Josh & Alexis’s Santa Barbara Wedding

As I was preparing this blog post going through Josh and Alexis’s images from Santa Barbara I found myself getting pretty emotional. The reality is that being a part of their wedding was a huge gift for me and I was struck again by the sheer magnitude of what “getting married” really means. On the one side, Josh has been one of the greatest encouragements and advocates of my photography. When I was first considering jumping into the wedding photography world full time, he was extremely generous with his time, talent and wisdom. He allowed me to tag along on his shoots, ask him questions, and critique my images. He offered to let me borrow his (expensive!) lenses and came along to second shoot for me for virtually nothing. He continues to inspire me with the way he sees light and composition, models artistic excellence, and displays business acumen and willingness to learn from others even after he has been in the business for much longer than most photographers I know.

On the other side of my emotional coin, this day wasn’t about photography. This day was about a guy who madly fallen in love with a girl, and together decided that they want to spend the rest of their lives together. About friends, family, community, and maybe more than anything else, about commitment. Laughter, and lots of it, filled the day. As I observed Josh, I was reminded of what it was like for me to get married. I remembered the jitters, the wide-eyed emotion of seeing my bride for the first time, and the thrill of realizing that everyone around me was celebrating the fact that I had just made the biggest decision of my life.  Josh and Alexis will spend the rest of their lives together. I can’t think of a better “first day of the rest of your life” than this one. Congrats, and love to you both.

Smiles and style. Between the bird-cage veil and the sheer amount of laughter that was running through the room, Alexis had both in bunches. The bridesmaids were all jumping up and down with excitement as Alexis went to meet Josh for their “first look.”
But they weren’t half excited as these two. So hot. Rawr. Like I said, they couldn’t stop laughing… Not sure which I love more, the bow-tie or the birdcage veil? I think somewhere between the next two I stopped for a second and was his by the fact that Josh just got hitched!