The Rockabilly Wedding

Had the privileged of second shooting for my REALLY good buddy Jared of Jared Alvarez Photography a few weekends back. He told me he had an upcoming wedding with a Rockabilly theme. I was all over it. So, what is Rockabilly? I won't even embarrass myself by trying to give a knowledgeable answer. Check out the link provided. It's a meager attempt but still good info. Bottom line is this, it was a crazy wedding with lots of very photographable, (not a word but you knpow what I'm sayin) moments and people. Just so cool.

Stephanie was a beautiful bride. Alyssa Milano anyone? I sure though so. I even told her. Ryan was a cool cat as well. Very fun group of people. Lots of tears, smiles and geniune emotion. I forgot how fun second shooting can be. A freedom to roam and shoot stuff I normally would have time for. I REALLY tried to do some different stuff with these that I always don't have the freedom for in my usually work. Can you tell?

Have a great weekend everyone. Cheers.

~Sam


Greatest groom getting ready shot you'll ever see. Chuck Norris FTW!!
They meet for the first time.

photojournalism? ;)



They brewed their own beer, thus the beer cap ring shot!
thanks for the time with the B&G J.
loves.
the beautiful bride.

Irma & Ryan :: Engagement

Irma & Ryan will be hitching at one of my favorite venues in just a few weeks. You guessed it, The Palm Event center. YAY for them. ****Off topic....dude, I'm gonna have to have a chat with the guys in the Hispanic community. What's up guys??? The Asian's are taking all your girls man. Que pasa? First it's the white guys taking all the Asian girls now this. My my. (kidding of course)

Actually I love that I get to be a wedding photographer in California. SO MANY ethnicity's. 2 weekends ago, I shot an AWESOME wedding. A GORGEOUS Afghan bride, (ahem, I AM biased of course) and the groom was Mexican. Wait till you see their wedding crazy awesome. Ceremony was in traditional Afghani/Islamic fashion and translated into english and spanish. I never thought I'd see the day of hearing the deep drums of a Tabla and the clapping sounds of an old world style Mariachi dancers. Epic.

I can't wait to see what you guys do. I'm sure it will be wonderful. You guys looked awesome for the engagement session. Red is your color Irma! Ryan, you got a hot girl. :)
Congratulations to you both. Blessings everyone.

~Sam

Luma & Jim :: Napa Wedding

There was a special bit of magic about this wedding that I've yet to see in any other weddings I've shot up till now. If I could point to anything other then how awesome the couple is already, I'd have to say it was the rain that showed up all throughout the day. Rain is supposed to be a damper right. I think it MADE this wedding. I can't explain it. I even mentioned to Luma early in the day that her wedding images would be like non I'd ever taken before. Here's what we had: Napa wine country. Plum Jack Resorts - Carneros Inn. Umbrellas annnnnnnd rain. I LOVED this wedding.

Luma and Jim are surrounded by wonderful people. Most everyone there traveled from our neighboring country Canada. Toronto if I remember correctly. Just really great folks. Both sets of parent gave memorable, tear filled toasts. Luma, you looked beautiful. I have a favorite dress of all my brides, (I know, I'm not supposed to pick favorites, forgive me) this year. It was yours. So elegant and simple. So Luma. :) Your grandmothers brooche just so much more. Jim my friend, you are hilarious. As this wedding had many first, one of those firsts included a groom in a bath robe on the dance floor. You brought the awesome sir.

Have to give a BIG shout out to my good buddy Scott of Scott Andrew Studio for coming out as second shooter on this one. Scott and I go waaaaaaay back. Get this, we shot our first wedding together. OMG it was awesome. We had no idea what we were doing and having a blast doing it. We've come a long ways my friend. Thanks for the help, you did so well. Also wanna say thank you to Kate Conneen for doing such a great job as coordinator. In Luma's own words, all of what took place for their wedding was because of you.

Enjoy the photo's everyone. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like. Happy Wednesday.

~Sam

Luma's sister :)
This ham got a lot of my camera time. Any guesses why. This dudes gonna be a heartbreaker.
Both moms, both crying as they see Luma in her dress...awwwww.

too much, tooooo much goodness here.

This was NOT a posed shot. We literally walked to the ceremony location from the bungalow. It was about a block away and I got soaked, (no umbrella). All for good reason however. I envisioned this shot driving to Napa and I got it. Yay!

You wish your clients were this cool.... ;)
Animated gif of awesome. This is them doing 007.





Luma, you look STUNNING here. Belongs in every bridal mag IMO. Dead serious.

Possibly my favorite in this set. Luma and Jim at the alter


King and Queen..




Carneros Inn is awesome......wow.