This wedding was an incredibly special one for me. I met Valery through working with the Albuquerque Academy Alumni Association in the early days of my photography business. She and Adam are both fellow alums of my high school, and although with us being a few years apart I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing them in high school, it has been wonderful connecting through our alma mater in the years since. The Academy is talented that way!
When Val emailed me two years later to ask if I might be available and willing to photograph her wedding I responded OF COURSE ARE YOU KIDDING?! I flew home for the weekend to capture their special day, and it was absolutely flawless. Full disclosure: Valery is the Alumni Director at the Albuquerque Academy, so it should have been no surprise to me that she really knew how to put on a beautiful event. Every inch, every detail, was perfect. But not in that too-good-to-be-real kind of way, no. This wedding took place at the Gutierrez-Hubbell house in the south valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is an old farmhouse setting with rustic wood and adobe décor. On the menu was a hot dog bar and pie for dessert. The colors were navy blue and the theme centered around sunflowers, baseball, Scrabble, and All-American food. Down-to-earth, real, and so stunningly beautiful.
How do all of these things go together, you might ask? Well, Val and Adam did not initially begin their romantic relationship in high school, although they did know each other and were in some of the same classes. Instead, they remained just friends and simply went their separate ways, until years later they reconnected by playing Words with Friends. Their first date was to a baseball game when they were both home in Albuquerque, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now every year they honor their first date anniversary by seeing the Isotopes play. They eat hot dogs, and perhaps even still argue over word games.
My favorite part of their wedding day was not admiring the perfectly planned and placed details, though. It was the emotion that ran through every person present, every moment. It was their ceremony, personalized just for them. It was their vows to one another, their stories of trials and happy memories on their way to this day. It was the stories their friends and family told when they stood up to give their heartfelt congratulations. It was Adam’s surprise performance for Val, and Val’s look of pure shock and tears. It was the fact that they could not go two seconds without someone wanting to talk with them, congratulate them personally, soak in their precious minutes of conversation. It was the intense energy between everyone dancing at the end of the night.
It was a day of pure joy. Purely personal. And it was my privilege to not only witness it but capture it for my friends. Congratulations to the newlyweds, Valery & Adam. All my love to you both!
xoxo
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This wedding was an incredibly special one for me. I met Valery through working with the Albuquerque Academy Alumni Association in the early days of my photography business. She and Adam are both fellow alums of my high school, and although with us being a few years apart I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing them in high school, it has been wonderful connecting through our alma mater in the years since. The Academy is talented that way!
When Val emailed me two years later to ask if I might be available and willing to photograph her wedding I responded OF COURSE ARE YOU KIDDING?! I flew home for the weekend to capture their special day, and it was absolutely flawless. Full disclosure: Valery is the Alumni Director at the Albuquerque Academy, so it should have been no surprise to me that she really knew how to put on a beautiful event. Every inch, every detail, was perfect. But not in that too-good-to-be-real kind of way, no. This wedding took place at the Gutierrez-Hubbell house in the south valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is an old farmhouse setting with rustic wood and adobe décor. On the menu was a hot dog bar and pie for dessert. The colors were navy blue and the theme centered around sunflowers, baseball, Scrabble, and All-American food. Down-to-earth, real, and so stunningly beautiful.
How do all of these things go together, you might ask? Well, Val and Adam did not initially begin their romantic relationship in high school, although they did know each other and were in some of the same classes. Instead, they remained just friends and simply went their separate ways, until years later they reconnected by playing Words with Friends. Their first date was to a baseball game when they were both home in Albuquerque, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now every year they honor their first date anniversary by seeing the Isotopes play. They eat hot dogs, and perhaps even still argue over word games.
My favorite part of their wedding day was not admiring the perfectly planned and placed details, though. It was the emotion that ran through every person present, every moment. It was their ceremony, personalized just for them. It was their vows to one another, their stories of trials and happy memories on their way to this day. It was the stories their friends and family told when they stood up to give their heartfelt congratulations. It was Adam’s surprise performance for Val, and Val’s look of pure shock and tears. It was the fact that they could not go two seconds without someone wanting to talk with them, congratulate them personally, soak in their precious minutes of conversation. It was the intense energy between everyone dancing at the end of the night.
It was a day of pure joy. Purely personal. And it was my privilege to not only witness it but capture it for my friends. Congratulations to the newlyweds, Valery & Adam. All my love to you both!
xoxo