This is a wedding that I’ve been very anxious to share with everyone.  I think once you see the pictures, you’ll understand why.

A few months back while out with some friends here in downtown Milwaukee, I ran into Nathan at a fairly late point in the night.  Nathan and I have known each other for a long time; we played basketball together back in 2nd grade but went to separate schools growing up until we both attended UW-Oshkosh.  He’s always been a friend of mine but over time, we’ve lost track of each other.  When I ran into him that night, he told me he was engaged and that him and fiancee were running off to Mexico to get married.  “You do wedding photography, don’t you?!  Come to Mexico with us!”  How could I decline an offer like that?  Pam (who at this point, I had still not met) called me a few days later to make sure I was serious about coming and minutes later my ticket was booked.

Going into the week I was fairly nervous but very excited.  Here I was, going to spend 5 days in Mexico with 70 people that I barely knew.  Was I going to be the creepy photographer that ate all his meals by himself (maybe I still was… actually I probably was)?  Once I got down there though, I couldn’t be more relieved.   Everyone was very friendly and completely accepted me as part of their group and made sure I was very welcome.  To those of you who went and are reading this now… thank you.  I can’t thank you guys enough.

So about the photography.  I found it really hard to take a bad picture.  Puerto Vallarta is a beautiful place.  We stayed at the Dreams Resort, which was nestled on a private beach in the Bay of Banderas.   Every other night, the beach would release over a 1000 baby sea turtles into the water in hopes of strengthening the declining population.  They invite their guests to partake in the event.  Of the 1000 or so bi-nightly turtles they release, they hope that 1-2 make it to become adult sea turtles…. not very great odds.  My bet though, is that Nemo, Brad’s turtle, will make it because of the inspiring pep-talk that Brad whispered to him.   The next night was the rehearsal and dinner.  After the rehearsal, the band for the next wedding played a quick couple songs for the couple which quickly turned into a dance party.  Once the impromptu party concluded, the three of us took off for a little photography session.  The light for this was awesome and the whole time I was wondering why we choose to live in a climate that doesn’t have summer year round..

When the day of the wedding arrived, it was BY FAR the hottest day there.  Not a cloud in the sky and temperatures soared to 95 degrees.  Everyone in the wedding party was very patient and in good spirits despite the heat.  And when the sun went down, the party started in one of the seaside restaurants..  as a photographer, you couldn’t ask for a better scene.

So here are the photographs.  Make sure you click the link below the final picture to go to the flickr page to view all 800+ pictures of our time in Mexico.  And once more, thanks again to Pam and Nathan for taking me with them and letting me share in their good times.

The Wedding Day

Now this sequence needs some explaining.. somehow in the chaos of everything before the wedding, Nathan’s gift to Pam was given to Nathan under the assumption that it was her gift to him.  He took one look at the box and mentioned how similar this gift was to the one he was giving to Pam.  He was very smart about opening it though.  Instead of ripping through the paper, he carefully opened it without disturbing too much of the wrapping only to unveil his gift to Pam.  It was a very funny moment that I figured wouldn’t make any sense just by looking at the pictures. 
I had to include my “Baywatch” picture in this group.  It’s not too often a picture of myself makes it to the blog posting..

Ok…. that was a lot of pictures.  To look at the rest of them, click here.