Museum of Latin American Art Wedding Photography | Amber & Rick

Amber and Rick are two smart, relaxed and beautiful people that I absolutely enjoyed working with.  They are just a TERRIFIC couple, and they were surrounded by so much genuine love and laughter amongst their family and friends all day.  It was such a pleasure (for Gavin and I) to be their wedding photographers.  Their day started in the late morning at Hotel Maya in Long Beach.  Amber had gotten up super early that morning for a morning jog along the beach.  What an incredible way to start your big day!!

How cool is this shirt!?!?!

Don’t you think Amber kinda looks like Jessica Alba?!??!  Amber’s got a smile that will light up the whole room.

Meet Ariel… one of Amber’s cute flowers girls.  I just LOVE her beautiful big blue eyes and sweet personality!!  Having Ariel around in the morning during the preparation added so much more energy to the room.  She was super excited the entire time.

I love the accessories that Amber got her.  By the way, Amber is not only Ariel’s cousin, but also her god-mother.

Meanwhile, Gavin was off with Rick in the boy’s hotel room.  Need I say more?!??!  =D

The result of enjoying a little too many bud lights.  LOL…

Looking REALLY good boys!!

While the boys were getting their pictures taken, Amber is wrapping up with the make-up and getting dressed.

Amber, you look radiant!!

That’s right girl… you put that garter higher!! Make him work for it.

Their ceremony was at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Long Beach.  2 photographers… 1 moment… 2 angles.

This moment right after Amber’s Dad passed her off; wiped his tears is just priceless!!  He really is a proud father!! Mr. Cordova had so many praises about his daughter during the reception toasts.

Catholic wedding ceremonies can have varying traditions, though common ones include the ones seen below.

And to the ending of the Catholic wedding ceremony….

The newly weds!!

The lilacs were perfect for a ceremony exit.  It’s beautiful fragrance filled the air.

Isn’t she adorable??  Ariel went around and collected all the “cups” that were holding the lilacs.

I had so much fun hanging out with Amber and Rick’s group of friends.  They are all so easy to get along with and more importantly, they’re silly and down for all types of pictures.

And we’re off to the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) for more pictures and the wedding reception.  Did you know that MOLAA is the only museum in the United States exclusively dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art.

Before we entered MOLAA Rick popped a bottle of champagne to pre-start the reception.

To Amber and Rick!!!

Chug… chug… chug…

Here are some of Gavin’s pictures of the couple inside MOLAA

such a cute cake topper!  I really like their center pieces too.

I didn’t mention this, but I secretly wanted to hang out by the candy bar all night.  I am a total sucker for gummy bears!!

All of the toasts were great and very touching.

I generally don’t blog pictures of the father-daughter or mother-son dance, but I couldn’t help myself this time.  There were so many priceless moments and so many tears of joy.  I was tearing up myself watching Amber and her dad.

LETS! GET! THE! PARTY! STARTED! IN HERE!!!!  They had an awesome DJ that got their entire party rockin!!

Amber and Rick sneaked away (to LAX) to catch their flight to Fiji for their honeymoon that same night.  It was about 8:30pm when they crept away without anyone knowing (except us and their bridal party).  They told me that it’s in their culture that sneaking away without anyone knowing is a good sign that all the guests are having fun and enjoying themselves.  That’s definitely true because after they were gone, the party was still happening!!  We were gonna go with them to LAX for some quickie pictures there as well, but they were running really late to catch their flight.  They were so late that Amber didn’t have a chance to change out of her wedding gown, so she took off with it to the airport and onto the plane!

Thank you Amber and Rick for an amazing wedding!!  We had so much fun hanging out and getting to you know both.  Best wishes and can’t wait to see your pictures from Fiji.

Also, special thanks to my little brother Steven Tran for coming along as an assistant.  Steven is an aspiring photographer and will coming along with me to some of my shoots to build up this experience.