I had the chance to work with some amazing local vendors on this wedding, including::

Venue: The Estancia Club, Scottsdale Arizona

Flowers: Flora Europa

Wedding Coordination/Planning: Imoni Events

Cake: La Dolce Pesca

Invitations: The Invitation Lady

Entertainment/DJ: SKM Entertainment

Makeup: Linda Wagner

Bridal Gown: Destiny’s Bride

What happens when a charming British chap marries his beautiful, long time love in the southeastern Côte d’Azur region of France?

Pure magic.

Lisa and Ben were married last Saturday in Antibes, France in what amounted to a true destination wedding for almost everyone involved. While Lisa was born in France {she speaks both perfect English and French}, she moved down the Caribbean island of Saint Martin with her Mom when she was two and has grown up surrounded by those amazing green waters, scuba diving and the relaxed island lifestyle. Whether it was destiny {my thinking} or simply good timing that drove Ben to St. Martin 9 years ago out of a desire for a change from his life in England, it has worked out quite well for them. Ben and Lisa knew they wanted their wedding to be on the French Riviera, as it has been one of their favorite vacation spots over the years and the sheer beauty of the locale made it a no brainer for them.

Their wedding was specifically at a cliff side villa in Juan les Pins (sort of like a ‘suburb’ of Antibes, but I don’t think you can refer to it as a suburb) which is nestled in the hills right above Antibes. For some geographical perspective, Antibes sits between Cannes (where Chris and I put down our roots for the week) and Nice, both of which are just a little west of Monaco. The old, original Roman town of Antibes was our favorite spot (or one of two favorites), and it where Lisa and Ben wanted to go to do all their bride and groom portraits, much to my sheer delight. It is what you might imagine when you think of France and the little towns with cobblestone streets, narrow alleys, lots of street side cafes, shops and Boulangeries. It was also here in Old Antibes {at La ‘Enoteca restaurant} where Chris and I had our very favorite meal of the entire trip, but I digress.

I feel so thankful that Lisa found and hired me to photograph her wedding in this amazing place. My husband and I decided to combine this destination wedding into a long-overdue vacation for us on the front end, so we spent the week before the wedding exploring the area, sitting on the beach, parasailing, eating good food, reading several books between us, and of course sleeping in…. but more on that later. I have a lot of personal photos to share from this trip, but let’s now get to the best part, which was their wedding. It’s safe to say this is the longest post in the history of my blog, despite the fact that I normally don’t like it when photographers post a gazillion images of one shoot or wedding, but I did try and post a wide variety. We took so many images that day that we filled all 50 gigs of compact flash cards, so there are just so many favs.

One more quick note about my husband Chris, who shot their wedding with me: he was a rockstar who got some fantastic images! This is not what he does by trade but he is actually quite a good photographer so I knew I could very safely count on him. But he even far exceeded my expectations and was a stellar second shooter. Now, if I can just get him to quit his day job…. just kidding ;-)

I ADORE these shoes. Must. find. these. And. buy. them.

Chris hung out with Ben while he was getting ready and got these 4 shots of him

Lisa flew in her favorite hair and makeup artist from the islands

Lisa’s adorable ring bearer (1-1/2 year old son of her best friend/maid of honor)

If you follow me, you know I always love a timeless, grainy black and white image of the bride getting ready

Chris snapped this of Lisa’s friend walking out the door – love it.

Ben works for Luxury Diamonds, so he knows his stuff :-)

Chris took this of Ben and his Mom, right before they walked down the aisle.

Lisa’s Great Uncle walked her down the aisle

Some ceremony moments. In France (maybe all of Europe?), they incorporate the signing of the marriage license into the actual ceremony itself, unlike here in America where couples typically sign it after the ceremony.

I loved this little series of them while their parents were signing the license

Hi.

Husband and wife!

Details, details

There is Antibes, down in the background

After the ceremony, we left for Old Antibes and spent about 45 minutes walking through the streets and alleys

Lisa is a model, so my job was really hard here ;-)

An outtake from Chris. The streets are indeed narrow!

