Kelly McCord Photography Blog

Jamie and Jonathan's Wedding

 

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...

Monica and Brandon's Aptos Beach and Train Tracks Engagement Shoot

I was thrilled when Monica decided to have me shoot her wedding, because I actually know her family fairly well, and she'd nannied for us for about as month last summer, when Megs was on vacation, but I knew her sisters Allegra and Emilia (and her mom Yolanda),  better than I knew her, , because we all go to church together (and Monica and Brandon go to Coastlands as well, but we have been going to different services, so only ran into each other once or twice.  So not knowing them as well as I'd like,  I was really looking forward to getting to know Monica and Brandon better, and I wasn't disappointed. We ended up having a super-long conversation after the shoot, which I'll tell you about more below.  (And as always, if you want to see these photos larger, just click on them, and they'll pop open larger!).

Despite the light being rough on the beach, it was ultimately a good thing, because look at how gorgeous it made this photo!!   

 

So we met at their house in Aptos, and went just a little ways down the road and got onto the train tracks in Aptos.  I've never shot an engagement session in a location like that, so it was really fun for me to shoot in a whole new place, especially wtih Monica and Brandon, who were so fun to get to know.  So we played around on the train tracks (and it was a little scary, because it was up super high, and I'm a little afraid of heights, but it was such a neat location, that I pushed through that fear, and I think we got some great shots on that bridge.  After the bridge, we decided to take the path underneath the bridge, and walk down to the beach.  The only bummer about the shoot was that when we got to the beach, the sun was in this very hard spot for shooting, and because it's the beach, there's not really anywhere to go where the sun isn't, so we took some wider shots, (where they weren't required to smile into the camera, because it was SO bright that really everywehre we went, no matter if their backs were to the sun or not, that they had to squint. It was one of the harder light situations I've had in awhile).  But we waited and they were so game to try other options, and move around, and we finally got to a point where they were able to 'smile for the camera' and it wasn't causing them physical pain, and once we got over that hurdle, we got some beautiful pictures (if I do say so myself). =)

And they're so cute too!!

After the photo shoot, I drove them back home, and we got into such an involving conversation that we sat outside, in my car, talking for more than a half hour. And as much as I love shooting, and composing shots in my head, and playing with couples whlie shooting, I absolutely love when I get to really know people; who they are, where they've come from, and all of those fun things. And as we talked, it became more and more evident that the three of us came from very similar situations in our background, and I felt like we really understood one another.  Another thing that was also super-fun, was while talking to Brandon, we discovered that we knew TONS of the same people,  (which isn't as uncommon as you might think, as Santa Cruz is really a very small town, Aptos/Mid-County in particular, and we always joke that in Santa Cruz County, it's not six degrees of separation, but 2-3, because it really does feel like everyone who's grown up here knows at least someone you know, if not more), and because Brandon and I had grown up in Aptos,  (I think we even graduated high school the same year), that we both knew and had grown up with so many of the same people, which is always fun, so when I shoot their wedding, I'll not only know tons of people from church, but I'll get to see a bunch of people that I grew up with, which is always fun (especially for sentimental types like me).

So, this has turned into quite the massive post, but I really do feel so blessed to not only get the honor of being asked to be so intimately involved on one of the most important days of their lives, but that I get to know too really cool, sweet people better, and made  new friends.  I've said it quite a bit on this blog, but that really is one of my favorite things about my job (of many favorite things), that I get the privilege of really knowing people, (and to be fair, I get to know some couples better than others), but when I make genuine friends, I think, what could be better than that? And that's really how I feel -- I get a job to be in the midst of people's most joyful of days, and the bonus is that I often keep those same people as friends, and get to be their photographer (and friend), as they go through the different steps in their lives; first (and more) pregnancies, shooting new baby, and family portraits, and the delight of watching them grow into families and parents.  It's a pretty amazing thing, and I'm incredibly blessed that people invite me into their lives like that.  And as I said, in my conversations with Monica and Brandon, in particular, it was so interesting to hear their stories, and to realize just how similar our childhoods/upbringings had been, and how much we had in common...I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better, because just within the little time we had together, I grew to like them both so much, and to feel even more blessed, that they'd asked me to shoot their wedding! So Monica and Brandon, if you read this -- we'll try and schedule dinner soon, so we can get together, AND I really hope you're happy with how your engagement session turned out, I'm really happy with the photos, and I'm looking forward to shooting your gorgeous wedding in just a few months!

