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

Scott and Lindsey got married! It happened back in July. You might remember them from this post about their engagement shoot. They were legally wed in Felton, at the Felton Guild. I’d never shot a wedding there before and was intrigued by the location. Ceremonies are held inside something they call the Redwood Cathedral. This was one of my favorite ceremony venues so far. Pledging eternal, undying love in the middle of a grove of tall trees, with the light filtering down through the leaves? Sign me up! (Theoretically, I mean. Please don’t sign me up.)

The girls-getting-ready room (conveniently located mere yards from the Redwood Cathedral) had two large mirrors, perfect for shooting a lot of people putting on their makeup in a tiny space. I didn’t see the boys-getting-ready room but I doubt they had, or needed, two large mirrors. In the shots below, we see, once again, the difference between female and male reality during wedding preparations. While the girls are steaming silk dresses and engaging in complicated hair rituals, the boys are jumping around, playing games like “Catch The Groom” and “Who Has The Coolest Shoes?” (a hands-down win for Scott) and generally feeling carefree. Some consider this difference unfair but I think it depends on what you like to do with your time. If you like the challenge of making your eyeshadow match your gown, you might find things boring in the groom’s room, where I hear they often resort to fiddling with their smartphones as they wait for the main event.

If you don’t like the role to which your gender is consigned, you might be able to switch to the other side for the big day. It happened at this very wedding we are discussing right now: Lindsey had a male bridesmaid. I wasn’t totally floored by this shocking innovation, because Keith (of Kimma and Keith) had a female groomsman. I’m all for gender integration among the ranks of the pastel-gowned and boutonniere-clad. Species integration is fabulous too, and here again Lindsey and Scott showed themselves to be at the forefront of wedding culture with their choice of a ringbearer, rejecting the traditional adorable child in favor of a Golden Retriever.

While we are on the subject of animals, notice the avian motif in some of these photos. Besides all the gorgeous fake birds hanging about, there were also bird water whistles for guests to blow when the bride and groom exited as husband and wife. Lindsey had a genius decorating team, and I wish I could remember who they were- I seem to recall an aunt being involved. That is the problem with not writing these blog posts right away. I forget so many details.

The next post after this one will cover the reception. Birds will appear there too. Birds won’t be directly featured in the third post but a certain airborne theme will prevail. Just you wait. It’s going to be glorious.

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

Welcome to 2010! Happy New Year! (Yeah, I know it’s already February, but at least our first post of the year is in time for the Chinese New Year, right?) Things have been busy in Red Bat World. Photos have been processed, couples have been bonded in matrimony, various events have been thoroughly documented, terrifyingly large prints have been made for a bridal expo. Vast quantities of fun and work have occurred in approximately equal amounts.

Let’s go back to 2009, to the day that Jill and Chase got married. Some of you already know about this: Jill and Chase wanted a wedding with no guests, and they wanted it to be in Santa Cruz. That’s right, no guests at all! Just the officiant, the photographers, and the stylist. Before the wedding day, they drove from their home near Los Angeles several times to pick the perfect location, line up all the details, and of course, have a Red Bat engagement session. To read about (and see photos of) their engagement session, click here.

We knew that photographing a wedding with no guests would be an unusual experience. No crowd to infiltrate, no list of people to follow and try to capture without being obnoxious. What would this day be like, we wondered? What would our future be… No, wait, those are lyrics from The Sound of Music. Oops! (That happens to me sometimes.) Back to the subject at hand.

Of course it wasn’t really true that there were no guests, because WE were the guests, along with the highly talented stylist, Jill G. By this point in our relationship with Jill and Chase, we considered them to be good friends, so it felt quite natural to attend their wedding. In fact, the whole idea seemed totally normal by the time the day arrived, just part of the love story that is Jill and Chase together. It was a little bit like a wedding-themed photoshoot, but it was as serious as any other wedding. It was a day of solemn ceremonies, but it was also casual and full of jokes.

And because there were no guests, we were able to focus completely on the bride and groom and hundreds of details we wouldn’t have time to capture at a regular wedding.

This post has some of our favorite getting ready shots. For Chase, getting ready meant arriving at the venue before Jill and putting together a canopy he’d made especially for their ceremony. Chase is quite handy with a blowtorch. For Jill, getting ready meant achieving total perfection in hair and makeup, and boy was it worth it: there was absolutely no retouching required on her photos. Patrick followed Chase and watched him construct the canopy, while I hung around the two Jills (Jill the bride and Jill G. the stylist) and captured the process of making the bride even more beautiful than she usually is.

In case you’re wondering, Jill’s getting-ready, as well as the reception, happened at the Scotts Valley Hilton. The wedding itself took place at Pacific Oaks Vineyard Estate.

There are a lot of photos in this post, but if all has gone as I planned, they’ve all finished loading now that you’ve reached the end of the words. Enjoy, and make sure you look for photos of the Jill and Chase ceremony and reception in posts to come…