Kelsey + Brian { Hemet – Old Hollywood Retreat Wedding }

A few weeks ago Niall McCarthy invited me to help shoot the wedding of Kelsey and Brian. He really didn’t know what was in store for us, but the one thing we did know is that Kelsey and Brian are God loving, sweet people. And I was blown away. We showed up at a random house in Hemet, but it turned out to be a rundown old Hollywood Retreat. I only heard a little about the property…but it was built almost 80 years ago and stars like Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton and Elvis used to stay there.  If that wasn’t cool enough, half of the buildings were completely destroyed and rundown. Yes…I consider that to be one of the coolest things ever. I did fear for my life when we walked thru each house…and got a few horror movie flashes…but for photos it’s totally worth it.

The entire wedding was a team effort and completely diy. It was perfectly them.

Kelsey and Brian wanted plenty of time for photos, so they chose to have a first look. Stuff like this makes my heart go all pitter-patter.

And after the ceremony we did 5 minutes of family photos…and then another 35 minutes for Kelsey and Brian. <3

So I have a funny story about this cake table set up. Niall and I actually put everything out. Styled it if you will. During the reception we noticed that the sun was quickly setting and the cake table wasn’t set up yet. We ran to Kelsey’s mom and asked if it could be put out…and with 5 minutes before we had to start pulling out flashes we run into the house and start grabbing desserts. While I was arranging the cookies I realized that the guest were looking at me…wondering why the photographers were arranging the dessert table. Really, this isn’t normal? Then, before we were even finished the guests started walking toward the table…you know…to grab some desserts. I think I might of scared the bejesus out of them…because with one look they slowly backed away and let me take a photo. It wasn’t a shining moment, but it was funny.

To see more check out the slideshow or watch it below: