The Soria Wedding – Carmel by the Sea, Calif.

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Recently I returned from Carmel by the Sea where I photographed Alison and Sean’s wedding at Rancho Cañada during a gorgeous weekend in the last days of July. While I had not met Alison prior to the wedding, Sean is someone I worked with many years ago. We had met while working together for Riverview Systems in San Jose. I had spent just over a year and a half with Riverview as part of a traveling tech team around the US for trade shows and corporate events. Sean worked on the installs team that I ended up joining my last few months with the company over the summer.
We spent my last couple weeks there working at San Jose State University on a huge project – but to be honest things with the project started so disorganized that a lot of our time was spent chatting and joking during the confusion of “we don’t have the right supplies/tools for today’s part of the job…”

Shortly after that I moved to LA to pursue photography full time and Sean continued with Riverview before leaving for another job as well. But we loosely kept in touch online and Sean had continued to follow my work over the years.
And when he decided to propose to Alison, Sean later reached out to me about coming back up to the Bay Area to photograph their wedding weekend in Carmel.

Once plans were in place we locked down the dates and I made my way up to the Bay Area to meet up with the Soria and Lionbarger families.

It was a great weekend with everyone and we had some absolutely gorgeous weather. There was a break in the heatwave that had been going on which resulted in a very comfortable two days for the ceremony.

So, read on!
I’ve uploaded about 350 or so images from the entire weekend for you guys to enjoy. I’m sure there were several friends and family that weren’t able to be there, so hopefully this gives you an idea of what you missed!

Enjoy!

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Dale Dwelle & Brooks Andrews’ Atlanta wedding

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Dale and Brooks… gettin’ married and making history at the same time!

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure of shooting Dale and Brooks’ wedding in Atlanta, Georgia at the Swan House and Historical Center – which was the first gay wedding ceremony at that venue we found out! How cool is that! Not only did these two amazing men have an absolutely gorgeous ceremony and wedding day, but they also got to do something no one has done there before! Awesome.

Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with my relationship to Dale over the years I’ll break it all down for you guys..
I’m willing to bet many of the friends and family members of Dale (and Brooks) have seen my photos over the years, even if you didn’t know it at the time. Dale is basically my wedding BFF. And I’m thinking that should be a thing. Yep. That’s it. It’s now a thing. #weddingBFF. Dale and I have been at SEVEN weddings together (eight if you include his!). But I’ve actually known Dale 17 years? 18 years? We went to school together. And while admittedly, he was much closer friends with my sister (who was in the same grade level, one behind me) he was always a great guy to catch up with when our busy lives and paths crossed over the years.

It was obviously later on that I met Brooks. And it was actually, appropriately, that I met Brooks at a wedding. My sisters.

As Brooks and Dale got closer to the point of planning their own wedding they reached out to me about being a part of it. I was thrilled! Not only had I got to know both of them better over the years at all the weddings we attended together, but I had also photographed Dale’s sister Denay’s wedding. When Denay and Omar were planning their wedding Dale reached out to be so he could recommend me to Denay. So by the time of the Dwelle-Andrews wedding I already had met and got to know a lot of the Dwelle side of the family!

And as a photographer it is very special to be a part of multiple family events.

After Brooks and Dale had locked down dates, a location, and several other details about their weekend they got in touch with me again. Dale explained to me that as part of a destination-style wedding (at least one that required travel for many of the guests) they were going to host multiple events and mini-parties of sorts for their guests. I was asked if it would be possible to capture photos during these events, too.

So, as any of you who have seen one of my wedding blogs knows.. I’m going to save the rest of my comments for the captions.

And as we all heard during the speeches at the rehearsal dinner, there are so many great things that can be said about these two. I’m particularly lucky because I get to share my thoughts and memories through this blog – and most appropriately, though photos.

That being said..

You ready to break that scroll-wheel on your mouse and check out just over 850 images from Brooks and Dale’s amazing, and beautiful, wedding weekend and celebration in Atlanta?! As well as a brief stroll down memory lane with the past weddings we’ve been at together?

I hope so.

Go pour yourself a cup of…whatever you want to drink.. maybe one of those Dark & Stormy’s everyone was drinking at the wedding. Grab a snack. And get ready to re-live the Dwelle-Andrews wedding weekend!
And those of you who couldn’t make it.. I hope this helps you feel like you were still part of it all. I know I certainly missed some of you who couldn’t be there.

 

Read on!

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The Price Wedding, San Jose

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Last week I returned from San Jose where I photographed Drew and Jana’s lovely afternoon wedding at Freedom Hall and Gardens.
Many of you probably already know that Drew and I went to high school together – quite a few years ago now, but we’ll not talk about that. haha! Like most of our generation we stayed in touch loosely online over the years between school, moving around (mostly me in that case), and other various things in life.
Last year when Drew decided he was going to propose to his girlfriend Jana, he reached out to me beforehand.

You guys might remember when I shared with everyone the engagement photos of Drew and Jana. Drew’s plan of a surprise proposal worked incredibly well. He talked to Jana and explained that he was going to have me come do some “couples photos” of the two of them so they had some nice photos of themselves. She liked the idea and no reason to suspect a thing.

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But when Drew signaled to me that this photo was going to be the proposal, and stepped back and got down on one knee, Jana was so surprised she took a step or two back in shock when she realized what he was doing.
It was really sweet.

But anyway, you guys are supposed to already know all that… cuz now they’re married and I’m posting about their wedding day!

My weekend at the Smoot-Price wedding started with the rehearsal at Freedom Hall and Gardens. I have shot several other weddings here (one of only two places I’ve photographed more than once). So I know how they do everything and have an idea of how lighting/etc will work – which makes things quicker and easier for me.
Rehearsal was a breeze as everyone walked through the order of events for the wedding day and we all caught up on life between rehearsing and then later at dinner.

The wedding day started as normal for me – hanging out with all the girls as they started their hair and makeup. Drew later told me he was surprised when I texted him that morning for the girl’s contact info when he realized how early I was heading to the hotel.
The morning was hilarious as all the girls spent the majority of the time talking about stories and laughing. I’m going to save a lot of comments for the photos below, as usual, too.
That evening’s wedding ceremony was beautiful. The day started out a bit cold and windy compared to the hotter weather just two days before. At one point we were a little concerned that we’d all be out in the cold for the ceremony. Fortunately we were wrong.

Anyway, click past the break for just over 350 photos from Drew and Jana’s wedding rehearsal and wedding day!
I’ll talk a bit more about the day in the captions.

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The runDisney 2015 Princess Half as the #PrincessMen

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The impact we had on others during this race was an unexpected, flattering, and emotional surprise for all of us. What started as a silly joke to laugh at ourselves ended up encouraging others around us through our humor and energy.
It was never about getting a medal for our group. It was about the laughs. And I’m glad we were able to bring that to so many others.
The kind words from everyone, the many posts online of and about us, and the overwhelmingly positive response made our decision to continue this idea next year and beyond an easy one.

So I just recently returned from Orlando where I competed in the DisneyWorld Princess Half Marathon. I know a lot of people laughed when I said I would be doing a race that was such a short distance, and also a Disney race.
For those who don’t know me, I’ve never been big on the idea of “Pay to Run” (by myself). And the races I have started to compete in recently are 140 mile Ironman triathlons – I have three Iron races I’m doing later this year, actually.

The reason I’ve never been keen on paying to run is because I don’t feel like going and running a race by myself just to get a medal, and my newer hobby of triathlons is ridiculously expensive. But as an ex-cast-member the appeal of doing a Disney race with my old lifeguard buddies was still there.

Click the break to read more about our experience as #PrincessMen at runDisney’s Princess Half Marathon!

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THE JOHN REMUS PHOTOGRAPHY 2014 CHRISTMAS CARD

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“Have you checked our shitters, honey?”

My fifth annual Christmas Card.. Wow. Five years. That’s pretty damn cool.
Originally I had a very different idea in mind for this year. I was planning to go a bit crazier and take my cards to a different level for such a milestone card. However things don’t always go as planned, and I had to switch things up a bit.

“It’s not going in our yard Russ, it’s going in our living room.”

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Tara and Gary’s San Francisco Wedding

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I recently returned from the San Francisco Bay Area where I was shooting Tara and Gary’s wedding at City Hall! Tara and Gary had a 20’s style theme to their wedding weekend and reception, which was a lot of fun. They kept their dress/tux combo more toward the modern side as you see above, but the rest of the wedding party and guests were all dressed and encouraged to keep their styles closer to what you’d expect in the Great Gatsby or similar. My favorite part were all the youngest kids/cousins/etc running around in their outfits!

For those who don’t know, I met Tara about four years ago at Tom and Roxanne’s wedding in Monterey for Roxanne’s beach wedding. Tara and Roxanne are childhood friends and Tara was one of the many bridesmaids running around that weekend.

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Roxanne and Tara during Roxanne & Tom’s wedding reception 4 years ago.

Tara and I have stayed in touch on Facebook over the last couple years and now mostly comment back and forth about triathlons and training – I’m bugging her to do the Tahoe Half Ironman next year when I go to do the full. Roxanne, sign up for the Half Iron and go too! haha!

Well, when Tara started planning her wedding a while back she reached out to me about shooting for her and Gary as I had done years ago for Roxanne. Dates were selected, details worked out, and after many more months the wedding date rolled around.
The rehearsal and wedding were both in Downtown San Francisco – an area I don’t usually get a chance to shoot. The rehearsal evening was pretty quick and was at the hotel everyone was staying at. The ceremony the next day though was at City Hall – which is gorgeous. I thought it was going to be a bigger hassle dealing with camera gear/etc, but it was surprisingly easy. After the ceremony we went down to the water for a few photos before heading to the Athletic Club for the reception where we were be all night with the rest of the guests.

