holding the camera steady, because I was laughing so hard, I had to practically slap myself to stop from shaking from laughter. In general, I'm not a big fan of 'The Circle,' (you know what I'm talking about: where everybody makes a big circle on the dance floor, and people take turns -- or not -- dancing in the middle while everyone was watching). However, I was grateful for the circle, because it made it so much easier to take shot after shot of everybody busting moves on the dance floor (particularly Kristen and her uncle).
First dance...
And finally, after the reception and all the crazy moves on the dance floor,we whisked Kristen and Brian out of Seascape and took the golf cart down to Seascape's private beach to shoot their wedding portraits. And despite having shivered through the rain in the morning, and sweat through the muggy afternoon, eaten dinner and danced the day away, I couldn't believe how beautiful they both still looked, after waiting for the end of their big day to shoot their portraits. And as the weather had earlier, when we were trying to do family and bridal party portraits, it interfered again, this time on the other end of the spectrum.
The above shot is a good example of the crazily intense bright light -- look at how crisp and dark their shadows are on the sand, and how strongly backlit they both are; they're practically glowing.
The light on the beach was so insanely bright that it either completely blinded them, or they were in total dark if their backs were to it, even using all my photo tricks, so we decided that while the beach is beautiful, it wasn't worth searing their retinas any longer, so we went back up to the resort and took the remainder of their photos on the grass. And I'm so glad we did, because I absolutely LOVE the photos we took at Seascape, and while the beach is always lovely, these were some of a series of some of my favorite wedding portraits in awhile, so I'm grateful they were up for scrapping the beach, and the grass ended up working out better all around (and they were able to avoid permanent eye damage! A win-win, for sure!). =)
So I know I'm going on and on (how unusual, I know!), but I just want to convey how much fun I had at their wedding. I always enjoy myself shooting weddings, but their wedding in particular had such a high level of revelry that I've seldom seen matched in reception-goers, and that, combined with Kristen and Brian' obvious 'right-ness' together made for a really wonderful, joyous celebration. I was (and am) delighted that they chose me to shoot their wedding day, and hopefully some of my favorite photos (below, after the jump, click on 'continue reading...') and the slideshow are able to convey, in a small way, a sense of their beautiful, joy-filled day.
Continue reading "Kristen & Brian's Seascape Resort Wedding" »
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