I really enjoy photographing weddings like these...
Many times couples get so wrapped up in planning and trying to create the "perfect dream wedding" that they lose sight of what the whole purpose of a wedding is for. A wedding doesn't have to be about fancy settings, worrying about getting every detail perfect, inviting hundreds of your closest friends, etc.
Stephanie and John had their ceremony at sunset on a beach in Wailea a few weekends ago. It was a very simple ceremony, no musician, no bouquet, no circle of flowers, not even an exchange of rings. What made this special was the love between this couple.
When the bride suddenly blurted out "I LIKE SPAGHETTI" (they chose to write their own weddings vows and yes, that WAS part of her vows), I knew this was going to be a fun couple to shoot.
While I circled the ceremony taking photographs, I could see their eyes light up whenever they looked at each other - you could just FEEL the love they shared. It was one of those kinds of weddings where you get the "chicken skin" feeling. Those are the best kinds of weddings to photograph, IMHO.
Plus the fact that they were up for getting a little crazy with the wedding photographer helped too. ;-)
We jumped into the water and caught this shot in the surf in between the waves. Nailed it with the sun perfectly between their lips just before it disappeared behind the clouds. Lighting was on-camera flash with a Gary Fong cloud Lightsphere aimed directly at the couple.
Canon 1D mkII 24-70mm f2.8L lens, 580EX w/ Gary Fong Cloud Lightsphere iso 200 1/500@ f5.6
