The beauty and magic of a 12 hour wedding day. Today I’m blogging my last wedding of 2018, yes a 12 hour wedding here in Orange County. The lovely couple is Katie and Steve, two love birds from Idaho. Well Steve is actually a local to the Orange County area while Katie is from Idaho. I believe Steve moved up to the Idaho area due to his work and met Katie and began to have a lovely relationship.

 

My day started at 7am with capturing the getting ready photos. This is one of the earliest wedding day start times for me I’ve had in over 10 years of photographing wedding. But while it was early, I’m a professional and it might as well have been 4pm because I prepare for a wedding day the same way. 

 

The getting ready location was the Springhill Suites in Huntington Beach which is right across from the Bella Terra shopping center. This happens to be a brand new hotel, very modern and beautifully decorated with plenty of light and a perfect place for any wedding bride or groom to get ready. The weather was cold, it may have been in 40’s° which is freezing for Southern Californians but very comfortable for Idahoans. 

Katie was such a beautiful bride, she was a little bit emotional reading a lovely note card from her groom and soaking in what was going but nonetheless I saw her very lighthearted, very humorous with her bridesmaids. It felt like she was in a dorm on some campus having a lot fun with her girl friends and immediate fam. 

 

The Catholic ceremony took place at St. Barbara’s in Santa Ana. I would call this a semi-modern Catholic Church with ample window light, open air which was great because some Catholics churches can be dark and they’ll restrict the use of flash but not the case with St. Barbara. They also had no restrictions for me walking the aisles which I took full advantage of by photographing from as many angles as possible, capturing the realness of the ambiance, the couple and all of their guests while at the same time having a respect for the ceremony. 
 
After the ceremony we took a break from all the activities, this is a custom in many Asian family weddings and we would resume at 3 o’clock at the Huntington Beach Central Park for the wedding party photos and for the family formals. 
 
The wedding reception took place at the Furiwa Restaurant in Garden Grove. The decor was very elegant with walls fully draped in luxurious fabric with pink uplights adding color making the scene feel romantic. The couple had also set a welcome area for photos with their guests. The florist did a wonderful job arranging the backdrop which I used with my extern light set up with a flash and umbrella which created studio quality photos. This is also a great tradition in Asian family weddings. 
 
The reception events were very lively starting with the grand entrance, speeches, and dances. The over 20 course meals were savory and delightful as was the later snack additions of Dunkin Donuts. With over 1400 photos from all day’s events, the couple is going to relive this, they’re “Best Day Ever” for a long time to come. 

 

Congratulations & best wishes for love & happiness for your new life together!