(Shooting a wedding for friends, with friends)
   November 17, 2011

It's always special to shoot a wedding for friends! Sure there seems to be added stress to do a perfect job and it's certainly a lot more fun and a lot less work to attend a wedding than to shoot one, but for Alison & Jeff's wedding I wouldn't of had it any other way. They gave us an amazing location to work with (Parker Hotel in Palm Springs) and best of all I had the privilege of shooting the wedding with my good friend and uber talented photographer Jason Ward. And of course it doesn't hurt that Jeff & Alison are adorable together and she donned a Marchesa wedding gown which was absolutely stunning!

Below is a sneak peak of a few of my favorite shots from the wedding. Enjoy!

(the unplanned wedding)
    march 23, 2011

To clarify, it wasn't the wedding that was unplanned, it was the 'my shooting it' part. You see, my wife and I had flown to Florida to attend her sister's wedding and a little over 24 hours before the kickoff their photographer bailed. Fortunately I had been having premonitions for about a month that I would end up shooting the wedding so I lugged a lot more gear with me than I would on a normal vacation and was able to step in and shoot it. As my mother-in-law joked, "I Secreted myself the wedding."

As it turned out I wouldn't have had it any other way. Sure I had to "work" a bit more than I would as a guest, but I was able to spend real quality time with Ciera and Bobby on their most special day, which is one of the best parts of shooting weddings. I feel blessed to be able to give them this gift and I hope they will cherish these photos and the great memories of this day forever.

Special thanks to my fabulous second shooters and to my wife for being an amazing assistant and for the push-up contest she challenged Bobby to on the dance floor!