This girl has taste- check out the flowers for the centerpieces:  gorgeous!


I wish everyone would wear cool shoes!

One of the things that I found absolutely intoxicating about these two is the way they interacted with each other.  They are so ridiculously in love that you couldn't help but share in their laughter and joy:


I absolutely love it when girls wear flowers in their hair

You may not believe me, but I did not set this up!  As we headed down the boardwalk to the beach, Monica kicked off her high heels and the way they were lying on the wooden planks made me stop and take a photo before they inevitably got moved:

And one of the happy couple doing what they do:

Delicious, delicious, wish I was eating some right at this moment, cake:

I love creative lighting:  the reception was held in an open area under a house on stilts that was right on the beach, so Monica used Chinese paper lanterns to add some light

And the getaway:

The outside corners and the middle photos of this collage are invitations to all the events that surrounded the wedding, from Katherine's bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner, and a little note to the bridesmaids.  Since most of the people who attended had to travel pretty far to come to the wedding (the couple had wanted to get married on the beach), they had a second reception back home that all the people who could not make the long trip could come to and celebrate.  The pic in the 3 o'clock position is of a bucket of sparklers to help send off the couple after a night of dancing, at the 6 o'clock is a bucket of paintbrushes to help get the sand out from in between the toes after the seaside reception and at 9 o'clock is one of the bridesmaid's gorgeous Gerbera daisy bouquet.

My favorite shot of the day:

After doing the family shots, I wanted to take a photo of the whole wedding party, however, the sheer size of this group made posing on the beach a bit of a challenge!  I couldn't do a very 'magaziny' arrangement because there were just so many people, and the sun was so bright that it would have looked silly.  Luckily, this group of family and friends were so fun and vibrant that when I asked them to hold hands and jump, this was what I got.  It was brilliant!  Here's a cool factoid: check out the bridesmaid that is the fourth from the left.  This is Katherine's sister, who is a dancer.  When I was going through the photos, I realized that she had somehow turned herself inside out and made half her body disappear during this jump- extremely impressive.

Easily the most fun and spin-filled father-daughter dance I've ever witnessed:


Okay, next, during the reception, a group of the bridesmaids asked if I would take a picture of them.  I said, no problem, put the camera up to my eye and clicked.  I have no idea if this was planned by the four or not, but I don't imagine it could have been since I seriously did not take more than 3 seconds to compose and snap the shutter:

Now this is truly hilarious:  When it came time for the garter-retrieving ceremonies, Jay went searching like Elmer Fudd hunting for wabbits.  Although in the photo we are unable to see Katherine and Jay's faces, I about die laughing every time I look at the 3 girls in the top left corner- their expressions are absolutely priceless!

Thank you, Katherine and Jay, for allowing me to be a part of your special day.  And a huge thanks to Anne, for making me feel at home on your daughter's wedding day and for sending me photos and the book- I'm about halfway into my Curly Girl Journey ;)

Yes, that's a fire-breathing luau man with flames dancing on his tongue. Why is he at a wedding you ask?  Because Jen and Chris decided to have a luau for their reception.  A real luau where all the guests had leis placed on their necks by ladies in hula skirts and coconut bras and the men heralded the bride and groom's entrance by blowing into conch shells. 

So cool.

I'm working on the rest of the wedding, but these were truly too cool to keep in my computer for another minute... especially with the way said computer has been behaving lately.

Toodles!

It's always nice when couples are willing to do crazy things to get a cool photo.  I almost expected to have these two laugh at me when I told them to get on top of this fountain!  Luckily, they didn't laugh, we only endured dozens of people staring at us like we were nuts... but, then, I've gotten used to that over the last couple of years :)

Beautiful Las Olas... I love living in South Florida.

The cool thing is that Vivian did not hold back!  She had three BIG orchids in her hair and it looked awesome in her beautiful thick black hair.  Another cool thing about this wedding is that Vivian wanted to wear both a traditional Chinese wedding gown and a white dress, so she had one dress for the wedding and another for part of the ceremony:

I loved all the beautiful gold jewelry

The intricate detail of the dress and the beautiful patterns etched into the gold bangles were so gorgeous... I want some awesome bracelets like that!  They are so ornate and I thought of how this photo is such a good example of blending cultures, the way she has on the dress and jewelry from China, along with her engagement and wedding ring in diamonds and platinum, in traditional Western custom.