The Contreras Wedding

JittersLet’s start with Thursday of last week where we joined the bridal party for the rehearsal and dinner. It took place where they were having the wedding, so that was nice and straight forward. Unfortunately, some of the most important people, like the priest and any coordinators, were not there so the beginning was a little chaotic. Once things were sorted out, we all headed out to a chinese restaurant where we ate some really good food buffet-style. At this point, Heyzen was really starting to get the jitters.

IMG_0007 The next morning, Juan still had to take care of some errands but the plan was to make it to his parent’s place and make that the meeting spot for the groom and the groomsmen. Juan’s plan was to be Heyzen’s driver for the day, and after much organizing and shuffling of cars, we ended up parking at the couple’s new apartment and driving their rental for the day so that we could drive them home after the wedding. So some of the boys hung out at Juan’s and waited for it to be time to start to get ready. The heat was starting to wear people down and nobody wanted to get ready. I didn’t blame them, they were going to wear black tuxedos with black shirts on a hot day. But before they got ready, Heyzen gave them all a little thank you for being his groomsmen – letter opening katanas. LMAO. SO funny and cool! Here they are playing and posing with them.

IMG_0017So OK, the time had come, Heyzen needed to start getting ready. The butterflies were starting to really fly around and he was getting really nervous. “I’m getting married” kept coming out of his mouth in disbelief like it had to oh so many grooms before him. He went to the car, grabbed his tux and when he sat on the couch, he read a letter from his bride and the waterworks for the day started. Just what he needed, that reminder of why they had gone through all the trials and tribulations of planning a wedding. What he needed to calm those damn butterflies down. So he began to put on his tux and before we knew it, it was showtime.

We got to Amansor Court where the ceremony and reception were being held at. The ceremony would be outside, in a gazebo by the pond. We kept joking that a golf ball (this was a golf course) would make its way over and knock either the bride or the groom out. It was beautiful and great weather in the late afternoon. I was taking pictures like crazy and made myself very comfortable as the photographer, despite the fact that there already was a wedding photographer. I offered to Heyzen to take photos of him and his day as he got ready since usually, only the bride gets those photo ops. He was cool with it and I told him that I would need his camera since mine was nowhere near as good. So all the photos in the wedding set (minus the rehearsal) are from his camera. As the day progressed, it became obvious that not only was I going to take photos of him getting ready, but that I would take photos for the rest of the day, which I didn’t mind one bit. The drawback was that I was learning to use it as the day went along and unfortunately, there were times when it overexposed the image and I had no idea it had done that. It was automatic, and I am sure that there was some setting I could have messed around with, but I didn’t have the time to look even if I had noticed the problem. It was fun though, playing photog and switching from a wide angle lens to a zoom lens even if it was cumbersome because I didn’t have the right kind of bag to carry it around in. Anywho, the ceremony was lovely and instead of one photo, let me bombard you with a few highlights.

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The ceremony was immediately followed by appetizers at the reception hall on site, and the photo shoot. I will only bombard you with a couple of my favorite shots (there are 575 photos total in the entire set!). I do want to say, however, that since the paid photographer was setting this up, I merely piggy backed and took a few shots because I knew that her shots should come out better.
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The reception was a heck of a lot of fun. Nothing can compete with hanging out with your best friends and being happy that two of them are enjoying the best day of their lives. Seriously. We were all really happy and danced the night away. We just kept looking at each other, smiling and telling each other how awesome it was. My recap has gotten to the point where all I want to do is show you pictures because they are so much funner than me talking about it.
ORALE CHUSMA!

So plastered. So fun!

[info]majorxero

  became majorhappydrunk (and he wasn’t the only one) and some of my favorite photos of the night were of him or with him. (Dude, check yourself out here.) It was just awesome and I really practically forgot that I was sick because for the first time in a week, I had the semblance of a voice. So I didn’t take care of myself and danced, sang, and partied like there was no tomorrow. Boy did I pay for it the next morning before hitting the hay (at around 4am). At that point, I thought there would be no tomorrow. I ended up needing the rest of the weekend to recover.

And around midnight, the party was over and it was time to drive the newlyweds home. For the first time, they were going to sleep in their own bed and wake up the next morning together, in their own place. I remember how wonderful it felt to not have to say good bye at the end of a night. We were so happy for them

Going home

Through the Threshold


For reference, the whole photo set can be found here. If you have a ton of time, you may also wish to see it in slideshow format. And chusma, et al, please remember to comment if taking any photos, and credit where credit is due! 😉


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Anitza is a huge geek and loves everything from androids to zombies.

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