Evie and Kyle

I have worked with a lot of wedding venues and they have all been stellar. The Grand Plaza on St Pete Beach a few weeks back was no exception.

These guys really have their wedding game down. I felt like I was apart of a wedding SWAT team (forgive the very guy reference), their ship was run so well. But they don’t leave out the fun either (wedding are supposed to be fun right?).

Just as Lex (my lovely 2nd shooter) was talking to me about something at the reception, Bono’s huge, arcing solo on where the streets have no name came on. I, of course did what anybody has to do during that part of the song threw back my head and closed my eyes and lip synched the whole solo with enough feeling to qualify for a spot on a carnival parade in Sao Paulo. Lex, used to my 17 year old behavior, waits (and probably rolls her eyes) for the solo to finish. I stop and open my eyes and standing there, also waiting for me to finish, is Claudia, one of the Event VP’s there. “I’m sorry” I say, half embarrassed, half thinking this is hilarious, “I really like that song”. Claudia, laughing, agrees.

It must have been the atmosphere there at Evie and Kyle’s wedding, everybody was excited, there was energy in the air, especially at the reception where I got to see like 3 generations of Evie’s family on the dance floor at once walking like an egyptian and Kyle and his brother doing the funniest version of the worm I’ve ever seen.

It was awesome to be apart of that energy, to get to capture it, and make some great images from it.

 Cake by the awesome Laurie Cinelli, of Piece of Cake

Rachel and Justyn

Weddings on reeeealy windy days on the beach are a bad thing, right? Well, I will say that finding sand in, like, every crevice of my camera and my, well uh, me, after the wedding day was not super duper awesome fun. But I can say that having Clearwater Beach totally clear and bereft of any and all souls except Rachel, Justyn and myself and Lex was pretty awesome!

Plus, the wind blew these amaaaazing clouds in making for a dramatic sky like none I’ve seen in awhile. Clouds that would languidly adorn the background of Michelangelo’s touch of creation on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. Clouds that would haunt the skies over Tolstoy’s burning Moscow or Batman’s brooding Gotham. Clouds that..... ok, I’ll stop.

I really liked the clouds.

A great backdrop at a great location like the Hilton is wasted without a great couple though. Rachel and Justyn are that great couple. Totally natural, totally at ease with themselves and their quests, they totally understood my there-are-no-rules-just-have-fun-and-be-in-love way of working with my couples.

They didn’t worry about the wind. They didn’t worry about what ‘you’re s’posed to do’. All they cared about was each other, and living that beautiful day of their wedding.
Perfect.

Flowers provided by Jana, at Events in Bloom

 Cigars provided by, uh... Cuba?