I've been in California for a few weeks. If you didn't know, I'm from California. I grew up in the Bay Area and I love being out here whenever I can. We arrived on my 5th anniversary. We drove out here from Colorado (crazy hu?) but we love road trips. It gives us personal time minus tv, cell phones and other distractions. We also checked out some amazing places along the way including Bryce Canyon, Utah which is stunning. It was just the 3 of us and the open road, and our good friend who hitched a ride with us to LA.
We decided to spend the whole month of July out here with a few days into August. We wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary where we were married and then my 30th birthday. Then the following weekend was my sisters wedding (which was AMAZING btw!) and the next two weekends I'm photographing two weddings, one in Sonoma and one in San Francisco. Crazy times for sure. Some fun, some work and some quality time with family and friends. I miss my bed and life on the road has been crazy with a toddler but, Finn is rather adaptable and loves traveling, two traits I hope he keeps as he grows up. Blogging from the road proves to be a challenge, so I apologize for not staying up to date with posts.
These photos are a few instagram cell phone pics from my sister's wedding rehearsal and wedding. I didn't bring my camera to the wedding... which was really hard for me but completely intentional. It was really weird being at a wedding without my trusty Nikon friend. My sister hired an awesome photographer and being the Matron of Honor, I had to stay focused on things like; my speech, getting my 21 month old ring bearer down the aisle gracefully, making sure my best man mister looked sharp and taking care of my sister on her special day. (A funny side note the wedding party had three wedding photographers and three coordinators including the bride and groom! That's a lot of industry folk.)
They had a "no-facebook" policy at the wedding which I think is brilliant. There are so many times I photograph a wedding and get home that night to see one of their friends post a not-so-flattering or poor resolution cell phone photo... tagged by their friends and announcing them as husband and wife. While this seems like a very innocent and fun thing to do, many brides want control over how they're announced as husband and wife to the internet and their friends online. For my sister and brother-in-law they wanted to have their photographer to be the one to post a professional photo first. I thought it was a smart thing to do. When I was married facebook was a baby and it wasn't connected to our cell phones like it is today... listen to me, "in my day..." lol. I guess when you turn 30 you can say things like that. I think a no-insta-facebook rule is great for brides and grooms who want to announce their union on their own. Another great reason is it keeps people off of their phones and focused on the day, a great reminder to stay present, and to hang out with the people around you and not the ones online. My sister thinks of everything, she's really amazing!
Speaking of my sister thinking of everything, I think she planned the most amazing wedding ever. She recently became a certified wedding coordinator and it showed. I was blown away by the details, vendors and venue she chose. She created an amazing world to get married in, it was incredibly beautiful and perfectly showcased her and Aj's love. I will be asking for her advice (like I do about everything anyway) when I plan my 10th anniversary. We took this last one the day after their wedding before we left southern California. I always have a hard time when it's time to say goodbye, and wish to stay longer regardless of the length of our trip. I'm working on a light-speed-traveling-portal between CA and CO for this reason, I'll keep everyone posted. :)
Congratulations Christine and Aj, The Grays LOVE you!
Love and Light,
Heather
ps. If you'd like to follow my instagram adventures you can find me at heathergrayphoto. Please stop by and say hello!
And we love the Grays! Thank you for the beautiful post :)
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