It’s a puertorrican tradition for the bride to help prepare the grandmother, and I just love how touching it was to watch Maria carefully applying the makeup for her beautiful grandmother.

When we entered Maria’s old bedroom in her mother’s home, I was just floored by the beautiful setup.  Her entire room seemed to match her wedding style.  I love when couples choose a wedding style which perfectly represents their personal style and personalities, and that is seen so perfectly in the match of Maria’s home bedroom with their wedding.  This is the window in her bedroom and the perfect display of her wedding apparel that was set up when I entered:

The belt and the veil were made, with love (as she said) by Maria’s mother, Denisse.

Grandmother Yolanda’s cross:

Pendant for her bouquet:

Maria asked if she could take a picture with her pup, and I was thrilled she was willing to hold her in her dress, so we got a couple adorable images– Maria & her pup and her sister with hers!

Here is Brittany with her husband, who you may recall from January:

And some adorable family shots:

So we have to start off with a perfect family portrait:

And my attempt to squeak a toy so they’d look at me backfired a little…

And, after dropping off the mutts, we had even more fun…

Gravity at work.  Leads from this:

to this:

So silly!

The light was pretty much gone at this point, but we just had to get some images with the fountain and Jemma’s amazing dress!

Lisa was so adorable and made her own bouquet and boutonniere for the session… did an amazing job!

FAVORITE:

Finally getting around to blogging the rest of Arin & Nick’s warm and lightspirited wedding.

After their Ceremony, Arin and I had planned on photographing her giving Nick his gift, a journal she had written since the weekend she first realized she wanted to marry him… which is SUCH an incredible story of him taking care of her family during an extremely difficult time.

We had our own private Trolley so were able to then drive around to a couple locations.  The trolley driver kept commenting on what wonderful spirits Arin and Nick had… he really couldn’t help it with how radiant they were!  ;)

We went onto a hill outside the Fort, and it cracked us up because a huge group of kids started blowing bubbles on them!  This is a little blooper to remember it by.  ;)

One of my FAVORITES for the day:

Their Table Cards were so adorable!  ”Love” in various languages.  :)

Arin is so incredible.  Her ONLY special request for photos was of the kids’ table and them coloring.  ;)

I think crazy dancing is just absolutely innate in kids… and often crazy rolling on head dancing, too!

Nick’s gift to Arin, in the front of this image, was something he had given her also years ago near the beginning of their relationship.  He had sent her a beautiful love note in a bottle, filled with some hearts and other adorable goodness, on a custom scroll paper he had ordered.  The morning of their wedding, he sent up a tray of mimosas with a new note (and the old one) together in the bottle.

Arin’s gift to Nick, in the back of the image, was a journal of their time together, ever since the weekend she realized she was going to marry this man.  She had been writing in it for years, even having to fib a little about where she was going in the last year when they were together constantly so that she could pull off keeping it updated!  You’ll see his reaction to it later in the day, but she was writing today’s entry soonafter I showed up in the morning.

I instantly loved that they had focused on the emotional meaning of these items rather than just buying something with a pricey tag for each other.  And of course the story of the weekend Arin realized she was going to be staying with Nick, forever, also made me cry (involving a hardship in the family and Nick taking care of her as well as cooking and being so nurturing for her family).  They have just an incredible, romantic relationship.

Something old:

Arin was such a sport here.  I asked if she wanted to jump up so I could get a portrait with her whole dress, and she totally braved it!

It was really windy and the candles were having some issues, which of course they turned into such a funny moment!

You’ll have to come back soon to see their gorgeous portraits and reception!

Like most couples, throughout the day Arin & Nick were beaming over with happiness.  Even the trolley driver was commenting to me about how happy and free spirited they were, not stressed or worrying at all.  Completely genuine, and open.  He was baffled when they asked to also grab a picture with him, obviously so impressed by their warmth.

Less than an hour into the Reception at the Casa Monica in St. Augustine, there was a small fire upstairs.  Of course we didn’t know at first, just that the fire alarms all went off.  As we evacuated, I made sure they wanted me to document it rather than being upset, and they laughed as said it was kind of funny, so to go ahead.

I took photos of the guests as they exited, and they all had to laugh at the situation.  Rather than becoming upset, Arin and Nick used the opportunity to happily socialize with everyone outside.  It was perfect weather and perfect lighting, and we even took the opportunity to take some portraits with the fire trucks.  :)

WEDDING VENDORS:

Feel free to repost.  ;)

Yes, that is a magical mystery glass cover.  It’s a plexiglass panel that shows the first page under it.  You then open it and see the first image.  :)

Yeah, I’m a tease.  ;)