Out of all the weddings I've attended, as photographer or guest, Pat and Shelby seemed to have the most fun on their day of matrimonial bliss. The ironic thing is, you wouldn't know that so many things started wrong. They just ended up right.
The number of mishaps are too numerous to list them all here, but I will name a few that had to do with photography purposes for your amusement.
I left 90 minutes early, expecting to be there 30-90 minutes early. I thought that window was enough time to avoid traffic and whatever else might occur on the way to L.A. I was wrong. I got stuck in traffic and ended up being an hour late.
When I get out of the car in the parking garage at the Marriott Renaissance, I grabbed my camera bag in haste and my flash goes flying and smacks on the concrete. Hard. Yup, broken. Good thing I have a back-up. As photographers know, always have a back-up! The only thing is, it didn't work either. Now I'm not familiar with Long Beach, and was already late, so I used my handy-dandy smart phone and googled Wal-mart. Turns out there was one 6 blocks from the hotel. They sell this really inexpensive flash that actually works great. Again, not being familiar with the area or the crazy traffic and parking, I decided to trek it on foot. I ran actually, 12 blocks round trip. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find a place to park if I drove.
They had the flash! Back to the hotel.
Luckily, or not, the brides hair was taking longer than anticipated, which really didn't make me late after all. But, everyone was running late after that. We barely had time for pictures outside the hotel, and then barely made it to the ceremony, which was 20 minutes away on a good day. It was a night ceremony, and I arrived at the same time as the bride and groom. Which means I didn't have time to check out the lighting or set up additional lights, if necessary. The lighting was ambient and exceptionally gorgeous, but not great for photography. So, I go with it. No choice but to use the external flash I had just bought a couple hours earlier.
All in all, I think the pictures came out great. I did what I could and we all worked together to make it happen. I can honestly say that this was the most difficult wedding I have had the pleasure of photographing, but it was so much fun and I learned a lot. The night was an absolute blast! Congrats to Shelby and Pat!
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| This shot was taken of a beautiful wedding gown out of the window of the Marriott Renaissance hotel overlooking the water in Long Beach. |
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| I wanted to get the date of the wedding, so I used a Wall Street Journal, but since it was Saturday, the paper had both Saturday and Sunday's date. So, I had to get creative and used the brides necklace to hide the date I didn't want showing. |
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| The beautiful bride with her gorgeous bouquet and wedding gown, with the view from the Marriott Renaissance as a nice backdrop. |
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| The Bride checking out her make-up, hair and wedding dress |
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| The bride and groom ride outside the lobby of the Marriott Renaissance in Long Beach |
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| The bride and groom get cozy |
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| The bride and groom get intimate in the city, in classic black and white |
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| Gorgeous bride with a lovely bouquet |
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Bride and groom very happily and affectionately touch glasses with each other after a moving speech
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.jpg "the confidant groom")
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