Well, here it is folks. Thanks for waiting patiently. I have put off blogging this wedding for a LONG time now and it is finally here. I have put it off because it is so hard to describe a destination wedding in detail. If you were not there you do not know what it felt like exactly (how soaking wet we all were, how fun the dancing got late into the night, funny things that happened around the resort etc). I know that is the purpose of photography, but words truly cannot describe the fun week that we all spent together at the Four Seasons in Punta Mita, Mexico!

I am going to be completely honest in saying that we do not take every destination wedding client that comes our way. It is a HIGHLY personal experience to go on a trip with a group of people you barely know for almost a week. In fact, it would be miserable to go with clients that you didnt feel like you hit it off with. Yes, we can take pretty images of anyone but the time spent together over the course of a week is WAY different than a local wedding. Some clients choose for us to stay elsewhere and just come and photograph the important things and some clients hire us for everything during the trip. Yes, it is amazing to be paid to go on a ridiculous trip to photograph it…. BUT it really takes a unique relationship with the couple and their family and friends to really accept you into their lives for that long.

I was a bit nervous when I first met Kylie and her sweet mom, Pamela. I am the type of person that when I meet you I immediately invite myself to be your best friend (pretty much whether you like it or not) So if you arent into that kind of thing, I am definitely not the photographer for you :) Kylies dad is Marc Heitz, and I kind of thought he was a big deal :) I mean, he is a big deal… but you will never meet a kinder soul. This man was like my dad for the week! He hugged me more times in the duration of the weekend then I think my husband did (jk) and told us how appreciative he was of my husband and I for capturing his daughters memories SO many times. He is such a fun and kind person! We love their entire family SO much!

When my husband and I start the week we are normally pretty close to the couple by then because we have photographed their engagement and bridals but we do not know any of their family and friends AT ALL. We start the week as the “outsiders” and on the first day the family and friends kind of tiptoe around us because they do not know who we are and why we are there. HOWEVER by the end of the week we are most always completely immersed as one of their friends and super sad to say goodbye. We danced, folks. (That doesnt happen) We drank mojitos, folks.. (also doesnt happen) we laughed, we cried, we fell completely in love with this family and their close friends. It was an awesome experience.

Kylie is a blog stalking, wedding obsessed, style aficionado, of all things WEDDING. In fact, she loves weddings SO much she found a way to basically have three of them. You can see her official (and adorable) tiny ceremony at OU HERE, the wedding in Mexico below, and you just wait for the amazing-ness that was her home reception at Cobblestone…. seriously… just you wait! When we met for our consultation she already knew what she wanted, who she wanted as her vendors, and had been planning this day her entire life. SO….. who in the WORLD would dream about their destination wedding on the beach being RAINED out? Seriously. When we arrived in Punta Mita Mexico we were told of the upcoming hurricane. I would never in a million years think that I would shoot a wedding in a hurricane.

Kylie wanted a wedding that was like no other, and let me just say that it was! I was SO proud of her for not freaking out (I am not even a bridezilla type person but I was kind of wanting to freak out for her) When the resort coordinator told her that the reception would have to be moved indoors because of the rain and people started scrambling to move things… this is every brides nightmare, right? Kylie was FREAKING awesome and said that she came out here to get married on the beach, and married on the beach she was going to be. Jace and I grabbed our cameras and photographed the pretty centerpieces, frames and flowers in the pouring down rain before they took it all inside. The rain had moved to a drizzle when the ceremony started and by the end was a outright downpour. The resort had a sweet little woman walk around with me with an umbrella and a towel so that I could keep my gear at least somewhat dry. (I added a pic of me and my sweet little Mexican friend) After the ceremony we were SOAKING wet. I wish we had taken a picture of my husband and I because we looked SO bad. SO BAD. I held one of my cameras under a towel and had to keep wiping the rain drops off of my lenses after each shot. IT WAS PURE NUTS. Nuts, I tell you…. I was actually surprised at how much you cannot tell how hard it was raining in most of the pics. You can see it really well in their kiss picture of the ceremony. We laughed so hard about how unique, unplanned, and awesome getting married in a hurricane turned out to be! Honestly, I would not trade it for the world! Kylie had the wedding like NO OTHER.

SO… we will start with images from the Mexican fiesta rehearsal dinner, then wedding day, inside reception and then the day after session. Sometime next week I will post Kylies amazing home reception planned by the amazing talent of Lindsay Gibson, Abbey Road Catering and Poppy Lane Design.

Whew! That was a LOT of images to post!