Mr. & Mrs. Sandridge

When I found out I was pregnant at the end of May I was super excited, but one of my very first thoughts was the two weddings I had scheduled for January. I knew it was going to be cutting it very close to my due date, but I really, really wanted to shoot the weddings! I contacted my brides and let them know the situation giving them the option to back out of their contracts and find a new photographer, but both of them still wanted to me to shoot. So, I assembled the best team I could to back me up and crossed my fingers that I would have a complication free pregnancy and would make it until January. I'm SO glad everything worked out!

Lauren and Robert were married at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach on Saturday. It was a gorgeous Southern California January day! I've been wanting to shoot at Seven Degrees for a long time and my expectations were exceeded. It's an amazing venue with lots of great light and places to shoot. Besides having a gorgeous ceremony location, the reception area is to die for. Any photographer will tell you that professional lighting at your reception makes such an amazing difference. The great thing about Seven Degrees is that it's all there and set up for you. They have flat screens and little ornament balls with a slide show of the bride and groom playing (Lauren and Robert choose to have their engagement pictures in the slide show, which I, of course, thought was a great idea!).

Shooting while 9 months pregnant isn't the easiest thing to do. But, I had an amazing team that helped. The fabulously talented Jasmine* second shot with me and took over shooting when my feet swelled up so big I couldn't get my shoes back on. It was a great relief to know that if for some reason I wasn't able to make it to the wedding Robert and Lauren would still be taken care of by such a great photographer. And my awesome assistant, Jennifer Elaine, brought me water and carried my bags all day. I don't know what I would have done without her. The videographer, Mike McCaleb, also was a huge help moving furniture and helping out. He's awesome!

Thank you so much to Lauren and Robert and all their friends and family for taking care of me and making me feel so welcome! I really had been looking forward to this wedding for a long time and I'm so happy that I could be a part of it. Lauren and Robert, I hope you have an amazing honeymoon in Tahoe! Enjoy the snow! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day. Here's the slideshow!

Robert's son, Alec, was the ring bearer. I love the eye contact between the two of them in this shot.





Lauren's gorgeous dress

I love it when dads see their little girls in their wedding dress for the first time.



Jasmine got this shot of me and I think my big belly looks pretty funny. Don't tell my husband I was standing on a chair!

This is the shot I was getting



Lauren was such a stunning bride!






These guys really knew how to work the camera




The first look



Lauren and Robert's engagement session was one of my favorite to shoot last year. They were so comfortable with each other and have no problem being silly in front of the camera, which makes my job very easy!



The bridal party





Details



They had some tear jerking, yet very funny toasts!



First Dance