Also, if you'd like to see more of these fun photos, there are a lot more of my favorites after the break, just click on the 'continue reading Monica and Brandon...' link below the photo below...

Stephanie and Travis at the Santa Rosa Golf Club

        (Stephanie, getting ready, above)

I am so behind in posting, because I've been editing and editing and editing weddings like a it's going out of style. So much editing, thaat I haven't had time to blog.  And, I have so many weddings to show you all, and I've got three new wedding slideshows to show you (and more to come soon), but I want to give each couple their own post, so I decided to not just list each slideshow/wedding to  check out, because these couples all deserve their own post!

(The photo above features bridesmaids out of the catalog, 'Beautiful Bridesmaids R Us.' If that makes no sense, keep reading below...)

So I'll start with Stephanie and Travis's wedding.  I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie and Travis through a dear friend from Santa Clara university (where I went to college) Eileen (who used to be a Briggs, and who's now a Brinker), who happens to be Stephanie's  sister-in-law (or, Eileen is married to the brides brother, Aaron).  So I knew Eileen, and Eileen told Stephanie about me.  And, keeping it all in the family, Eileen's sister, Julie, who I've written about quite a bit on this blog (here, here ,  and here, to name a few times,) was the wedding coordinator (and I met Julie through Eileen, as well, first when I was her wedding photographer, and then later, we've worked together on a few weddings I shot and Julie coordinated.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again, if you're getting married, I highly, HIGHLY encourage you to have a wedding coordinator, and if you're going to have a wedding coordinator, you should have Julie.  But I'm digressing... 

...but before I get back on the subject, another quick digression!  Above is Eileen, with her daughter Mia, check out how much Mia's grown, here's a shot of Mia and Eileen, (that incidentally is almost the exact same pose), from when we did their family shoot last year, look at how big shes' gotten! And isn't she a gorgeous girl? 

So I met Stephanie and Travis through Eileen, and I'm so glad she introduced me to them, as I really enjoyed getting to know both Stephanie and Travis, and their families.  The ceremony was at the family church, and the reception was at the lovely Santa Rosa Golf club. I knew Stephanie and her mom Julie had worked together planning, and working really hard for months to make the room so gorgeous, and I figured it would be beautiful, but it was even more gorgeous than I expected.  They really had thought of every detail.  Everywhere I turned there were overflowing vases of fresh cut, white flowers, and glowing candles sparkled on every surface, and the smell of fresh flowers literally wafted through the air (and I'm not saying that to sound poetic, there was such a glorious abundance of flowers -  they were so beautiful, and the scent was everywhere. I'm a total flower girl, and to be in a space that was not only beautiful to the eye, but to the nose also, only reinforced how much thought and consideration had gone into this day -  they even took care of smell!  The best word to describe it was elegant.  I know I'm going on and on, but it really was lovely.  If I've captured your attention, and you want to see for yourself,  and you want to see Stephanie and Travis's wedding photo slideshow, you can do so by clicking here: Stephanie and Travis's pictures.

The shots above are just a few of the arrangements - they had different arrangements on every table, and like I said, there were flowers EVERYwhere, on every surface, even the gorgeous fireplaces in the room were bedecked with flowers, there's a shot of them (below) giving a toast where you can see what I"m talking about). But aren't the flowers so elegant?

So the room, like I said, was lovely, and Stephanie looked stunning, and Travis looked great, and it was one of those weddings where every member of the bridal party was pretty, you almost thought she'd picked them on prettiness alone, or ordered them out of a catalog. =) Anyhow, it was a beautiful day, and I really enjoyed getting to shoot this wedding. And completely aside from the divine wedding, I also have to say that Stephanie and Travis have both been great on a personal level -- they were incredibly patient with getting their photos.  I've had a couple computer/software things go down in the last couple weeks (which I'm going to write about soon, so check back in a week or so to hear about the saga of  my computer), that had made their photos take a lot longer than I (and they) would have liked, and while I know Stephanie was dying to see the photos, she was nothing but gracious and patient, and I am so grateful that she was so understanding. I feel like I get the best brides, (sometimes I wonder if they're choosing me, or I'm choosing them?),=)   but when glitches happen, and they are still great, then I feel really incredibly blessed. So Stephanie, thank you, again, for being so wonderful about having to wait a little extra to get your photos. It was an honor to be asked to be included in your day.

