Oh! How we love wedding vows! Apart from the bridal march, the couple’s exchange of wedding vows is one of the highlights of the ceremony. Tears, laughters, and smiles fill the face of the bride when she hears the marital vow from her groom’s lips, and vice-versa. This photo of the bride will forever remain a preserved memory of that touching moment during the wedding.
We salute the wedding photographer behind this image for capturing that genuine facial expression of the bride as she listens to the groom’s vow. You can easily surmise from this photo that the groom is reciting his wedding vow because the bride is looking straight into his eyes, listening intently to every word he says.
The challenge in wedding photography is how you will capture the genuine reaction of the bride or groom without making the subject feel uncomfortable as you take his or her photo. Another challenge is how to take a shot where the bride or groom still looks great despite being emotional, because an emotional face does not always look flattering.
But if you look at this photo, it has the best of both worlds. The bride looks so beautiful here and her genuine emotion was captured as well. The black and white setting also helped a lot in shifting the focus to the bride’s expression alone.
The wedding day story ... Santa Barbara Wedding Photography: I rounded out my 2014 wedding season with a very special wedding on October 4th - a destination wedding in the place where my photography career began - beautiful Santa Barbara! Not only that, but the bride, Valeska, is one of my very nearest and dearest friends, who I met in my years in CA over 10 years ago.
It was 2001- I had just started photography school at the Brooks Institute of Photography; Valeska had just moved to Santa Barbara from Germany with her boyfriend, Jonas, who was also attending Brooks. Jonas and I had classes together and became friends and I first met Valeska through him. Valeska and I quickly became buddies and started taking walks on the beach together with Cheyenne. Valeska was my favorite go-to model at the time whenever I needed someone to help me with a school project. It turned out we also had another friend/couple in common and our history would keep us connected over the years. My old boss turned knew Valeska too and between the two of them, I have been returning to Santa Barbara every year since I left. The first time I met Nelson, I instantly loved him! He is funny and talented and sweet and smart and warm and silly…I could go on… but really it’s all just to say that I knew right away that Valeska had found her #1 man.
Their wedding ceremony and reception were hosted at Orella Ranch on a beautiful day where a family from Germany and a family from Alaska came together on the mountain top to celebrate the union of their common thread. My incredibly talented friend, Jessica Van Pelt, drove up from San Diego to photograph with me and we had an amazing time and were able to capture some of the most beautiful moments.
I am so honored that Valeska and Nelson wanted me to be the one to capture this day for them, but also that I was able to be a guest at their celebration! I love my job, I love my friends, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for the world. I wish you both a lifetime of love, adventure, and laughter together.
Location: 12750 Calle Real Goleta, California.
Keywords: Orella Ranch (2).Copyright © Frances Photography 2023
