Melissa and Anthony's wedding has been on my schedule for quite sometime.  They booked me originally for a wedding that was to have happened last year, but unfortunately had to reschedule for family and health reasons.  So...I am SUPER happy to bring you this blog post because I think the photos show just how special this wedding was!

First off...you need to know just how close their families are.  No, really...CLOSE.  As in, Melissa's grandma and Anthony's grandma were best friends in grade school.  Their fathers grew up on the same street with each other.  AND, their parents now live next door to each other in Nipomo.  To say that these families are already entwined is an understatement.

The preparations were easy in the morning.  The guys got ready at one house on the hill, and the girls got ready at the other...and I just had a hop-skip between them to shoot the morning's activities.  But, they did it in a distinctly different way.  The guys had a morning drink(s) at Jacko's, followed by some good dice games...and the girls had twirling skirts, earrings, and adorable flower girls.



And then we moved onto Saint Patrick's Church in Arroyo Grande for the ceremony. As people arrived, there was more than the usual hugging and smiling. Made me feel really good. And, the abundance of large belt buckles and wranglers made me smile too.

Everyone was holding it together pretty well when the ceremony started. Pretty well, until Anthony's sister started walking up the aisle, saw her aunt who surprised everyone by flying in from Texas, and she started crying. It spread through the guests like wildfire...everyone was reaching for their kleenex.

Melissa and Anthony had a wonderful ceremony, made even better by the fact that the priest who married them has known the family for a looong time. After a blessing for the couple, we were off to Spanish Oaks Ranch, aka Santa Margarita Ranch for the reception.

Here's Melissa's side of the Mallosoaresry family

And here's Anthony's side of the Mallosoaresry family

Formal photos out of the way, it was time for the party to begin. The toasts were HILARIOUS and touching. One of those times where you are wiping away tears as you are laughing.

Melissa and Anthony started their first dance to a very traditional song...although I can't remember what it was. Because about 20 seconds into the dance, Anthony walked away to the DJ table, whispered something to the DJ, and a new song started. The new song's lyrics had everyone roaring. And, for the life of me...I can't remember which song it was. Will someone from the wedding please leave a comment and let me know what the name fo the song was?!

Another cool idea that I've never seen before...they had homemade cookies from various family members as part of a dessert table. It was all the favorite family recipes for things like lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, mexican wedding cookies, and snickerdoodles (my personal favorite!)

as the sun was setting...this place still looked magnificant

and, this wedding would not have been complete without a singing cowboy.

Stina was an (awesome) bridesmaid at a wedding I photographed last year...the one most of my blog followers refer to as "that great barn wedding".  She also became my facebook friend...and I love reading her facebook updates.  She and her fiance, Aaron, live in New York City and I'm fascinated by that place.  The photos from there look amazing, the stories are super fun.  I keep meaning to go there for a vacation...and maybe a trash-the-dress session after her wedding this year would be the perfect excuse!  But first, let's share some of their engagement session.

Danny is a Glaswegian.  What's that??  According to wikipedia, that's a person who lives in or is from Glasgow, Scotland.  I wonder if wikipedia is pulling my leg on that one.  Alexandra is a fun loving person who went to Glasgow.  Alexandra and Danny met and fell in love there.  Which makes their love Glaswegian, too.  We had a blast on their engagement session...went from winery grapes to railroads to wheat fields in Kansas (or at least what looks kind of like that).  I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again at their wedding this year!

Some exciting new mail came the other day.  Last season, I photographed Megan and Keith's wedding at Zenaida Cellars.  And....California Weds Magazine for the upcoming year has chosen Megan and Keith's wedding as one of the feature articles!  YEAH!  I submitted photos from their wedding awhile back because they just had such an interesting story to their wedding and guests.  One of my favorite memories from the wedding was talking to Megan's Danish cousins...they asked me at about 9 p.m. "So, how long are you here for?"  And I smiled and responded "Until the party ends!"  Their eyes got big, they slowly looked towards each other and then back at me.  "REALLY?" they asked in disbelief.  After a little bit more conversation we learned that Danish wedding receptions go until about 4 a.m., and they seemed a bit disappointed to hear that American weddings don't go as long.  I think they had been pacing themselves for a longer night and were sad to hear it would end earlier than they'd expected.