I have such a thing for European doors

Lisa very wisely wore flip flops for all the walking portions of our bride and groom time … in case you were worried she was walking barefoot ;-)

Ben working his mojo.

Bottom left shot above by Chris – love it!

Chris’s angle below

I know this one is completely blurry, but I still like it.

Then we headed back to the villa for the reception…

A few more details

Little Kym wanted nothing to do with us until Chris gave him his iPhone. I guess they really are the universal child-attention-getters.

Another outtake Chris got of me

Chris’s angle below of these sweet moment during the toasts.

Another image Chris took during the toasts that I love love.

Some first dance moments

One of my favorite parts – they brought out the cake right before they cut it WITH SPARKLERS ON IT! How cool is that? I think some more American brides should try this tradition. It was such a cool way to present the cake and everyone came over to check it out.

Lisa requested a painting with light image so I attempted it. I’ve done this only once or twice just playing at home but this was a first for a wedding. Aside from the fact that the motion of Lisa moving her arm has rendered it completely gone in the image, I kind of dig it. They held small votive candles and I just kept the bulb open on the camera for the amount of time they drew the heart with their arms.

The grand finale, sparkler exit

Words cannot express what an amazing time Chris and I had photographing and being a part of your wedding Lisa and Ben. You guys are just awesome and make the perfect couple. Remember, drinks are on us if you ever make it to Arizona!

Now on to this SERIOUSLY ADORABLE couple. I photographed Tyeler and Zach’s engagement session right before I left and had hoped to get it blogged before we went to France, but I just simply ran out of time. Zach is an NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars (he plays tight end). Previous to that, he played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) where he met and fell in love with Tyeler. They now both live in Florida, but are getting married here in Paradise Valley, where Tyeler grew up, next spring. These two were just awesome at our shoot and it was so great getting to meet and know them a little. We started the shoot down in Tempe, and ended up here in Scottsdale at a local highschool down the street. Funnily enough, the varsity team had just finished practice when we arrived, and I definitely noticed a few guys eyeing Zach as if they definitely recognized him.

Dont they both have the best smiles?

I told Zach I would have to Photoshop in a Cornhuskers sign of some sort here :-)

Love this

Zach and Tyeler – can’t wait for your wedding! Thanks for such a fun shoot :-)

To read more about our photography workshops and all that you will learn, as well as to register for the one that best suits your needs, click here to visit the Create Better Images website.

BEGINNERS  WORKSHOP

WHEN:  Wednesday, August 4,  2010
Thursday, January  20, 2011
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM {Registration opens at 5:30 PM}

WHERE: 126 W. Main St.  Mesa, AZ 85201

COST:     $189 for the workshop ($159 early bird  before July 09, 2010 for the August workshop and early bird deadline of August 4, 2010 for the  January workshop.)

DETAILS: Click here to read the workshop overview. Credit cards accepted. Only 25 seats available.

* * * * *

INTERMEDIATE  WORKSHOP

WHEN:   Saturday, January 22, 2011
1:00 pm – 8:00 pm {Registration begins at 12:30 pm.}

WHERE: 126 W. Main St.  Mesa, AZ 85201

COST:     $379 for the workshop ($349 early bird  before August 4, 2010)

DETAILS: Click here to read about the intermediate workshop and to register. Credit cards accepted. Only 20 seats available.

While the rest of the country is in high wedding season right now, ours comes to a screeching halt. I still shoot a handful of portrait sessions during these summer months {no where near the quantity as in the spring and fall} but otherwise we are staying busy producing wedding albums, processing clients orders that continue to come in year round, working on my website {the never-ending project for me} and submitting weddings to publications.

I have one more engagement session blog post all ready to go before we leave for France this weekend. I’m photographing a wedding in Antibes, near Nice, France on the southern coast next weekend, so we are going to enjoy a little down time frolicking on the beaches, exploring the coastal villages, drinking wine, eating cheese, taking lots of photos and SLEEPING IN. I. cant. wait. The studio will be closed during this time; hopefully you understand if you try and reach me and it takes a few days to get back to you :-) We just need to unwind, disconnect and unplug (before shooting the wedding of course) so I wont be on email too much and definitely not answering the phone often.

