This wedding was about my great aunt Barbara and her new husband Fred, but I’d like to think that my great uncle Frank was there as well, in spirit if not in body.

Frank was a pretty amazing guy.  When I was a kid, he and Barbara owned an almond farm in Modesto, and Frank taught me how to drive a tractor and an ATV, which was pretty much the most incredible thing in the world for an 8 year old boy.  He could also wiggle his ears.  Actually, FLAPPING would be the correct word. He was always smiling, always had a quick comeback, and was a genuinely good person.

He and Barbara were very active in their church, and when Frank was diagnosed with cancer, everyone just sort of pulled together.  Barbara and Frank’s friend Fred was there to help as well, being there for whatever was needed.  When Frank finally passed away, Fred was there then, too.  And then, after a time, Barbara and Fred fell in love, and got married at the church that meant so much to all of them.  And everyone came. Everyone who knew Barbara and Frank and Fred.  There were so many people there that they had to bring in extra chairs, and people were standing in the back and spilling out into the hall.

Because love crosses all boundaries, and is not hindered by time or experience or sickness.  Sometimes it’s a surprise, and sometimes it’s something that’s been there for years without anyone realizing.

To close, here are some famous words from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet about love:

Love gives naught but itself
and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is
in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”

And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

This post is Part 4 of a 4-part series. Read Part 1 – Read Part 2 – Read Part 3 – Read Part 4

After hanging out at Pacific Oaks for a while, wedding cake was on everyone’s mind, especially the bride’s. It was time to hop into the limo and go back to the reception site, aka their hotel room. The wedding cake was a vegan delight from local vegan supplier Black China Bakery. As soon as the cake had been cut and shoved playfully into the appropriate mouths, Jill declared the photographers and the stylist to be officially off the clock.

Of course, we didn’t want to stop taking pictures. It’s hard to stop clicking when things are still happening! Jill was fairly strict about this though, so we don’t have as many photos to show from the last part of the day. She wanted to make sure we ate enough cake, and later, enough tasty vegan food at Malabar. The wedding dinner was enormous. We lost count of the courses, we were brought so many. At last we were able to relax and chat with Jill and Chase, and with Jill G. the stylist, who took out her own camera to show us photos featuring her incredible horror-film-style makeup skills. Have I said that Jill G. is awesome? If so, I must say it again. Jill G. is awesome.

As we ate ourselves into a coma, we finally heard the whole story of how Jill and Chase got together. This information is usually elicited long before the wedding, but what with one thing and another, we never got around to interrogating them about this. The tale was worth waiting for, and one befitting these two. It was full of secret longing, and fate, and explosions, and astroturf, and it could only end with the words happily ever after.

Thank you, Jill and Chase! Come back to Santa Cruz soon for another Malabar dinner, a walk in the woods, maybe a vegan donut or two…

This post is part 3 of a 3-part series. Read part 1 – Read part 2 - Read part 3

This fabulous couple’s wedding reception was held at 515 in Santa Cruz. Talk about a challenge for these photographers! It was dark in there. I couldn’t have gotten the shots I did without the Lightscoop, a small, inexpensive piece of equipment that made it possible to shoot in those dim rooms without the awful results that happen with forward-facing flash.

The newlyweds treated us to an hauntingly sweet duet, with Peter playing the guitar and both of them singing. They claimed that this duet would replace their first dance, but then they gave us a sort of first dance anyway, and everyone was utterly charmed by them for the hundredth time that day. Here are 32 (!!) photos of the first evening of their married lives.

As a special bonus, I’ve included another behind-the-scenes Red Bat shot, about halfway down in this post. It’s Patrick, helping to test the lighting in the area where we expected the first dance to be. By dancing with an invisible partner. Because at Red Bat Photography, we know how to use our imaginations.

Hooray for Crystal and Peter!!