Ola!!
WOW! What an adventure this was! And wow, are we ever late in sharing this adventure with you all! Please accept our apologies!
So here’s the story:
Once upon a time last November, I got a text message from Dan asking if I would be up for shooting a wedding in Cabo San Lucas . ”Ummmm…..yeeeah!”, I replied. Who? Helene and Roy, whose original photographer was having visa issues and couldn’t leave the country. ”When?”, I texted back. ”Next week”. AHH! When Dan got home, we quickly checked our schedules and fortunately, we didn’t have much going on and rescheduled a few meetings. We met with Helene and Roy a few days later at a Bean Around the World , and pretty much hit it off instantly. We also learned that this wedding in Cabo was their symbolic wedding with about 30 of their closest friends and some family, and they were having their legal wedding ceremony at their home church, Coastal Church , on December 2nd, 2010.
We spent 6 days at the Riu Resort . Gorgeous gorgeous landscape, gorgeous gorgeous water! This blog has three parts to it. The first part is just snaps we took during the days before the wedding, the second part is the wedding day itself, and the third part is the Day-After Session. We wanted to post so much more, but it would take forever to get through, so here are our top favorites! Please enjoy our first full destination wedding!
Part One | Riu Resort | Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
We landed in the late afternoon, just as the sun was setting. We walked out of the plane, and I just had to get a shot of the plane with the sun ducking behind the mountains in the background. I managed to snap three shots before I realized that there was a bunch of airport staff yelling at me in Spanish…whoops! Better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission!
This is the view from one of the restaurants. We got to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with this spectacular view! The island across the water there is called
Lover’s Beach
and it’s so beautiful!
The water was so amazing. During the day at least! The evenings were actually quite chilly! Pants and jacket definitely needed!
On the third day of the trip, almost all of Helene and Roy’s friends took a little excursion to Lover’s Beach.
We took these ‘glass bottom boats’ over – very cool to see the bottom of the ocean!
We managed to steal Helene and Roy for a few minutes to do some creatives on the island….the rock formations there are so stunning!
After a few hours of snorkeling, a game of ultimate, and playing in the huge waves, we heading back to the mainland.
Here are the lovebirds!!
A puddle in the parking lot with the reflection of the resort.
Some
infrared
action from Dan
That’s right! We brought a shift lens with us! So glad we did…!
These are just some details around the resort, all shot with the shifty shifty lens…
Part Two | The Symbolic Wedding | November 28th, 2010 |
Helene really wanted shot of her dress hanging from a palm tree….we’ve added a slight vintage, washed out look…any thoughts?! Kat shot above, Dan shot below.
No one will understand how excited I was when I found out that Helene and Roy’s theme for their wedding was peacock feathers. I had been planning our wedding with peacock feathers for the past two years! I love every detail and hint of teal that they had, including Helene’s shoes with these peacock broches she bought.
Helene bought the parts to her pearl necklace and bracelet and had a friend put them together. Helene also handmade all the peacock feather boutonnieres! A DIY bride!!
The groom…so stylish with his shades
Beautiful dress Helene!!!
After getting ready in the rooms at the resort, the guys went straight to the restaurant
Sunset da Mona Lis
a
, where the wedding was being held, to set up some audio stuff and to get things organized. With some spare time, Dan shot a bit.
Can you tell I love that shift lens!?
Helene!! You look so beautiful!!!
The day of the wedding was incredibly windy, which was strange as the days before the wedding weren’t windy at all….
The view was just breathtaking. The sun was going down, just a hint of Lover’s Beach in the background, a beautiful wedding party, and closest friends. What else do you need!!?
It was a very emotional ceremony!
We literally had 15 minutes before the sun was going to disappear on us!
Thank you to Roy’s groomsman for holding the light behind Helene and Roy! ”Higher! To the left! No to the right!”
Love it. So fun. This photo totally depicts how Helene and Roy are…so much fun and so goofy!
Reception! Spectacular!!!
Everyone’s speech was so heartfelt and sincere. Not a dry eye in sight.
Cake! With peacock feathers and a digital heart gadget!
Roy’s mom was there for the symbolic wedding…a very special lady!
After dinner, we all headed upstairs to the SunSet Point Lounge for the first dance on the deck.
Part Three | Day-After Session |
We pre-planned so much for this Day-After Session, but being in an unfamiliar setting was a bit difficult. We traveled outside of the resort to try to diversify the backgrounds and to get a different feel than that of a “resort”. The term: Urban Safari. We learned this from
DQ Studios
, and the concept is basically hoping in to a car, driving around, and stopping where ever catches your eye! No scouting for this session, obviously, and no map…kind of got lost for a bit, but that’s part of the excitement! It was a bit uneasy at times, not knowing what kind of neighborhood we were hanging out in. At one point, a huge black SUV with ALL it’s windows tinted (like…even the windshield was tinted) drove past us…then again, and then stopped right beside us. Creepy! We quickly got out of there!
We were fortunate it wasn’t another really windy day. We also had great clouds to play around with! We have no idea what the text on the wall says, hopefully nothing weird… anyone know?
Helene and Roy are so photogenic…it was hard to stop shooting this series..!
Hmmm….hope that graffiti isn’t offensive!
Just across the street was this little hut thing with bamboo like walls…
I couldn’t let go of that shift lens.
Again, they’re such a fun couple!
Just walking back to the car….every second counts to shoot!
This is the location where that SUV was circling us. We only spent 10 minutes here. I don’t know about anyone else, but I started to panic.
We brought our 16″
beauty dish
with us to Cabo, and glad we did! The quality of light it produces is amazing!
Hot! Dan’s shooting Helene…
…while I’m shooting Roy…! We work well together
That this is the end of our amazing adventure of our first full destination wedding. Thank you Helene and Roy for the opportunity to photograph your beautiful symbolic wedding in the beautiful city of Cabo San Lucas, and for the opportunity to get to know you guys and your great friends! Dan and I undoubtedly had an amazing time
Check out their slide show below!!!
Cheers everyone,
KD
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