In the meantime, I need to go jump back in the pool with my niece who is visiting and my daughter and spend some quality time with the kiddos before they leave with grandma. There is a cannonball competition I need to get in!

Here are a few very recent point-n-shoot pics of the kids. See you in a couple weeks with images from southern France. Happy summer all :-)

(Sony Cyber-shot waterproof camera)

Playing at Grandma’s up in Pinetop

Jordan and 3 of her cousins

The kids with friend’s children at lake Saguaro a couple weeks ago

Panoramic of the lake. Point-n-shoot

Jordan and her other cousin whose in visiting us now. They are swimming non-stop! Here is to being a kid again.

I also want to say a big thank you to my former bride Suzanne Dixon for her awesome quote she provided to the magazine! Ironically I had submitted their wedding some time ago and the chose one of the images from Suzanne & Mike’s gorgeous wedding last fall as their closing Bon Voyage page!

Congrats as well to some of my good photographer friends who had Real Weddings published – they know who they are :-)

Grandma & Grandpa with Ian, the star of the show

He was SO sweet and adorable

The boys. This might be one of my all time favorite family portraits now! This was one of Ian’s favorite things to do during our shoot, so the boys figured if you can’t get the finger out of the nose, then you may as well join the fun!

Anna Marie and her beautiful daughters-in-law

Anna Marie and Tony, married 40 years!

Their two sons with their families

Love, sweet love. In the end, it really is all that matters.

Matt and Ashley married each other last weekend in a ceremony full love. Like all weddings, there were moving moments, tender words and some happy tears shed. But these were their moments. Their uniqueness. Their families and friends surrounding and celebrating them. Looks shared between them that communicated so much respect and adoration.

Matt’s father shared a toast and story at the reception that so touched me….probably because I can relate to it. He said he had been thinking so much about Matt when he was a toddler and this adorable little dance he would do in the living room every night … and how fast it’s all gone by, and here is now getting married, and will soon likely have children of his own with Ashley … and how fast it will go, and how busy it will become when they are in the midst of it, and there will be so much that will feel so important along the way, like the long hours Matt works as a doctor and the jobs they will have and the other stuff of life that can seem so big at the time, but how none of THAT really matters because THAT is not what you will remember. It will be the small moments, like Matt as a toddler staying up too late at night because he wouldn’t sleep, doing this funny little dance in their small living room, with his binky in his mouth. Happy. To be up with his parents at that crazy hour.  And that made them happy. It is that which he remembers so perfectly and clearly all these years later…

That toast has stayed with me all week. Stories like this just reiterate to me why I love what I do so much. That I get to be in rooms filled with love, even if I am just a witness to it and documenter of it. I feel very blessed that I get to listen to so many loving words shared, and witness connections between human beings that affect them deeply, and share in these big days, these big moments.

Venue: Villa Sienna in Gilbert, Arizona

Event Coordinator, Cake & Florals – Thee Wedding Warehouse

Videography – My Wedding Film

Gorgeous!

Loved her beautiful bridal and bridesmaids bouquets

Ashley and Matt chose to wait to see each other until the ceremony….

Loved this series of Ashley’s dad giving her away to Matt

Dr. & Mrs. Marini!

She is so darn adorable!

The fun bridal party

One more of stunning Ashley

The ballroom at Villa Sienna is gorgeous

Their beautiful cake

Some first dance moments

Ashley and her Dad shared a touching first dance

I love this one

Matt and his mom shared a very moving first dance, that had several people in tears, including me

And especially these two…

I just like this one. It makes me happy.

I think “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey was playing at this point – the classic that still rallies every crowd

The guests getting ready for Ashley & Matt’s big send off

Love the feel of this one!

Thank you Ashley and Matt for sharing your beautiful wedding and allowing me to capture it for you!

{Thank you also to Joel Contreras and Cheryl Sexton for their help & shooting.}