stranger at best buy: “you know the 91 and 15 are totally backed-up right? are you planning on taking them?”
tonya, second shooter extraordinaire: “ummm, yeah, i am taking them later. thanks for the heads up.”
text from tonya: “just heard there was an oil spill on the 91; shall we make alternate plans?”
return text from me: “i’ll be there to get you 30 minutes early. we should be fine.”
little did we know that the oil spill would close the two main highways we needed to get us to the wedding venue. no one wants to be late to a wedding, especially not the photographer, but the closure of two main roads was making things look pretty grim. thanks to tonya and her exceptional navigational skills we went the”round about way”, but we made it and didn’t miss a thing.
thank goodness, because i didn’t want to miss a beat of anthro bride’s (and jeff’s :)) wedding day.
i knew from our engagement shoot that i was going to love everything about their day, because i love everything about them. i knew it was going to be simplistic and beautiful, timeless and sweet, resplendent and warm, because that’s just the way they are…
know those moments in life you want to hold on to forever? know when you want to freeze time and soak it all in? when it feels like it’s all going too fast? when everything is so perfect that you want to live in that moment again and again and again?
it was bliss watching anthro bride, rachael, try and catch, freeze, soak, and hold on to all on her wedding day.
it was humbling seeing a groom so attentive to his new bride; so sincerely and genuinely, wholeheartedly in love in her.
to be loved this way is something divine. something every person has a right to; something we are so lucky to find and when we do it is one of those things we cling to forever:
loved these two. they were so “time traveler’s wife”esque possibly some of my favorites:
tonya shot these details at the temple:
i caught these:
love these shoes!!!
even gnarly oil spill traffic can’t take away from the memories made on a wedding day. we braved the delays and headed to san juan cap for more portraits. rachael lived up to her name when she let her hair down, literally removed the clip, pins, and pony to be more “natural, uninhibited, and carefree.” it makes me smile thinking about how un-worried she was about losing the first look. so many brides, myself included, are/were obsessed with staying perfectly coiffed all day- thru the night. she was perfectly at ease getting more comfortable on her day; i loved it. she let her hair lose and it came through in her images too (jeff didn’t have much hair to let loose; he was already as mellow as they come! ;)).
LOVED these next three:
and these:
and this one i want to print, matte, frame, and put on my night stand; i love it that much. 😉
just them, being perfectly themselves.
could this be more anthro? seriously. anthro bride did her name proud.
tonya saw this one through the trees; i loved it:
and more incredible anthro-ness…
another one i want to frame; tonya shot this one:
we unfortunately had to “kiss” the gorgeous light goodbye to make our way to their celebration.
a few details from the party:
all the florals, and the candy and cake station were provided by jennie ho of star events:
rach and jeff, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your incredible day. i felt so welcomed, so loved, and so special and important. the irony? it was your day, and you were making me feel that way. i hope you felt all of those things too from everyone who was present, who came to celebrate two incredible people start an amazing life together. may you enjoy your days, and all their beautiful simplicity, together. may you have anthro babies, soon, so we can make a catalogue of them. 😉 may your life shine like you do!!!
tonya, big shout out to you! thank you for keeping me calm when the streets were backed-up! thank you for all of your creativity and encouragement, and for shaking your tail feathers to create an incredible slide show for rachael, jeff, and their guests. thank you a thousand times over!!!
anthro bride and groom, i have an affinity for you! thank you for sharing your day with me! here’s to you and your beautiful life and journey!! congratulations to you and your families, kj
