Kelly McCord Photography Blog

Kate and Matt en Cancun!

 

In May, Kim and I flew down to Cancun, Mexico to shoot Kate and Matt's destination wedding, on Isla de Mujeres, in Cancun, Mexico.  It was quite an incredible experience, and I was thrilled to be asked, and to be able to do it!  It was a crazy, mad-cap trip, which I can go into in more detail later, but getting to know Matt and Kate, and their friends and family was a privilege and honor that I won't soon forget.  I have so many favorites, this is going to be a large post. First of all, I first have to thank my cousin Mia, for putting me in contact with Kate and Matt. I'm completely indebted to her, for the introduction.

Being in Mexico, with Kim was a hoot, and we had a good time, especially on my birthday, where we rode over on the ferry to Isla de Mujeres, to scope out the ceremony and reception location (Zama Beach Resort, a gorgeous place for a wedding).  We spent the afternoon riding around like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on the golf cart that Kate and Matt had reserved for us, and spent the afternoon on the beach (at Zama Resort), in our bathing suits, jumping off the dock, looking for shells and swimming around on the white sand beach.  We had lunch on the beach, and after the ferry ride back to mainland Cancun, had a 'couples' massage (which cracked us up to no end), having a dinner by the ocean and an early night to bed, to wake up for our trip the next morning.

On Wenesday, we met Kate, Matt and their friends and family, and embarked on the 3-hour ride to Chichenitza.  It was incredible to see the sites I'd heard so much about, they were incredible to see, and I was happy to record Kate and Matt's day there, for them with their friends and family.  After that, every headed back to the hotel to do their own thing for the evening. Kimmy and I went to the beach for a while, and she fell asleep while I read, with the gorgeous waves lapping the incredibly white-sand beach.  We had dinner  in our rooms, and went to bed early to prep for the wedding the next day.

Kim and I went over to Isla de Mujeres early in the day, to meet Kate and Matt, and do their portrait session, before the ceremony started, and we had a great time riding around on the golf carts, all over Isla de Mujeres, shooting pictures down small alleys, on craggy rock, in front of crazy-bright, fabulously painted buildings for a couple hours.  At the ceremony, Kate held a simple bouquet of calla lillies, and  walked down the beach aisle to her groom, to the sounds of a small group of mariachi. The ceremony was short and sweet (and absolutely beautiful, in front of the pier, and the crystal-clear blue water).   Surrounded by their family and friends, it was lovely to watch, and I felt privileged to be there.  After the ceremony, we took some more portraits, with everyone there, and a few more of Kate and Matt, on the dock, and then it was time for a delicious Mexican dinner under the stars, with the beach and water in the foreground.  It was a great time, and I know I keep saying it, but I felt privileged to be asked to be there, and shoot the day, and I felt like I not only got to see a wonderful time in their lives, but I made new friends, as well. 

I'm in the process of making a slideshow, which includes some of the photos from the day trip, the day before the wedding, that we took to Chichenitza.  When the slideshow is up, I'll post it here, but in the meantime, a few of my favorites are also featured here, and there will be many more after the jump....

EDIT: To see the slideshow, go to next post, by clicking here...

I'm In Elle Magazine!!!

I am thrilled to let you in on a little secret. One of my wedding photos is in the March issue o f Elle Magazine.  I'm not kidding. It's something I've known might happen for a while, but have been waiting to see if it would happen.  One of the other florists I think is great (yes, there are other florists besides my Aunt Susi (but only a small handful) that I think are great, anyhow, Teresa, of Bonny Doon Garden Co., and I have worked together on a few weddings. One of the weddings we worked on together was Valentine and Darrell's wedding.

And what was really unique about Valentine and Darrell's wedding, was that they did all their flowers organic. So Teresa called me up ahead of time, and asked me to take some shots for her, since it would be a unique thing, and she knew of a woman working on a book about the organic flower industry, Amy Stewart, who might be interested in using them, or at least seeing them. So, after the wedding we showed them to Amy, and she contacted us later in the year, to let us know that Elle was going to be writing about her book, and could she send a few from that wedding, in case they wanted to use some. So fast forward to today, and I got an email from Teresa, letting me know that they used one of the  shots I took. How awesome is that?!?!? I am thrilled.To be in Elle magazine in any capacity is exciting.  The shot featured here is the shot they used, and once I get a copy of the magazine, I'll post that as well.

This news is icing on the cake of  a great couple of weeks for me. I've booked 8 new weddings for this year, in the span of less than a week, I'm already starting to book 2008, and I'm starting my season this upcoming weekend. So things are great, and busy. I've got 18 weddings already for this year, which is considerably more than I had at this time last year.

One of my clients, who hired me last year, Kate and Matt,  were originally going to have their wedding in Chico, decided to scale way back, and have a small destination wedding in Cancun, of which they asked me to go and shoot. I'm SO excited, as I love travelling, and I love shooting, so to get to combine them in an official capacity is more than thrilling. Plus, I really like Kate, and get along with her so well already, that I know it's going to be a blast.  I'm so stoked they're able to fly me and my assistant out to shoot their wedding, and I can't wait!! It's been one of my goals to shoot an international destination wedding (I've shot destination weddings before, just not internaltionally), my next goal is in Europe or the UK (preferably Italy, of course). =)  So things have been really great the past few weeks, albeit, still very busy. But good busy, not, I've I'm-not-sleeping-because-I-have-to-get-stuff-done kind of busy, just regular busy, which is much more mangeable.

More Italia

This shot was taken in Venice, which is my favorite place in Italy, actually it's basically, my favorite place in the world to vacation/visit.  This is one of Ross' favorite pictures of Venice. What I love about this shot is the scale. How massive that building looks, and how small those little people look.  Plus, you can't beat the over-the-top ornateness of a Venetian building, right on the water.

Ahhhh...Italia

Ross and I have been trying to figure out where we're going to go on our family vacation this year. We're leaning toward the UK and France. Ross gets a stronger vote this year, as it's his 30th birthday we'll be celebating over there. The reason for France? My husband's love for all things historical/WWII-related. He wants to see Normandy. And I love Paris. I already asked if we could do Italy again, but he said something about 'expanding our horizons...blah blah blah"  =)

A year and a half ago, we went to  Italy for my 30th birthday.  It was our third (my fourth) time in Italy since we'd been together. We  have a deep love for all things Italian; the history, the architecture, the art, the art history...

sigh

This picture above represents everything I love about Italy. It's in Pienza. The photo, to me, looks like a complete set-up; the light, the wall and bike are too perfect. Yet, we just happened to walk around the corner, while looking for food for the girls, and of course, I made the whole gravy train stop while I snapped the photo.  A few feet away, we had an incredible lunch, in an equally incredible and captivating location.  I didn't  really love what we were served so much, except the location was so perfect and felt so Italian to me, that it's one of times that most stands out in my memory of Italy. Not only was the location picture-perfect, but I remember all of us (even Bella and Sofia -- see, even our kids names are Italian) just killing one another with laughter, while we waited for our food.  I'll post a few of the lunch photos below the jump.