I know this is about 3 months overdue, but if I’m being honest (which I always strive to be) I forgot that I had this blog! I’ve mainly been keeping everyone up to date via my Facebook page and simply have been neglecting my wordpress. But here we are! Scott and Helena’s wedding was on April 21, 2014. Helena contacted me online and asked me if I could do her a favor. Her wedding photography was being done by a family member (Nick Paulos, he is a great photographer, but more about him later) and she thought he would need some help. I happily agreed, having been wanting to get into wedding photography, and seized the chance!
I met the bridal party at the rehearsal the day before the wedding after being in touch with Helena through email for a couple months leading up to the big day. She knew I had never shot a wedding before and was in agreement to let me play around and learn the ropes. To be brief, I was a little terrified. Thankfully, I was in the ever-so-capable hands of Nick. Nick Paulos is a model and headshot photographer that just moved to the area from LA. I’ll admit that I was a little intimidated to be working with such a pro, but he eased my mind and was really excited to take me under his wing, so to speak. He didn’t normally shoot weddings, so we were both figuring it out together and all in all we got a lot of great shots!
The day was long. Very very long, but very very much worth it. I started the day by meeting up with Nick and helping him load all his lighting equipment and Pelican boxes into the truck to make the short drive from his house to Keswick Vineyards. It could not have a been a more beautiful day. It was sunny, not a drop of humidity in the air, and a light breeze, perfect! Once we got to the vineyard, we went over and met with Helena and started shooting the bridal party getting ready for the day.
After a little while, I snuck over to the pool room where the groomsmen were getting ready. They were getting bored, so they dressed way earlier than the ladies and were killing time by playing pool and darts. Poor things, I felt bad for them. The girls were definitely girls and took a couple hours to get themselves wedding-ified. The groom and his groomsmen looked quite handsome, don’t you think?
I took some time to photograph a couple details of the flowers while Helena was getting ready to get into her dress.
Everything about this wedding was gorgeous. Beautiful people, lovely couple, stunning venue. It was like photographing something for a magazine. I loved every minute of the day. But now it’s time for the dress. This may just be my favorite shot from the day. It took a little tugging and rearranging to get the dress just right, but once they finally got it over her (still somehow, that is beyond me) perfect hair, her face just lit up! Everyone is the room was glowing and I was so thankful to be there to catch that moment. (Especially since Nick left me alone to do the rest of the getting ready shots…)
The time had come. The big moment was here. Nick and I scrambled and gathered up all out stuff so we could head outside and catch the bridal party as they filed in to start the ceremony. It was quite a short walk over and we almost missed the start. I was lugging all sorts of stuff, but somehow we managed to get there and get ready. At that point my feet were already killing me and that’s when I learned my first of many lessons that day. Wear comforatable everything. The ceremony was over in the blink of an eye, but we got all the right shots.
The stress was over! Or so I thought. Now it was time for the bridal portraits. Nick and I had some trouble setting up the lighting and getting power to everything, but we managed to squeeze it all in before the cocktail hour was over. I was mainly moving lighting around, so I didn’t get to shoot a lot at this point, but I did snag this one. Everything about this shot encompasses the day, the gorgeous weather, the rustic charm of the small little wedding, the class of the group, and the fun of the day.
Dinner time! I took the time to finish up some detail shots before the meal.
Like I said before. It was ALL so beautiful.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing with guests and shooting some of the reception. Nick let me have his camera so I had fun with the guests the rest of the night. Shooting with his Mark II made me want to make the switch to Canon. All in all, a wonderful day, and one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. I learned so much and am so thankful to both Helena and Nick. I feel very prepared for my weddings this October and am counting down the days!
Thanks for reading! Talk soon! I’m off to shoot a couple for some adoption pictures! More on that later.
amandacblakephotography.wordpress.com 