A good buddy of mine is getting married this year and when he came to me to shoot his wedding, it was an honor to even be asked. Seems like this year it is becoming more and more common for me to shoot a friend's wedding.
What I love about shooting people I know is that they already feel a bit more relaxed since they know me but at the same time it makes it tricky since they can be a bit more playful than with a photographer they don't know personally.
Manny and Maureen wanted to originally shoot at the Getty Museum but they have a policy that states professional photography is not allowed. Oh course we could have broken the rules but we wanted to respect their wishes. As an alternative, Maureen thought about shooting at the Los Angeles Arboretum or otherwise known as the Botanical Gardens. Since I have shot there previously, I thought it was a great idea as the park is vast and has tons of beautiful backgrounds.
As a note, they charge $9 per adult and if you want to shoot photography their with a client, it is an extra $50 fee. It is a pretty fair exchange considering you can roam the whole area and setup lights and such without getting hassled.
Since Manny is a buddy of mine, he had told me that he was practicing his smile for that day. Made me laugh since I knew if that was the case, he was serious about looking good in these photos.
We started at 2:30pm and shot all the way to closing, which was 5pm during the winter season. It went by so quick and kind of hoped that we had some more time to wander the park but in the end, we were happy with what we had.
You guys did great! Can't wait for the wedding day... should be a blast!
