So I did a wedding. Half of one, to be exact. Honestly, I got the most fun half (no offense other photographer).

I met Cristina through her brother Ryan, who I’ve been friends with since I moved to Vegas. Soon after I met Michael, and honestly they just looked right together. I remember when I found out they were getting married- they had been golfing and came in to the restaurant to get some “refreshments.” Cristina’s STUNNING ring was the center of attention. This was right before all the quarantine mumbo jumbo, so they were planning a wedding like everybody used to do pre-covid. I probably annoyingly asked them if they already had a photographer. I can’t remember if they did or not, but fast forward six months to Wednesday, October 7th, and I’m being asked if I can do the second half of their wedding on Saturday the 10th. DUHHHHHHHH. We love a last minute shindig.

I’m getting the urge to work backward here. I feel like if I start off by saying that I arrived home at four in the morning, and I spent the wee morning hours with the wedding party at the best woman’s house, you may get a better inkling of how inclusive and awesome this group is. If I tell you about how the bride asked me to come to the after party just to hang out, and told me to grab a drink and a plate literally twenty minutes after I arrived, you might understand the energy that this crew gives off. Or what about how their friends just embraced me, this tall stranger who was shoving a camera into their face, and when I left I felt like I could call them my friends too? Shall I continue??? Okay, back to the beginning.

As soon as I arrived to the house, an immediate sense of calm washed over me. There were twinkly lights everywhere, which is very on brand for me (basic), but not in a cheesy, overdone way. More like a bohemian, chic way that encapsulates the bride and groom’s whole aesthetic perfectly. The details of the wedding were incredible: homemade cake/cupcakes as well as FRESHLY FRIED fortune cookies with HANDWRITTEN fortunes in them, vases filled with dried grasses and flowers and candles (fake candles, fortunately, considering I knocked over literally three of them), and keepsakes and gifts for guests and themselves that would last a lifetime. Although I’m usually pretty nervous to shoot weddings, everyone in the vicinity immediately made me feel comfortable. That is the kind of atmosphere that the bride and groom provided.

Watching Cristina and Michael, it was easy to see that they were both just so at ease, so peaceful, and confident in themselves and each other. And just wholeheartedly, ‘give it all you got’ in love. Remember when I said they looked right together? They just are right together. I’m really thankful to know people that can make this crazy and uncertain world just feel… right.