Lisa found me and my photography through Facebook of all places – and she is a student out in Chicago. Her boy toy, Noah, was living out in California so we were all over the country on this wedding. We photographed their engagements the day before the wedding.

I hope to get out to California more often – it puts Utah to shame

Lisa and Noah's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple

For most of the portraits I am using my portable softbox with a speedlight to create these photographs. That really helps the photographs look perfect right out of the camera – and little retouching is needed. In fact I can then get the photographs edited and posted on SmugMug for viewing and purchases faster. I also had rented a Canon 5D Mark II while mine is in the shop for repairs. I did use my Nikon cameras a little bit – but I can create some serious magic with that Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens.

Lisa and Noah's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple

We only had about an hour to photograph portraits before heading over to the reception at the Balboa Inn on Newport Beach. So we made good use of our time and we wanted to get a few photographs on the pier as well. I would recommend a much time as possible for the photographs – an hour is minimum! We can create some amazing photographs we a few hours if possible. And if we can avoid photographs at high noon – even better. So if you are getting married let’s talk and find out when the best time of day would be to take your wedding portraits.

Lisa and Noah's wedding reception at the Balboa Inn

Lisa and Noah's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple

Lisa and Noah's Wedding Portraits at the Newport Beach

Abstract wedding photograph

Lisa and Noah's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple

Strike a pose

Candid moments for photography

Heading to the wedding reception at Balboa Inn

And now for some photographs of the wedding reception and some of the wedding details. The cake cutting even had chanting – they really wanted a cake smash and they were not disappointed. Both the bride and the groom were able to score some frosting to the face. And then they had some creative clean up.

Wedding cake

Cutting the cake

Smashing the cake

Cleaning up the cake smash

Cheesecake

And to round out the night was dancing, dancing, dancing! A perfect activity for any wedding reception and much better than the Utah tradition of standing in a line to shake hands for 2 hours. (In my humble opinion)

Dancing the electric slide

break it down

Wedding bouquet

Seastars indicate the assigned tables

And here are a few photographs from earlier in the day as the couple prepared for the day. Always photograph the dress before hand and any details you can. This is fly on the wall photography and ninja photography – stay out of the way and capture some moments of photojournalism.

The wedding dress

Bride's luggage

Earlier that day - the groom gets ready

Earlier that day - the bride gets ready

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I was second shooting at this wedding and the bride and flower girl were taking a break while everyone else had their photos taken by the main photographer. And this relaxed pose was just too perfect. It was a gorgeous day as well.

Every flowergirl dreams of growing up to be the bride

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Wedding gift of pearls for the new bride

And being prepared I grabbed my macro lens and took a few photographs as the bride continued to prepare for her perfect day.

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So I try to pick an angle off to the side and I try to use a different lens than the main photographer. And this can mean a lot of the time people aren’t looking at the camera when I press the shutter. However, it means I get a cool photograph like this – the groom is fully thinking about his new bride. The bride is looking towards the main photographer – but the angle makes it look like a Calvin Klein model looking away from the camera. Very cool – and I approve.

A moment with the bride and groom

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Why don't more grooms have bouquets?

And some people have argued that wedding bouquets are pointless and just get in the way. You spend more time putting the bouquet some where and having someone hold it for you – but I think they are a critical part of any wedding. And for photography it gives you hands something to hold – it is the perfect prop for any photograph.

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What I should have done was to move the flowers off the table before the cake cutting began but I still like this photograph. Not every photograph comes out perfect – but hopefully most photos capture a story.

Bride and groom cut the cake - flowers block the knife

And the bride isn’t wearing a wedding ring – I zoomed in and didn’t see one. Maybe the main photographer had borrowed the rings for the ring photography.

Photographers can drive themselves nuts looking at the little details. Sometimes while looking at the little detail you miss the big picture.

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1. Don’t shoot over the shoulder of the main photographer – they don’t need more of the same shot
2. Don’t interrupt the flow of the main photographer
3. A fly on the wall uses a different lens than the main photographer – if they grab a wide angle lens then grab a telephoto lens
4. If they ask you to do something – do it!
5. Ask the main photographer if you can try something different – like shoot an HDR

These photographs were taken at a Wolf Creek wedding this summer – and I was using my second camera to take these. My primary camera was sitting on a tripod for some HDR photographs. I will share those in another blog post. The main photographer was shooting with her fisheye lens – so I had my telephoto camera and was grabbing these amazing photographs.

Golf course acts as a backdrop to wedding photographs

Golf course acts as a backdrop to wedding photographs

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I was helping photograph this wedding as a second shooter and I had the perfect angle to see the cake smash unfold. And this is the one time I will claim the title of wedding photo journalist. I was able to take about 6 frames a second with my Nikon D300 – and capture every critical moment of this cake cutting gone messy.

Sharing wedding cake

There are trends in weddings – for a long time you would never see the groom smashing cake in the bride’s face – and brides were happy – because they do spend some time on make up and looking perfect. But lately the number of cake smashings is on the rise.

The groom begins a cake smash

And it helps to have a camera like the D300 – it has a “sport” mode that lets me capture six frames per second at 12 frame bursts. And sometimes weddings are like sporting events – if not World Wide Wrestling events.

Bride gets revenge

Groom with cake on the face

Groom with cake on the face

And as long as there is a kiss at the end – life is good.

Kiss and make up

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In two years I have grown as a photographer – my skills have improved and developed – yet I always get nervous and excited about an upcoming wedding.

So it will be fun to compare the photographs from 2 years ago with the photos I will capture and create in March. And of course it’ll be fun to be back in California – I love California.

Angelina and Nghiep's wedding in January 2008

I will be driving down to California – I thought it would be fun to have a bit of a road trip. I can stop in Vegas for a few photographs and I can explore spring along the highway. I am sure that if I travel more and more to other states to photograph weddings I may save time and fly. But when driving I can enjoy the drive and I can also bring more camera gear.

It is going to rock!

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And to be totally honest – I think more people should have big cameras – I am a fan of camera gears and I love to share what I know with anyone who asks. And I might even pick their brains and learn things myself.

Wedding attendee sporting a Canon 5D

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