This past week has been absolutely incredible AND crazy busy at the same time! :) Last weekend (Memorial day weekend) we were in Visalia, CA for my good friend and old roommate's wedding. Zack and Ellen are such an amazing couple! They've been dating pretty much as long as anyone can remember (I think about 6 years?....which is about as far back as my memory goes for the most part) and so their wedding was defiently past due. Of pretty much all the people I know who have gotten married I think I can confidently say that they were more ready as a couple to be married as pretty much anyone. They are two of the sweetest people I've known and my semester rooming with Zack my senior year was honestly one of my favorite things that I'll look back on when I think about my college years at Westmont.
Anyways, enough with sappy stuff..... Their wedding rocked! :) Visalia is sorta in the middle of CA, in between Bakersfield and Fresno, which for those of you who have had to travel anywhere near that area, you know how incredibly hot it can get, yet the gods were definetly looking out for Zack and Ellen cause they had the most unbelievably perfect weather I've ever experienced for a wedding. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the tempature could seriously not have been any better. It was a PERFECT day to have a wedding. Katie came up with me, but unfortunately she caught the bug that I had the previous week (see the post below) and spent most of the day in the hotel! Luckily she was able to come for the end of the day. Despite the fact that she was sick, I realized how much I enjoy traveling with her. Usually when I'm in the car for long periods of time I usually just plug in my iPod and listen to an audio book, which is pretty much what we did for the majority of the trip up there and back, but still for some reason just having her in the car made the trip 100% more enjoyable. I'm constantly amazed at just how much I enjoy being with her. She is without a doubt the best friend I've ever had and I'm so glad I get to share so many of the experiences I have in my business with her. What can I say....I love my wife! :) She's the best (even when she's sick). :)
Here are some pics from Zack and Ellen's wedding. Congrats you guys! I can't even being to express how happy I am for the both of you!!
Ellen's sister is an amazing harpist and she played at the start of the ceremony. I've never heard a harp at a wedding before and it was great!!
I seriously almost got tears in my eyes when I saw how emotional Ellen was during the ceremony. It was so sweet!
On Saturday, we had another simply incredible wedding with Robin and Mike who I unfortunately don't know as well which is really too bad cause I can already tell they are such amazing people and will have an awesome marriage. I'm really bummed they're going to be living out East when they get back from their honeymoon cause I would love to spend more time with them! Speaking of their honeymoon, I asked Robin where they were going and she said she didn't know. Mike was surpising her! All she kne was to bring a passport!! How cool is THAT!! (she told me she would e-mail me when they got back and let me know where they ended up going.) Robin just glowed the entire day and was all smiles! It was seriously hard to take a bad picture of her! I'm going to have such a hard time editing down this wedding from the 2,500 images or so that my assitant Kim and I shot cause they're seriously going to look great with how this wedding went and with how happy everyone was!
Mike is such a stud. He had a dozen roses delievered to Robin's house while they were getting ready! So cool!
What can I say....I love dress shots! :) It's so fun to be creative with them and you can make almost anything (like in this case a living room window) look great with a little imagination.
If I learned anything from this wedding, it was that I need to be more bold in taking risks. At one point while we were shooting some shots of Robin and Mike downtown I had this idea to have them stand in the middle of State street (which is the main street through downtown Santa Barbara) and just let the cars go by them. I almost didn't even ask, but I ran the idea past my assistant Kim and she though I should at least bring it up to the couple and so I did and they were like, "Oh yeah! For sure!" So we ventured out in them middle of the street, prayed no cops would drive by, and I guess you could say we played in traffic. :) This is probably one of my favorite shots from this year so far cause it's so unique and different. Plus, Mike and Robin totally loved it when they saw it on the slideshow so it was definetly worth it! :)
This wedding also marked the first wedding of the year that I shot with my assistant from last year Kim Fisher . We had such a great time last year shooting together, and unfortunately we probably won't be able to shoot together nearly as much this year because she's booking a lot of her own weddings which is no surprise cause she is super talented. She came up with some absolutely amazing shots that just blew me away when I saw them. Here are just a few....
This was a great moment right before Robin was about to turn and enter the chuch and see Mike standing in the front. I love the dramatic lighting and the sweet expression on her face...
