Category: Weddings

Mac and Lisa had a wonderful wedding in the Inland Empire here in Southern California.  They are both EMTs, so I knew they would be able to handle the stress of a wedding better than the average couple.  These two just couldn’t take their eyes off each other the whole time!   It turned to be a beautiful wedding, with a truly unique mix of cultures and families.

I had two tag-team second shooters (both of my original second shooters got sick at the last moment), so thanks to the [b] school, I found Hanssie Trainor and Paige Green.  These two did a great job, and really saved the day.

I’ve put some thoughts about the new Canon 5D Mark II at the end of this blog post, for us photographer geeks.

The slideshow is available here: http://christopherwrenphoto.com/slideshows/carillo/

I really enjoyed the day, here are a few of my favorites:

(yes, the makeup lady was wearing a guitar hero plastic guitar the whole time, she was a riot!)

She had some kickin’ red shoes!

The opted to have a first look, and I really love how it turned out.  It was completely dark after the ceremony, so we got the good light before the ceremony.

What a stunning bride.  The next two shots were taken by Hanssie Trainor.

How about this fun shot from Paige Green?

The reception had a “Christmas” theme, and the kids were cuter than ever.  Paige got the shot below on the right.

Mac (the groom) actually removed the garter with his teeth!  What a stud.

Thanks guys so much for making me a part of your big day!  I hope these photos give you memories for a lifetime. -Christopher Wren

For all the photographers, here are my thoughts about the 5D Mark II:  My first 5D Mark II arrived with not one, but THREE major manufacturing defects, and I had to exchange it for a new one.  Other than that, once I got a working model, I was really impressed.  I shot this wedding with an old 5D on an R-Strap, and my 5D mark II around my neck.  The 5D Mark II with my 50mm F1.4 was able to get consistent, clean results at ISO 6400, which I pretty much can’t live without now.  To see how it performs, most of the non-flash reception shots were taken with the (broken) 5D Mark II, mostly at ISO 6400.  The mark II’s focus seems to be more accurate, and is definitely peppier in terms of squeezing out more shots per second and writing them to the card (although I filled up card faster due to the large file size).  The amazing new screen allows you to get much better feedback on focus and exposure (although it gets gunked up easily), and shooting in “live view” is so much more convenient for certain situations.  The build quality is a step up; it feels like a very solid camera.  I would highly recommend it to any serious photographer who doesn’t already own a 5D.  The upgrade from the original 5D is only worth it if you shoot in super low light often, or if you “need” the video or HUGE RAW files, or if you just want to be noticed in public.  I took it to Disneyland the other day and heads were turning!  I really like the different sRAW + jpg levels as well, since I don’t want to deal with 21MB filesizes.  The video feature is really fun, but focusing is a pain.  I’ll need to practice with it a ton before I can do videos reliably.  All that to say, I love it!  Come try to pry it from my Kung Fu grip.

I have been hearing so many good things about KISS wedding albums that I decided to finally give them a try.  Jason and Kara’s wedding was back in September, and they were one of the most efficient (and awesome) couples I’ve worked with in the album design process.  We are crossing our fingers that they will get their album by Christmas!  I’ve posted a slideshow of the final album design, for you to enjoy.  The album is 8″ x 8″, which is great for portability and storage.  I’ll post some photos when it arrives, and I hope to get an interview of their reactions when I go drop it off.  What can I say, it’s my favorite part of the whole process, to see a client’s first reaction to the album they will hang on to for the rest of their lives.  Click on the image below to see the slideshow (it’s only 1 minute long):

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to be with Jason and Kara on their big day, and what a day it was!  I was amazed at how calm this couple was even when things didn’t go according to plan.  But then again, who expects that the groom will get a bloody nose during the ceremony!  This was one of the fanciest homemade weddings I’d ever seen, with originality and class at every turn.  I had a great time you guys, thanks for inviting me to be a part of it all.  I heard about this through my pal Jasmine Star’s blog, who did their amazing engagement portraits.  They had their ceremony at Waverly Chapel in Santa Ana, and the reception was in a huge backyard in Yorba Linda.  I didn’t know Orange County had such big backyards! I also had Tira J with me as a second shooter, and you can go to her blog to see her perspective on the day.  The groom, Jason, is the guy behind ShowIt‘s amazing customer service, and in his honor I used not less than THREE of their software products in the making of this blog post (ShowIt borders, Lightroom Brilliant Settings, and ShowIt Web Pro), and my main website is made with their groundbreaking new website tool/service, ShowIt sites.  Their tools save me tons of time and help me showcase my work for you all to enjoy!

Ok, ok, enough of the infomercial, on to the photos…

A fun bunch of bridesmaids.

The back-to-the-future style door on the stretch hummer was just the icing on the cake.

These guys had one of the most romantic First Look sessions I’ve ever seen.  Who says it’s not romantic to see each other before the wedding??  I get a lump in my throat every time I see these photos.

Probably my all-time favorite church shot.  You’d think this was in Scotland, but you’d be wrong.

I was using the Canon 50mm F1.2L for most of the day, and I will likely break out the piggy bank for this level of tastiness in background blur:

We had to do the groomsmen photos a little later, but they turned out pretty original.

The guests surprised the bride and groom during the first dance by lighting up sparklers, it was unreal to be in the middle!  The song “Lucky” was being played, and anytime I hear that song I’m taken back to this moment:

I set up my version of the “Crazybooth” saw so excellently executed by Nate at theblogisfound.  Look at the slideshow for more craziness.

Click on the play button below to see the slideshow (it takes a minute to load, but it’s worth it).  I had to use a live recording of this song due to copyright reasons, so there is some cheering and such in the background.

Thanks so much for looking!!!  Leave a comment if you enjoyed these.