Eric & Lauren were married on May 7th, 2016 in Redondo Beach, CA.  Their wedding ceremony took place at the St. Lawerence Martyr Catholic Church and their reception was held at the Portofino Hotel.  Everything about the day was beautiful.  Their gray and ice blue wedding colors perfectly matched the interior of the hotel which made for a photographer’s dream.  The morning of their wedding started with some light rain showers but just enough to give them good luck on their marriage and then leave to let sunshine fill the remainder of the day.

John and I started off the wedding morning in the bridal suite with the ladies.  Lauren and all of her bridesmaids enjoyed mimosas and breakfast while they all got prepped for the day.  Their was hairspray, perfume, makeup galore as they all worked to look their absolute best for Lauren’s day.  Just down the hall, Eric and his groomsmen were also prepping for the day but had far less prepping to do.  Rather than being in a huge bridal suite like the ladies, the boys were all in Ryan’s (Lauren’s twin brother) hotel room which was far less spacious!  Regardless of space, the boys had an awesome time and had far less prep time and lots more time to just enjoy each others company.

Eric was such a wonderful groom.  He wrote Lauren notes for her to open every hour prior to the ceremony.  They chose not to see each other before the ceremony so her bridesmaids were all responsible for delivering certain notes at the right time. The notes mentioned what he thought she would be doing at the time she opened them and were continuous reminders of how much he loved her. It was so sweet to hear her reading the notes to her bridesmaids and catching her mom’s eyes welling up with tears.  I always love the little notes on the day of that brides and grooms often write to each other but Eric truly went above and beyond.

Lauren also had her fair share of sweet surprises for Eric.  She gifted him with a pin on his jacket that was a reference to their favorite movie Up. I especially loved the reference because it is one of my favorites as well. She also had custom “forever and always” cuff links that he didn’t know about until the day of. I loved all of the thought they both put into their day and how many little ways they put in extra effort for each other.

Their reception was decorated beautifully. I loved the simple touches of gold and light blue throughout.  Eric & Lauren impressed their guests with their choreographed first dance to Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran.  They were brought to tears by Lauren’s sister Kristine’s sincere speech.  They joined their friends and family in the photo booth and made sure to continue busting moves on the dance floor throughout the night.  It was so great to see this couple get married and even more wonderful to have been able to photograph it.  Thank you Eric and Lauren for letting me be a part of your day,  I hope you’re having a wonderful time in Jamaica on your honeymoon. I can’t wait for you to get back and see how amazing you both look in your photos! Congratulations on becoming Mr. and Mrs. Gamez!