If you'd like to see more of my favorite shots, you can do so by clicking, 'continue reading,' below, or if you'd rather just watch the slideshow, then click here instead, and go check out the slideshow.  As always, the photos are clickable, if you want to see them larger...

(Above is a shot of me, shooting Stephanie and Eileen) I thought it was kinda fun, just because I'm usually the one behind the camera.)

Also, like I said, I've got a bunch of weddings to share with you, so I'm going to be posting more slideshows and talk about some of the weddings I've had this season in the next few days, so stay tuned...

Marie and Julio's Mission San Juan Bautista Wedding

It was a shock and a delight when I found my old classmate, from Aptos Jr. and Aptos High at the wedding expo at the cocoanut grove two years ago!  I couldn't believe she'd just walked up to my booth, and it was even more fun when she chose me to shoot her wedding!  It was fun getting back in touch with Marie, but also, getting to meet Julio and hear their story.  It's hard to imagine a more romantic story; meeting in Paris during separate study abroad programs, getting proposed to in Paris, as well, and the way they celebrated their two cultures; French and Mexican, and voe them into every well-thought out detail, throughout the wedding day. 

So not only can they claim one of the more romantic falling in love stories, but they're just adorable together; very much in love, and so sweet with one another; a total balance.  All of this was celebrated (with many flying in from out of the country, from as far away as Paris!), at the historically beautiful Mission San Juan Bautista (of which, if you grew up around here, you've done at least one, if not many more, field trips to, in your life).  It was so incredible to get to shoot as this amazing old mission.  The color and the light in the buildings was gorgeous, and we had a lot of fun shooting Marie in different old buildings and on the grounds.

It was a beautiful day, and I was so glad to not only get back in touch with Marie (despite us both being crazy-busy with our respective lives), but to be asked to shoot their wedding.  I'm thrilled with the way the shots turned out, and so I created a slideshow.  There are some fun cultural details in the shots, (in the slideshow and below) that I'll tell you about.  In both the French and Mexican culture, it's traditional to process from the ceremony site to the reception site, which Marie and Julio added into the days festivities, and which was a great way to involve the guests from the get-go, as they paraded, behind mariachi from the mission to the reception hall nearby. (There's a shot of the processional beginning directly above).

My lovely and super-talented, Auntie Susi did the flowers, click for the link to go to Susi's Flowers, (check out the shot below of the lily of the valley bouquet, which I lusted after, and probably took about 3 different pictures of)...and the videographer was  Jake McLelan, (our families grew up together,so we knew each other ages ago, and have recently had a couple of the same brides and grooms. His site is here, if you're looking for a videographer, he's just started his own company, and his a really good eye.

Below are some of my favorite shots (it was hard to narrow it down to a few), and if you want to see a broader overview of the day, check out the slideshow, which can be found by clicking here!!   More of my favorite shots, after the jump (it was next to impossible to even narrow down favorites, I had SO many)...give the slideshow a while to load, there  are a lot of pictures in the slideshow. There's a status bar that should show you how far it's loaded, and I have it set to not play til the entire slideshow is downloaded, so be patient. If you have a slower connect, in the lower right-hand corner there's a button that you can click on for lower-bandwidth connections.  As always, all the photos are clickable, to view them larger, and to view the rest of my favorites, click on, "Continue reading..." below.

Chichenitza, My Birthday, Cancun, Isla de Mujeres and White Sand Beaches

As I posted below, I was going to do one slideshow, to show my first international destination wedding, on Isla de Mujeres, in Cancun. However, I had such a hard time finding a song that would be both sweet and romantic enough to represent Matt and Katt, and also fun and upbeat, to show our day-trip to Chichenitza. And then I decided to throw some of my birthday shots in (since that's where I was when I had my birthday) for my friends to see, that it turned into two slideshows.  One is of Kate and Matt's beautiful wedding day, on Isla de Mujeres, on Zama Beach (which is a quick 20-ish minute trip over by ferry from Cancun), and one that shows a few shots from my birthday, the hotel, and our day-trip to Chichenitza, with Kate, Matt and their friends (Tom and Joette, who we also fell in love with -- incidentally, if you're reading this, would love to hear from you, I lost your emails on the trip back to the U.S., so if you've got a moment, I'd love to say hi!), and their parents.  So, without further ado, I give  you:

My birthday in Cancun, (which we actually spent on Isla de Mujeres, scouting out the ceremony location), the Marriott, in Cancun, and the day-trip to Chichenitza.  Click here to see the birthday/Isla/Chichenitza slideshow...

