This is a fairly personal post.  I photographed a wedding for a very dear friend of our family.  Our friend Becky and her children joined a new family and promptly flew away to China.

Jeff and Rebecca were married at the LDS Temple in Mesa Arizona.  Their wedding brought two young families together.  The kids on both sides are as sweet as they come.  Rebecca lived with her children in Chandler, Arizona and Jeff traveled with his children all the way from China, where he works and now they all live in China.  We miss Becky and her children very much, but what a great adventure for their family… we hope to see them soon.

I had hoped, with the sheer number of children and people who would be converging on the bride’s home that there would be chaos in the house, which is always fun to photograph, but true to form, Becky and her children were on top of it all, very organized and no chaos whatsoever.  Lots of laughter and happiness though!

Although I don’t think it was the only reason for the happiness, there were a pair of Jimmy Choo magic shoes there, which couldn’t hurt.

Tying ties.

Drying hair.

Putting on makeup.  It’s all part of getting ready and I see it all the time, but getting ready is all relative to what you are getting ready for.  Not just a wedding, but the merger of two dynamic sets of children, a great adventure, a new culture, a 15 hour plane flight…

I thought this makeup photo was one of the better I have captured.  The framing was perfect as was the light and with Becky’s striking features, I thought it deserved a little film noir look.  I was already shooting at a very high ISO, so the grain was a natural result, there was no reason to fight it.  So I pushed it even further.  All of this was done in Adobe Lightroom 4 without the help of any plugins or external editors.

It was interesting.  When I started to photograph the dress on the hanger, Becky just laughed and said, “good luck.  That dress does not look good on the hanger.”  And she was right, the dress looked like nothing on the hanger, but it was perfect when she put it on.  How she decided to try it on is beyond me, but it was perfect.

Introducing Jeff.  All around great guy.  Jeff and his kids traveled all the way from China the day before the wedding, but only after their flight got canceled on them, so they flew from China to LA and then drove to Phoenix.  What a crazy wedding story.  But they made it in time and in the end, I suppose , in the end, those with the best stories win.

I had so much fun photographing the kids during the wedding.  They are all so expressive and good natured.  Case in point…

And finally, a photograph of the LDS Temple in Mesa.  If you do not know much about the LDS or Mormon culture, Temples are a very important part of the faith.  They are extremely spiritual places where members of the church are married and make covenants with God.  So, when you are married in a temple, that building often symbolizes the commitment you have made to your spouse and your family.  So anytime I photograph an LDS wedding, I try to make a new and interesting photograph of that temple for the couple.  I am pleased with this one.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Slideshow Music by Mindy Gledhill, Courtesy of Triple Scoop Music

Wedding Location: Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple