stephani + jason: wedding!

 

 

go where the wind takes you. this has always been a bit of a personal motto of mine. in this case, the wind took me to isla, cantabria, to the gorgeous venue VENUE NAME AND LINK to photograph the very intimate and charming wedding of stephani and jason. it was a cloudy and very windy day, december definitely letting itself be shown. i loved every detail in this wedding, carefully thought of. not too over the top, not too cheap, juuuuuuust right. stephani looked gorgeous, and the nervousness was palpable. the fierce wind made us have to move the ceremony to a different side of the garden, as it knocked down the flowered arch before it all got started. the rose petals flew through the air instead of hitting the ground, making it seem like it was raining rose petals. the ceremony was beautiful and only had the closest friends and family. this is definitely a personal favorite of mine, small international weddings. we had just enough time to do some photos after the ceremony before the downpour. but it can’t rain on their parade! the music started playing and let me tell you… venezuelans can dance! it was so fun to capture all the dancing and joy around, including the crazy hour where everyone worse masks, blew whistles, and went all out. thanks for letting me be part of such an intimate and special day guys, i can’t wait to see where the wind takes you next!

katia + thomas: wedding!

lost in the mountains. this was the perfect setting for katia and thomas’ charming wedding. they got together with only the closest of family and friends, about 25 people total, and said their i do’s witnessed by a beautiful blue sky with scattered clouds. the venue was gorgeous, full of quaint little spots perfect for photos, and the conversations during cocktail hour ranged from a variety of languages. i have to say that one of my favorite moments, if not my most favorite, was when katia’s son, malko, escorted his mom to the altar. they were both absolutely glowing. he was such an integral part of the ceremony as a whole, it makes my heart skip a beat just thinking of it. i hope it makes yours skip a beat too.  take a look!

sole + mariano: wedding!

every once in a while a wedding comes along that just it out of the water. something so different, so exciting, so incredibly fun, that it reminds me why i do what i do. this time around, i have to thank sole and mariano for introducing the concept of wedding/music festival to me. from the first time i talked to sole on the phone we hit it off immediately. i remember we talked about music and life for well over 20 minutes before we realized we had literally said nothing about the wedding. fast forward a couple months, after their gorgeous engagement, and all the crazy wedding preparations and we find ourselves in a country home for a weekend of amazing music, ridiculous amounts of food, and a 3 day long pool party! did i mention they had an amazing band performing well into the night? all kinds of covers of classics, in a ridiculous amount of styles. by the end of the night sole and i even jumped on stage and joined the band to sing “wonder wall” by oasis. so what else could i possibly say? if you were there, these photos will take you back. if you weren’t there… i’m truly sorry you missed it!

alameth + jose: wedding!

rain rain go away, come again another day… preferably on a day that my little sister isn’t having a garden wedding. we spent half of the night wide awake, as lightning lit up the room and thunder roared directly above us. it was all a bit surreal, thinking that the wedding would be held in a garden in the morning. this was madrid, it’s not crazy like bilbao where rain could come at you at any moment. alameth and i shared a room, along with nervous laughs, about what we would be waking up to in the morning. sure enough, the day set out to a bit of a disastrous start… the rain didn’t subside, the hair dresser took longer than expected, we were showered by the storm while we dealt with bad traffic, and right when we were pulling into the parking lot… the bride got in a fender bender!

after shaking all of it off, filing paperwork, and frantically trying to get back on schedule… the ceremony started and every thing that went wrong seemed to trickle off, like the rain on the windows. she looked stunning, everyone’s eyes filled up with tears as dad walked her down the aisle. our little sister anna sang “a thousand miles” and we all breathed a sigh of relief. the rest? party time, of course! there was plenty of singing, bouncing, chanting, and cheer going around. in fact, at a given point even alameth and jose’s greyhound were brought over to them, as a surprise. i guess they didn’t want to miss out on their big day either! all’s well that ends well!

 

sole + mariano: engagement!

after the storm. that’s when sole, mariano, and i met for their madrid engagement session. it was a bit nerve-wrecking to plan this session in the middle of an absolutely terrible stormy day, but we were prepared with rain coats and rubber boots, and ready to create some ridiculously dramatic rain shots. and then it stopped. of course. sun is good, we love the sun, so we ended up just having a fantastic time finding cute little corners that would mesh well with their fun and quirky personalities. i have to say i absolutely love this couple. it’s not always easy to find clients that you agree with on ideas, priorities, and the like but i’ve definitely won the lottery with these two. i am in love with this session. ahhhh! i can’t even wait until their wedding day but now that rain or shine it will turn out amazing. See you soon!

nicole philip: wedding!

I don’t know how we met. As far back as I can remember, I have known Nicole and her family. I have spent summers with them, cheered at their softball games, and watched her grow up from a kid who pretended like she couldn’t stand me up until being a bride that books me all the way from spain. I will never let her forget that.

I met her husband-to-be at Dulles International Airport, where they came to pick me up and set on a four-hour drive to our engagement session beach location.