And, even more exciting (for me), Kate and Matt's wedding slideshow.  Like I gushed said in the post below, I was so blessed and honored to be asked (and flown down) to be part of their special day, and I absolutely love both Kate and Matt, they are some of the kindest, most generous people I've ever shot, and of course, they're both super-cute, so that makes for nice pictures. =) Click here to see the wedding slideshow.

Also, just a technical aside, if you watch both slideshows you'll notice that the Chichenitza slideshow is a lot bigger, and the reason for this is, I was almost done with the wedding slideshow, when I had some issues with the program I use, and went and found there was an upgrade, so I downloaded it, and the upgraded version had the ability to make larger slideshows (YAY!!!), but I had already basically finished Matt and Kates, and these slideshows take SO long to make (we're talking days), that the thought of doing it all over again, just to be a bit bigger was just more than I could take, so the size of the slideshow in no way reflect my love of their wedding photos!  I hope you enjoy them.

Also, I need to talk about my birthday, and Kimmy for just a moment.  Despite this being the first birthday I hadn't spent with Ross in 10 years (which made it a little hard for me), Kim made sure I had a good day. We had room service for breakfast, and Kim proceeded to whip out a birthday hat and plop in on  my head along with one for her (you'll see me in the slideshow paying the room service with my hat on, and bedhead and jammies).  She schlepped a birthday gift and card for me, as well, to make sure I had something to open.  Now that's a friend.  The day was really wonderful, like I said in the previous post, we spent the afternoon, after we'd scouted out Zama Beach for the wedding (this is on the island, Isla de Mujeres, that we took a ferry to), floating and playing in the surf, collecting a myriad of shells, (that's a portion of the shells we collected, in the photo below), jumping off the dock (that you see in the slideshow, and the photos in the post below), having lunch on chaise lounges in our suits, beach-side, and laid in the sun for just a bit, before we had to hoof it back over to the mainland, where we were JUST in time for our 'couples' massage (which we still giggle about).  And despite the not-so-great lobster dinner, that made us both feel sick, it was still a great day.  I was able to relax, and just be in the moment, which given that this was a work trip, should've been harder, but Kimmy made it really easy for me.  That, combined with the thrill and fun of driving like a maniac all across the island in our golf cart, and her great company made it a wonderful birthday to remember, despite the fact that I spent a large part of it working.  And of course, I can't forget Kate and Matt, who put us up in a great room at the Marriott, which made the stay just as pleasant as could be. 

And not only is Kim my dear friend, but she is a great assistant.  We've been shooting together for awhile now, and she really anticipates me and my needs, helps me stay calm under pressure, and generally just makes shooting even more fun for me. I am so grateful that she's my  assistant this year (not to take anything away from my other previous/current assistants, of course).  And she really worked her tail off (well, we both did), during our trip, which I can go into more of later, suffice it to say, she was incredible, and a total trooper, and I truly couldn't have done it without her (besides the fact, that I really just like being with her, in general).

We had a great trip, and despite some bumps and bruises (remind me to tell you all about the mile run through LAX carrying all of my equipment),  we had a great time, and I'm indebted to her, and thrilled that Kate and Matt wanted me enough to have Kim and I join them , and be a part of their big day. We both felt incredibly blessed to be there, and be there however we could for Kate, (whether photographically, or otherwise).  I would love to shoot more destination weddings, both international and otherwise.  It was an adventure, and one I'd have fun doing again, for sure.  Phew, this is a much longer post than I intended, but there you have it. I hope you enjoy the slideshows of the journey, I had a fun time making them.

Oh! And one more note, the song playing on the wedding slideshow is called, "The Luckiest," by Ben Folds, and it might be one of the best 'love songs' I've ever heard in my life.  Seriously, watch the show just to listen to the song, it's so beautiful.

Toddly and Hils, Asher and Baby On Board

I've been away from posting recently, as I've been crazy-busy.  I'm wrapping up the major craziness of wedding season, and it's taking a lot of my attention.

