You know when someone says, "My wedding was the best day of my life?" and you wonder how that feels? Well I never really believed that it could be possible until I got married. My wedding day was seriously PERFECT. Flawless. I know- sounds cliche- but truly it was amazing. I think the MOST important part about your wedding is the photographer you choose. I did a TON of research and only wanted the best. I didn't want a traditional wedding photographer nor did I want traditional pictures. I wanted someone to capture those unique and special moments w/out me knowing the picture was taken. So low and behold, I found Hoffmann. He is by far the most talented and phenomenal photographer I have ever seen. His work is not only artistic but it's truly magnificent.
This is me right before walking down the stairs and down the aisle for the ceremony.
It was so difficult to select just a few of my favorites so hopefully you won't be overwhelmed by this post. I hope I didn't ruin the quality when uploading them here. I tried to keep it sequential so it makes a bit more sense of our wedding day. A little history of me and lovely hubby. We were engaged only after 6 months, together for 11 years, married for the past 2 years. Yes I know, we had a very long engagement but we were very young and I am glad we waited. We moved out to CA from the Midwest together, we were busy focusing on our career so we wanted to wait until it was the right time.
Our wedding truly was the best day of my life. It was perfection. Nothing went wrong and everything went right. We had perfect weather and the skies were the prettiest shades of blue. Everything just came together like magic! I never thought a day could be so perfect!
We both wanted a very small and intimate wedding. Being that most of our friends/family were from out of state and out of the country, we wanted to make sure it was intimate enough where you could spend time with everyone. After seeing so many people's large weddings and how exhausting it was and not knowing who most of the people attending, I knew that wasn't for us.
The location was really important to me because I knew I wanted a beach wedding but did NOT want to be "in the sand" for our ceremony and I didn't want just a typical beach wedding. I wanted something much more upscale and the setting had to be absolutely perfect. I also needed another location to take pre-wedding photos with my family. And knew the St. Regis was just the right place!
We decided to stay at The St.Regis Hotel overnight since we didn't live near our wedding location. This is one of my favorite hotels. It's so beautiful and perfect for a pre-wedding photos. Because so many of our family was flying in from all parts of the country and from Australia, I wanted to make sure we had pictures prior to the wedding. So the timeline was a bit backwards but it actually worked out perfectly. We had pre-wedding photos with the bride and groom as well as our family. It was the first time in a really long time that our entire family was in one spot.
I know tradition is that the groom doesn't get to see the bride until she walks down the aisle but that just wasn't possible. The way we did it was very un-traditional but it worked out perfectly for our wedding since our wedding ceremony wasn't until right before sunset.
I contemplated about getting a makeup artist but am so glad that I did because she did an amazing job! So if you are petite bride to be and wondering if you should spend the money on getting professional makeup done, do it! It's worth every penny;)
My make-up artist was amazing! I was really nervous because I have never had someone else do my make-up before but WOW- am I so glad I selected her.
Here is hubby getting ready..so handsome he is! And he even wore pink for me to match our wedding color theme...such a gracious man he is!
Oh our pretty little cake...it was so yummy! It was simple and elegant and matched everything perfectly.
I still can't get over the perfect timing of Hoffmann. He was able to coordinate our after ceremony photos right at sunset. And the result, amazing pictures that almost make the background look fake!
I did all my own wedding planning. I even created our own invitations and menu place cards. I had a very specific idea in my head and I knew I was the only one that would be able to bring it to life. There was a coordinator for the location that helped with some things but I mainly did everything.
The above picture was NOT taken by Hoffmann- it was taken by me. Just wanted to show you my invitation and party favor that I created. For privacy and security reasons, I had to blur out our full names.:)
I chose the venue, music, and I even selected the flowers and setting and even did my own favors!
I don't think the day would have been the same w/out having Hoffmann as our photographer. My jaw still drops when I look at our wedding photos, it's just unbelievable.
This is one of all time my favorite pictures and I made this the cover of our wedding photo book. It's perfect in every way...how on earth Hoffmann managed to get my veil blowing in the wind and the timing was incredible!
This is also one of my favs...okay all of them are my favs! Look at the sun bursting thru us...it was magical! The wind was blowing at the perfect moment and the sun just about to go down...omg..I am getting teary eyed! I really wish I could post the thousands of great photos but clearly that wouldn't be possible.
This is me in the waiting room reading my vows waiting to walk down the aisle. I have never been so nervous in my life!
The St.Regis is simply elegant and so gorgeous inside. We were so blessed to have this area of the hotel all to ourselves!
This is in a very popular gazebo near our wedding location...everyone was so kind to have moved out of the way for our pics:)
The best part about Hoffmann is that he knew what he wanted and was a great director. And most of the time, when we weren't posing, I hardly knew he was even there! He somehow managed to capture certain moments than only someone of this caliber could do. He truly is amazing and worth every penny!
I truly felt like a princess that day.
I have no idea how I managed to get on top of this piano....LOL
And we danced the night away into the sunset...Thank you Hoffmann for doing such an amazing job. Words can't describe how phenomenal you are. I hope I can send many more brides your way. You truly made our day magical and now we have beautiful photos to look back on! I would HIGHLY recommend him for any brides to be. He does travel for weddings as well. I know when we decide to have a baby, he will definitely be the person to photograph our kids too! He does engagement photos, babies, couples, weddings and special occasions.
Please make sure to click on his link and see his amazing work!
