Tamaya Wedding After the First Snow - Albuquerque Wedding Photographer

Sneak Peak of the Wedding of Jon and Camille at Tamaya

Albuquerque is such a pleasantly small world!  When Camille got engaged, she was referred to me by one of the first girlfriends I made when I moved here to NM.  We all went out to Happy Hour get to know each other and hit it off right away.  Then we found out that her fiance and my husband both have their doctorate degrees in the same very specific aspect of engineering. Excitedly, I skipped home to tell my husband and one of our friend's in the same field that was visiting us at the time. Much to my surprise, I discovered that Jon was actually our friend's roommate back in college hundreds of miles away.  It's so fun to uncover all the webs of connections when you meet new friends!  Jon and Camille are both AWESOME people and I hope that we are friend's and stay in touch for a long time!

The night before their wedding, I was so nervous about the weather because it was pouring down all day and into the night before the wedding, but we woke up to many blessings as the rain had stopped early in the morning, and the Sandia mountains were snow capped and glistening!  The snow on the mountains really made this Rio Grande landscape so beautiful and wildly romantic for these two new lovebirds. And with a little chill in the air, they had even more reason to snuggle up close together for their wedding pictures :)

After much debate, they decided that they wanted to do a "First Look" before the wedding. The woods were a perfect setting for them to share their romantic moment alone together (more of these photos soon!). This was taken just after Camille was such an elegant and poised bride!

The couple's little nieces were the cutest flowers girls!  And their little nephews were little hams (and very responsible ring bearers!)  I thought it was so cute that Camille wanted the flower girls to have their own bouquets instead of petals.  As she reminisced of weddings she was in when she was young, she said she always wanted to have a bouquet like the big girls.

Destination Wedding in Albuquerque - Albuquerque Wedding Photographer

Tram and Soo Young came to Albuquerque to get married near some of their family.  The Bride's family is Vietnamese and the Groom's family is Korean. When I first met Tram and her sister, we bonded over comiserating about the lack of good Asian restaurants here in Albuquerque.  They pointed me to some great Korean restaurants both here in Albuquerque and back in LA. 

They are both from the city, so we did an urban bridal session before their wedding. Tram looked like a princess.  Two of her little nieces came to help hold her train and will be flower girls tomorrow at their wedding.

A Spunky Bride and a Sketchy Bus Station - Albuquerque Wedding Photography and Bridal Sessions

Yesterday I attended a photo meet up where I met several photographers and Claudia, an aspiring model. We played around in the studio, then went down to the downtown Greyhound bus station for some urban shots.

Our posse of 5 consisted of three photographers, a beautiful model, and her bf of 5 years.  We shot at night to avoid leering eyes and any commotion we would cause, however Claudia still managed to attract several double takes by the rubber-necking drivers and cyclists.  Together we started walking together carrying all the gear.  One of the other photographers took a lot of behind the scenes photos and kept lookey-loos at bay.  When we arrived at the bus station, one of the security guards took interest and generously kept us safe from the interesting fellows of the night.

 As the night progressed, the security guard even started to help out.  We staged him in the shot interacting with our model, and then he even offered to hold a reflector for another shot.  It's amazing how everyone likes to get involved when you have a collaborative environment.

The Jameson Wedding Ceremony - Wedding Photography

It is said that rain on your wedding day is good luck.  But why?  The "logic" behind the superstition says that a wet knot is more difficult to untie.  And so it was for James and Leah, although thankfully it only sprinkled a little bit the morning of the ceremony. 

 James and Leah tied their wet knot in Half Moon Bay, CA.  The coastal fog actually provided some beautiful diffused light for the ceremony.

Leah brings so much energy into any occasion and was extremely animated, even through the ceremony.  

"I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife!"

My Best Friend's Wedding - Wedding Photography

Labor day is a VERY popular weekend for weddings!  My two best friends got married on the same weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  Two days, two states, and two best friends taking the next step into the rest of their lives.  I impromptu photographed both of them, here are some of my favorites of Jaynie's wedding (James' still to come).

Chief, Jaynie's pup was their ring bearer at the Corvallis Rose Garden.  They had their reception at Strega.  It's unfortunate that the restaurant closed down, but still awesome that you can rent it out!!!  They had their first dance just as the sun set over the mountains.