VALLENTYNE WEDDINGS

One of my favorite things about the East Coast is all the beautiful colors of Fall. This year we spent Thanksgiving in my husband’s hometown and it actually really felt like a real Thanksgiving! Here are a few fun shots I took of his niece and nephew in the beautiful Fall colors…. they are such sweet kids:)

I was flipping through another lovely edition of Real Weddings Magazine at Barnes and Nobles when I discovered a wonderful layout of details from Lizzy and Tom’s Bahamas wedding earlier this year! I was so excited for the great placement in the magazine and how beautiful the surprise piece was. Here it is, copies of this great magazine are still on the newsstands:)

Something my husband and I have always wanted to do was to spend some time in the mountains and the snow. We are both ocean people who grew up by the beach on opposite coasts. But we also both love to snowboard, hike, and see the snow fall. This year, we made it happen. We packed up the computers, printers, hard-drives, and of course the dogs, and headed to Lake Tahoe to spend the month of March! Lake Tahoe is truly a magical place. One of my favorite destinations whether Winter or Summer and we had an amazing month. I have never gotten to snowboard so many days in a row in my life and improved exponentially. I finally learned how to ride in powder and it is truly like floating on a cloud! We had lot’s of close friends in and out of the small cabin we rented and had a wonderful time. I must say, it is hard to beat a hot jacuzzi in the falling snow. We also squeezed in quite a bit of work in the mornings, some yoga to limber up, and lots of hiking that the dogs loved. I think our dogs are really meant to be in that kind of weather… you can tell when they jump straight into the icy water and look like they are having the time of their lives! Here are just a few pictures I think make me remember the trip the most… enjoy!

The morning of the wedding began with beautiful sunshine and a few scattered clouds. Even though it was the big day, everyone was so relaxed, just having breakfast, getting massages, swimming, and kayaking around the calm surrounding waters. Tom was getting ready in a bungalow near the ceremony while Lizzy got ready at the big house her family was sharing. Lizzy had help from her sisters and girlfriends on hair and make-up, and even had a best friend who designed her wedding dress for her! The cutest touch was the custom designed label, hand stitched on a light blue ribbon, that read “BOMBSHELL”! It was such an easy going morning and afternoon, you would almost forget that lots of people think weddings are stressful! There was absolutely no stress on this gorgeous day. In the afternoon, it started to rain a little bit and it was so cute that both Lizzy and Tom reacted in the same exact way, they weren’t worried about it at all. Lizzy was even fine with walking around taking some photos while it sprinkled and I loved that. The rain soon stopped and as I walked down to the ceremony we were all amazed to see the most beautiful double rainbow, it was a perfect moment. The ceremony was very inclusive of all the family and guests, designed to celebrate not just the marriage relationship, but all kinds of different loves and ties. Before Tom and Lizzy gave each other their own personal vows, loved ones stood and spoke about what love means to them and how many different types of love there are, between a husband and wife, a parent and child, sisters and brothers, and true friends. It was very unique and real, and one of those moments that even after shooting weddings for so long, I still get a little teary! The ceremony flowed seamlessly into cocktails and then a beautiful reception on the sand. A single long table on the beach was candlelit and was a romantic and perfect setting for a tropical dream wedding dinner. I think it was a wedding no one will soon forget, here are the photos!

This year has already been so full of travel and destination weddings for Vallentyne Photography. One that I have been extrememly excited about since last year was the marriage of Lizzy and Tom Fallows on Kamalame Cay in the Bahamas. I had never been to the Bahamas, much less this gorgeous, secluded, private island that looked more imagined than real. For the President’s weekend of February 13th to the 16th, Lizzy, Tom, and 40 of their best friends and family rented out the entire island and did the dream destination wedding on Kamalame Cay. The guests joined Lizzy and Tom from Beijing, Rome, Sydney, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, so it was really a once in a lifetime experience to have them all together in one place. The resort’s buildings are brightly colored with thatched roofs and the spa sits on the end of a pier that is a focal point for the whole island…you can actually get a massage at the end of the pier and if you fall off the table you land in the water!! I was lucky enough to be able to shoot the whole weekend and since you can imagine there are a TON of photos, I will be breaking up the posts into 3 segments….here is the first installment, full of details and the welcome party on the first night, enjoy!