{ A First }
When I first became interested in wedding photography, there were a few things I did.
I upgraded to a shiny new camera. I researched and bought lenses (and freaked out about how they were more expensive than the camera itself). I read books. I blog-stalked wedding photographers whose work I loved. I contacted some of those photographers, and prayed that they would spare a few moments of their spectacular wedding photography lives to grab my flailing newbie hand out of the sea of photography jargon & post-processing techniques & business practices and point me a bit in the right direction.
The Furious Photographers were the first to come to my rescue and my first real contact within the wedding photography realm. It just so happens that they were planning their very first workshop right when I emailed them. It was an awesome workshop filled with a bunch of priceless tips and the chance to shadow a real live engagement session.
Which is basically how I found myself, camera in hand, at my first real live wedding 2 weeks ago, shadowing Lawrence & Doug of FP. The wedding couple Sharon & Derek were in fact the same couple at the engagement session back in January and are both amazing amazing people. They were so kind for letting me come along and so sweet and easy to get along with. Their wedding had an adorable Disney theme – I especially loved how the tables were labeled after Disneyland rides (a la “Splash Mountain” and “Matterhorn”) and included a nostalgic picture of Sharon & Derek in front of the ride. And seriously, as they celebrated their amazing love among their closest family & friends it really did feel like – you guessed it – the Happiest Place on Earth :)
A big thank you to Sharon & Derek for allowing me to share their day with them. And of course a huge thank you to Lawrence & Doug for inviting me to tag along, for being so patient, and for giving me useful tips throughout the day!
A few shots…
Mirror mirror on the wall…
Mirror mirror off the wall (thanks to Lawrence’s quick thinking)
And while the mirror’s off the wall…
Bridesmaids at work…
Sharon is all smiles (and so stress-free – I was in awe!!)
Sharon’s adorable niece all dolled up!
With her mom right before stepping out of the limo (into the blistering heat… it was like 85!!)
Doug & Derek are rebels.
Some portraits before the reception…
One thing I love about Sharon & Derek is the way they interact with each other. I love love LOVE couples who are silly together!!
Tell me this cake isn’t rad:
Can you guess who caught the bouquet?
At the end of the day, after the bouquet was tossed, thanks were given, dances were danced, Lawrence & Doug had a final treat for the couple. We all went into the parking lot and did some light painting! The bridal party got really into it and we tried all sorts of different things – hearts, blown kisses, lightsaber battles, hadouken balls – it was such a cool idea and so much fun to execute. Here’s a little sample from the FP blog:
