THE BEST TIME IN CABO!!!!!

february, 2020

I literally don't know where to begin. I had the most UNREAL time in Los Cabos with Austin, Karly and all their family and friends! The group of 60 people who travelled down for their wedding were some of the most fun, down to earth people that I've ever met. I feel so honoured that Austin and Karly asked me to photograph their special destination wedding in Mexico! It was exactly 1 month ago, that I was over in Cabo celebrating with Austin & Karly.

Let's back up. I want to start with how I met Austin and Karly. I met Austin through my brother about 2 years ago. My brother thought VERY highly of Austin and how like minded they are. Austin is super genuine and kind spirited. He is the type of guy who would drop whatever he is doing and race over to wherever help is needed. I met Austin shortly before him and Karly started dating. So when Austin introduced me to her- I was sold instantly and I remember thinking how obvious it was that they were meant to be. She is soooooooo ridiculously sweet, easy to talk to, driven, and just overall a total GEM!

Fast forward after a while of dating- they got engaged and asked me to photograph their wedding. I WAS THRILLED!!!! I knew they would be an absolute HOOT to work with and I was confident that I could capture the kinds of photos that would be special memories for Austin and Karly.

On February 20th, I hopped on a plane and flew down to Cabo. This was the day to settle in, lock up all my camera gear in the extra safe I had requested. (Better safe than sorry) Once all my gear was locked up, I jumped in the pool before meeting up with the whole gang for dinner. The first night was so nice to meet everyone, we had Italian food and then headed down to the piano bar for some chill time. I got along with everyone right off the bat- perhaps a little too well that I managed to worry my big brother. Him and his wife, Alex, hadn't arrived at the resort yet, so they were messaging Karly to make sure I was doing okay, little did they know it had been 1 hour and I was already part of the squad. It is amazing to think that I literally just met all of these people and it felt like they were long time friends. After the piano bar was closing up, a bunch of us went back to Austin & Karly's room to order some hot wings, steak and guacamole (The essentials). A few of my new friends were trying to teach me how to do the "floss" dance, but they decided it was a lost cause. LOL. I tried.......very hard.

February 21st, I woke up SO EXCITED!!!! It was wedding day, the long anticipated celebration!!! Don't get me wrong- I was feeling extremely nervous too. However, I was able to overcome these nerves with the confidence in my ability and focused on the excitement.

I kicked off coverage by starting with the guys getting ready- strolled over to their room and they were busy BRO-ing out. Bunch of guys with a bunch of beers, so yeah- they were all pretty happy. I couldn't believe how compliant they were with my instructions, and Austin said that he was down for anything I suggest...MUSIC TO MY EARS!!! I also had Jeremy (Best Man) on my side- keeping the boys in line if anyone wasn't listening to me immediately.

I headed over to the bride tribe to see how they were doing and capture the excitement and anticipation over there. They were all in these pink adorable robes that Karly had bought for them (Minus Kaleb and Eddie). Karly was sooooooo incredibly chill, and she had this permanent GLOW about her, as she was just having a good time getting ready for her big day with her squad! We popped champagne, shrieked, and got some bombbbbb photos of this GORGEOUS crew!

I got to escort Karly down to the beach for the first look, and had arranged for Austin's groomsmen to make sure that he wasn't peeking as we made our way down from the resort to the beach. Austin and Karly got to share a very sweet first look together. (while the entire wedding party was watching and grinning ear to ear from about 20 feet away) We went right into bridal portraits, wedding party photos and family photos prior to the ceremony so that everyone could enjoy happy hour right after the ceremony!!!! I have never worked with a wedding party who was all SOOOO ON BOARD with anything I suggested!!!! Thank you to all of you for being SO AMAAAAZING!!!!

The ceremony was sooooooooooooo ridiculously beautiful, it just literally looked like a dream. When I showed some of my friends the ceremony photos- they said how it looks photoshopped. I think my jaw was dropped for the entire ceremony because of how gorgeous it was and how freaking cute Austin and Karly are!!!

HAPPY HOUR TIME!!! What a unique happy hour- the resort had set up hightop tables for cocktail hour right on the sand and the tequila was rollinggggg. Karly had organized a cool networking/ice breaker game for the guests, basically everyone was given a slip of paper that had a few clues on it and they had to go around and find the rest of their group members. This was such a fantastic idea for everyone to get to know each other.

The reception began and I had the privilege of being seated right beside my wonderful sister in law (Shoutout to Al for keeping an eye on my gear while I'd jump up to take photos throughout the night). This reception was one of a kind, it was filled with many heartfelt speeches, delicious food and the best company, as I got seated at a real party table!!! One of the many highlights of the reception was Austin and Karly's AMAZING FIRST DANCE! They had a surprise up their sleeves for their guests by starting out with a slow dance song, and then BOOM here comes the upbeat pop music and they both bust out into a choreographed dance. I was literally blown away by it- well played A&K!!

I got back to my room at about 1am and was soooooo exhausted, but I don't sleep at night if all my wedding photos aren't backed up. So the process was about to begin, backing up all of the photos and start looking at the magic from this amazing day!!!!! I ordered room service, drew a bath and started to back up the many SD cards from the day! I was munching away on my quesadilla and fries, had a longgg bath while photos uploaded and told myself I'll just edit a few...well next thing I knew it was 4am. Shortly after that moment- I moved my laptop and all of my gear back into the safe, about a minute later, I was completely out of it.

The next few days spent at the resort was hanging out with the squad pool side, eating tacos & drinking margaritas. I participated in a pool yoga class (a first time for me) and it was so awesome!!!! I got to know everyone better while we were all hanging out, and it was like I had known everyone for years and years prior to this. You know it was one heck of a trip when you averaged 4-5 hours of sleep a night.

When the day arrived for me to go home, it was first things first- a morning game of beach volleyball and then sandy hugs all around- not just to my AMAZING Bride & Groom, but to all of the fam and friends! Love all of you guys!!

I am still in complete AWE how amazing this wedding, this trip, and these PEOPLE all are!

Thank youuuuu Austin & Karly for involving me in your big day!!!!! <3