As usual I’ll leave the rest for captions. So click past the break for just nearly 300 images from Tara and Gary’s wedding weekend!

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The Mykytyn Wedding – Mill Valley, Calif.

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Last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting my friend Ewa’s wedding – an event in her life that, at one point, she would joke with me she never wanted to happen.
But it turns out she was wrong, and not only was it a great day, but she looked absolutely incredible.
I’ve known Ewa for 4 1/2 years now. We met at Amy and Michael’s wedding – she was one of the bridesmaids. Over the years we stayed in touch online and would catch up on life over coffee when I was in the Bay Area. The funny part of the whole thing is that when we met, Ewa was working in a divorce lawyers office. So her and I saw the complete opposite sides of marriage. I got to be part of the best day in a marriage, and she was constantly witnessing the ugly endings of them. So, needless to say, her opinion was (usually) “Nope. Never going to deal with THAT!”

Until she met Thomas.

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The Sit-Yun Wedding – Morgan Hill, Calif.

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It’s already October 1st and that means that I just photographed Chris and Rene Yun’s beautiful end-of-September wedding here in the South Bay Area!

You couldn’t have hoped for a better weekend, too! The SF Bay Area got a couple days of rain in the week leading up to their wedding which meant clear and clean blue skies for their afternoon ceremony! And what a fun time we all had, too!
I met Chris and Rene several years ago through the automotive community here in the Bay Area. And like most people these days we’ve stayed in touch primarily through social media. Rene had kept up with my photography work on Facebook, and later instagram, as I got busier traveling around the US shooting all manner of weddings.
So, when Chris proposed to her she reached out to me about shooting for the two of them. Chris later told me they were both thrilled that I was going to shoot for them and all he needed to know from Rene was “Just tell me where to send the check!” Haha! It sounds silly, I know. But honestly it’s very flattering to hear that the only concern from your bride and groom is your mailing address because they know you’ve moved recently. Chris and Rene both had full faith in me that I would be able to capture all they photos they were hoping for.

And we had a blast.

Both of them were perfect examples of “Don’t take your wedding too seriously” as the weekend flew by. They were laughing, joking around, and doing everything the way they wanted it to be done. Chris high-fived friends as he walked down the aisle, they took jumping-high-five photos during the portraits we shot, they pre-planned their first dance ahead of time, and made sure to say hello to every person that attended whether it was to thank them, take photos with those who traveled far to be there, or simply catch up on life for a few minutes. I don’t think Chris stopped smiling that whole evening.

So, onto the photos!
I’ve made a large selection of just over 360 images to tell the story of Chris and Rene’s wedding weekend. As always I will caption various moments here and there so those who couldn’t be there will know what’s going on.

Enjoy!

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The Favazza-Bastow Wedding – Michigan

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I just returned from Michigan where I spent the last weekend photographing Alex and Laura Bastow’s gorgeous wedding.

Firstly… it’s pronounced “bass-toe” like the fish and appendage on your foot.. How many people’s minds were just blown? Anyone? Cuz there were definitely friends at the wedding that didn’t know how to correctly pronounce Alex’s last name. Haha!
Anyway, I had a great weekend with these two who were kind enough to fly me out and host me for several days in the middle of all the normal craziness of a wedding. To add insult to an already-hectic time in anyone’s lives there were massive MASSIVE rains in the greater Detroit areas and their basement flooded a week before the wedding. These two handled it like a boss, though, and didn’t let it phase them or their plans for a great weekend with their relatives.

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The Maxwell-Barron Wedding. Monterey, Calif.

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The Maxwell-Barron wedding last weekend was absolutely gorgeous – and a ton of fun.
I’ve known Paul for 19 years now… wow… just did the math. That’s a long time. Hilary I met either in Jr. High or High School, I don’t really recall exactly when however I do remember back when we were all attending Cupertino High.
Over the last several years it’s been fun to watch the two of them together as they’ve dated since they’re ridiculously cute when they hang out with one and other. Paul and Hilary are one of those couples that just always seems to be having fun together. And having grown up since my early teens with Paul, knowing what a kind person he has always been, and knowing Hilary through my high school years, as the always-sweet-and-friendly friend of my younger sister, it was disgustingly cute to see them wind up together. Hahaha!

I have a lot writen out about their gorgeous wedding in Monterey. And I have various photos from all the weddings I’ve been lucky enough to attend with Paul and Hilary.
So click past the break and read on if you have some time! I hope you enjoy the images. I had a lot of fun with the Maxwell and Barron families and I hope all of you enjoy this glimpse of their wedding day!

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