Garland-Wilde Wedding So if you know me, you know I'm not a particularly big fan of weddings. I feel many people have lost touch of the reason to have a wedding - and it's turned into an expensive party and asking for gifts you don't need or use.  So that combined with the fear of bridezillas or overbearing mothers of the bride, I've managed to avoid photographing weddings.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Last winter, my friend Frankie said his sister was getting married and wanted to see if I was interested in shooting it, promising his sister would be the lowest maintenance bride ever. After being clear that I had never shot a wedding before and it would be a total guinea pig session, we decided to go with it!

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Apart from a phone call with the mom, everything was coordinated over email. Even with G, the bride, sending me a message on Monday "so, I just found out my uncle is going to be playing the bagpipes during the ceremony, which is kind of strange because neither me or B are Scottish, but it'd be cool if you could get some pictures of him in a kilt"... haha!

Garland-Wilde Wedding I showed up Saturday at the Old Whaling Station (beautiful location!!!!) before G arrived.  I met G's mother who immediately offered me cookies, so clearly, I was off to a good start!

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Then G showed up in jeans and a t-shirt, carrying her backpack of what she needed to get ready, and greeted me with a "nice to meet you" hug... yes, the bride, who lives in Albuquerque, didn't even MEET me until the day of the wedding, which is unheard of at most weddings!

Garland-Wilde Wedding As G's maid of honor helped her do her make up she reminded her of the instructions they were given when they took a makeup class the day before. G showed up without makeup, but had beaaautiful eyelashes.   I asked whether they were real, nope, turns out Gina got them on a whim a week before when she saw a groupon discount. Best bride ever!

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding As her 5'10" maid of honor put on heels, and the other bridesmaids put on heels to try to match, 5 foot G, wore these orange sandals under her dress, to the surprise of her bridesmaids who assumed she would wear heels for the occasion.

Garland-Wilde Wedding But at least they were able to get the hair tie off her wrist ;-)

Garland-Wilde Wedding Despite G's low maintenance attitude, she was an absolutely stunning bride! (Brace yourself for cheesiness) I think the glow of being truly happy and in love gives you a beauty makeup never could. (Hope you didn't gag too much because it's true!)

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding As she was getting ready, I peeped out onto the balcony to see the groom, B, on his cellphone and I thought... is now really the time to be texting people?

Garland-Wilde Wedding Then I went back inside, and saw G on her phone, asked if she was texting B, and saw the message... cutest cutest cutest!!

The ceremony began with a nervous B standing next to his dad who was officiating the ceremony.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding G didn't have to be as nervous because she could see B from the window

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But she didn't make him wait too long

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And B immediately teared up as he saw his bride walk down the aisle.

Garland-Wilde Wedding As they exchanged vows and rings, despite all the family and friends watching them, you could tell that in their eyes, in that moment, it was just the two of them. (Sappy again, I know!)

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding B put the ring on and G clapped... adorable!

Garland-Wilde Wedding Then the much anticipated kiss to seal the deal!

Garland-Wilde Wedding After a series of family shots.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding With them sneaking kisses in between

Garland-Wilde Wedding And bridal party shots.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding And B and G shots.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Then dinner and the speeches. Where I learned how B and G met in the Peace Corps... as if I didn't already think they were an amazing couple!

Garland-Wilde Wedding The maid of honor joked "I don't know what G actually did in the Peace Corps because I think you are supposed to help people, but all I heard about was this cute boy from Texas"

Garland-Wilde Wedding And B's brother shared a story of how quickly B packed his bags for California to be with G immediately after returning from the Peace Corps and how on a camping trip without cell service mentioned that he missed her, the way he missed Texas when he first left for the Peace Corps... to be homesick for a person... love!

Garland-Wilde Wedding Then it was time for the first dance!

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding As I said, I originally thought that I shouldn't photograph weddings because I'd be too judgmental. Turns out, I shouldn't photograph weddings because I'm a big sap! As Frankie, the DJ for the evening, played the music for their first dance, I started tearing up, which is really embarrassing considering I didn't even really know the bride or the groom!

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After some dancing, it was time to cut the pie and feeding it to each other was my chance to show my action photography skills as a piece of pie accidentally fell off before making it into B's mouth.

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding The rest of the evening was just dancing fun for everyone!

Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding Garland-Wilde Wedding I'm so grateful to have been able to photograph such a beautiful wedding, the joining of two great families with the marriage of two people truly in love! I feel so much more optimistic about weddings!

Garland-Wilde Wedding I promise future wedding blogs won't be this long, just excited that my first wedding was such a blessing! And apologies to Polina for missing her bachelorette party in Vegas on this weekend, but I'm now so much more excited to be a bridesmaid in Polina's wedding in September :-P