And then there was this. The day we had all been waiting for. she had a first look with her dad, dave, and i admit that i had to shove a tear or two back into my tear ducts. it is physically not possible for me to not smile when i look back on this wedding. seeing their house all set up for a wedding, helping out, and making sure hurricane irma wasn’t going to ruin all our fun! i’m telling you, there’s never a dull moment with these two. watching nicole getting married was like watching a little sister grow up. saying i do. having a first dance. i can’t even find the right words to explain… but i’m mostly just thankful. thankful that they chose me to write the beginning of their new life together. thankful that i got to see her with a man that makes her glow with happiness. and thankful that i got to be there to dance the night away and have great time with these two big kids. congratulations “squiggs” and “peanut”… never grow up!!

alameth + jose: engaged!

 

It snuck up on me. After spending the last year of my life hearing about how I would be the next one of my siblings to marry, I guess I got used it. I stopped reading the signs. I got comfortable. So I was a bit blind sighted when I unlocked my phone and saw a picture of an engagement ring on my little sister’s finger. Whereas I totally understand that these two were meant for each other, I guess my growing Spanish mentality hadn’t quite grasped that after “only” a year of dating they might feel more than ready to say I do. They visited for a weekend to make things official and get their fair share of handshakes, congratulations, and pats on the back. Along with a few smirks by family and friends that have already married and give them that all-too-familiar “are you sure you’re ready for this?” look. 

Well, ready or not, here they go!

ana & nick::: wedding

ok, i have to come clean about this. it has taken me forever to actually get around to blog this wedding… i’ve been going through my head about how to find the perfect words to describe this wedding. you see, it really wasn’t just any wedding. no, this was my brother’s wedding. for those of you who may not know his, i am the fifth of seven siblings. this was the first time i had to go to one of our weddings and i’m sure you’ll understand that along with the excitement of the day i am finding it hard to let the words come out in an eloquent way.  so let me start by saying that it was an incredible experience altogether.

ana and nick got married on september 13th. as tends to the case, a small herd of family and friends traveled from near, far, and everywhere between to be able to attend. it was held at the small, and i mean small chapel at the british cemetery of bilbao. they wanted to have somewhat of a tim-burton-ish theme to the wedding, so this setting was a perfect fit. the ceremony was held by rev. alberto sanchez. at home, we like to call him dad. the pianist was someone that at home we also like to call “mom”, and the witnesses are also known as “grammy” and “yaya”. So you see, this was quite  the family affair. In fact, at the end of the ceremony i had to switch my cameras for my ukelele and sing a song for the newlyweds with my favourite little sidekick, my sister anna. i won’t lie, i had a hard time not crying.

after having a very intimate lunch at a fantastic local restaurant, we proceeded to celebrate in style. they had rented out a house in practically the middle of the woods, and what a house! the celebration was just taking off by two local bands playing, “blues’n’breakers” and “enkore rock”.  interestingly and unfortunately enough though, the neighbours complained of the noise, so by 1 am the police showed up and shut down our concerts. but there would be no stopping this celebration. in fact, a handful of people, including yours truly, spent the whole next day enjoying the sun by he poolside. so seriously, can you see why this was the best wedding ever?

i could spend a whole day talking about all the little anecdotes and details that made this wedding one of the best personal and professional experiences that i’ve had, but instead i’ll send you off with this: ana and nick, it was an honor and a tremendous joy to have shared this day with you. i wish you the very best that life has to bring, including but not limited to a small child who you may name adina or adino. congratulations!!

vanesa + will: wedding!

The day came and the day went, but it wasn’t without nerves, tears, and laughter. vanesa and will held a long long extra long distance relationship for what seemed like forever. made extra difficult not just by them being thousands of miles apart and on different time zones, but by will actually being at high sea more often than not. i remember when i first met her in french class, then helping her get a job and becoming coworkers, then came the beers after work, the heart-to-heart conversations, and the eventual wedding talk. i never told her (and i guess she is about to find out) how much i admired their dedication to each other. how strong she is. how she inspired me to love and to allow myself to be loved. and love… this day was all about it! so what else can i say? obviously everyone was gorgeous and the nerves quickly subsided and turned into a beautiful choreography of laughing and crying. they absolutely spoiled me during the whole work ay, making sure i had everything i needed and even that i got in a little dancing! i still remember how amazing it was to meet people that had travelled from so far away just to be there for them. see? i told you it was inspiring! at the end of it all i can only say that it was truly a blessing to be asked to be the one that would help them remember every face, smile, tear. forever.

vanesa + will: i love you guys! please continue to love on each other and on your friends and family the way only you know how. i am so sad to see you go, my dear vanesa, but i wish you the very best and cannot wait for our paths to cross again. you hold a special place in my heart. you once told me that to you i wasn’t just a photographer. needless to say, you weren’t just another client. i’m going to shut up now because i don’t want to cry in the middle seat on a full flight. kisses! mwah!