 

So busy have I been, that I'm just finishing editing these photos from my dear friends, Todd and Hils, that we took at the beginning of summer (the baby inside is already out, and quite a few months old). =) 

I asbolutely love shooting pregnancy portraits (LOVE them), and I love shooting my friends, so this was a double-whammy of fun for me.  Plus, Todd and Hilary are a bit on the hammy side, and are always willing to do whatever crazy or silly things I ask them to do, which can result in some SUPER-fun photos, as you can see.  I actually shot other friends, Adam and Bek, when they were visiting in Australia, we did their prego portrais a month or so ago, and I'm shooting another prego portrait in about a week -- seems like everybody's pregnant, and lucky me, I get to shoot them!

More after the jump, or if you want to see all the photos from the shoot, you can do so by clicking here.

I love how Hils looks in this shot...

Briggs Sisters

The weekend before school started for the girls, we took them up to San Francisco, for one last mini-vacation. I had a shoot and some meetings scheduled, so we decided to make it a family affair.  We had such a fun time, and I'm hoping to get those photos edited before the end of the year (that's how swamped I am with editing;  family photos aren't even on the radar right now). So anyway, while we were in San Francisco, I did a family photo shoot, with one of my friends from college, Eileen and her family; her husband Aaron, her new-ish daughter Mia, her sister Liz, her husband Mark and their daughter Madison.  We met at Julius Khan park, and had a lot of fun shooting. You could tell the little ones had been in front of the camera a lot already (Eileen is an amateur photographer, and has the same kind of zeal for it, that I do).

We had a great time at the park, and it was so fun to get to see Eileen and Aaron again, and to get to know Liz and Mark a little more. Also, Eileen has never met Bella and Sofia in person (although like she said, she feels like she knows them, because she's watched them grow up online). And to add to the fun, Julie and Ryan , a former bride and groom of mine, and Eileen and Liz's sister, and now friend of mine, stopped by; to watch the girls at their first shoot, and also to see the coffee-table album I'd designed for them, with their wedding photos (this link takes you to a virtual version of it). Anyhow, it was really great to see them all, Ross knew Ryan from college (in fact, I met Eileen in the same class that Ross and I first met in), and so they had a fun time talking and catching up, while I shot the rest of the family.  One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to know families, and not only that, but I get to shoot them as they grow and change. The Briggs sisters have not only been some of my favorite clients, but I consider them friends now, and the icing on that cake is that not only have I stayed in touch with Eileen, but I've become friends with her family, and they in turn have introduced me to their group of friends, by referring me for weddings and whatnot, so my circle of friends has grown. I just feel so blessed.  Anyhow, this is quite a digression, but I love having clients turn into friends, and then getting to know their friends, as clients, and turning them into friends too. I know this is getting a little on the cheesy side, (what can I say, apparently I've got some cheese in me), so before this turns into a steaming pot of fondue, I'll show the photos from their shoot, which I have to say, I think are really pretty adorabe. Plus, their girls are so cute, they make my ovaries hurt.

These are just a few of my favorites, (more after the jump), and if you want to see all the photos from the shoot, you can view all the photos, by clicking here. 

And of course, a shameless shot of all the adorable girlies (I can't believe how massive mine look in comparison).

Napa Getaway Weekend

Click here to see all the photos from our Napa trip!

Ross and I had the privilege to be able to go on a long-weekend to Napa at the end of August, with our dear friends, Kiersten and Brad. I've finally posted a pictorial, on flickr, if you want to check them out, click on the link above. And if you want to read a little more about the trip, you can read about it on my personl blog, by clicking here.

I love this photo, that I took at Kunde Estate Winery, a lot.

 

The Knot: Jule and Ryan

A few days ago, I received, The Knot's, Northern California Edition. And in that magazine? A shot I'd taken, of Julie and Ryan at their wedding last year.  How fun, to be in a highly regarded wedding magazine!  I'm hoping this is the first of many of my photos being featured in a publication. Thanks Julie, for submitting us! =) It's fun to see your name in print. And I love that their photo is so different, and fun from all the rest - it really makes them stand out.

Ann and Peter, The Slideshow

I've written before about Ann and Peter (click here to see), how I've known Ann since I was in high school (she was a youth pastor-y type, when I was in high school). Well, their wedding was last month, and I just finished editing them. I also made a slideshow, like I did for Chrissy and Tim. If you want to see the slideshow to Ann and Peter's wedding, you can do so by clicking here.

I've also included a few fun shots from the day here, if you don't want to watch the whole slideshow. The above is a shot at Ann's (and my, incidentally) friend's, Mike and Merrilee Tunink, right after she finished getting ready.

A 'formal' portrait (well, as formal as I get, anyhow)...

More photos after the jump...