KEVIN & BRITT (PART II) – HUNTINGTON BEACH WEDDING, NEWLAND BARN
(Listen while viewing: The Strumbellas-Spirits ) When you picture your wedding day, can you picture all the details? Do you think you’ll CREATE all the details? Because Britt and Kevin did. Every piece of decor was made by hand. And in that perfect Southern California fall weather, the sun seemed to hug everything they’d painstakingly made together. Kevin and Britt have traveled far and wide throughout the years, but watching Britt walk up the aisle to Kevin, listening to them exchange their vows, surrounded by loved ones and the beautiful personal touches they had created--it really felt as if this wasn’t just the beginning of something: it was a continuation. This was merely a new chapter mark in their grand adventure together.
Inside the big red barn, near walls strung up with photos of their lives, they’d piled a table high with homemade (yes, homemade) treats. I may have gulped down a couple of Mexican wedding cakes (MY FAVORITE) before whisking Britt and Kevin off for portraits. Behind the venue property was a wide track of unworked land I’d scouted before, and there we went exploring.
The reception took place almost entirely outdoors in the warm October night, and the food--made to order tacos cooked right then and there--was incredible. It was also by far the most romantically (and dimly) lit reception I’ve shot, and it was a lot of fun busting out my flashes and playing with light in ways I don’t typically get to.
After much dancing and craziness, Chloe and I set up something I’m really excited to announce soon as an offering of Tajreen Hedayet Photography: The Green Box, my own handmade photobooth! It was my first field test of the Box, a completely automatic digital photobooth that guests can use and operate freely. The results were unanimous: it was a HIT. After guests were all danced out, they smoothly filed into the barn to play with the photobooth and take hilarious photos that were keepsakes for the bride and groom as much as they were for the guests. A hundred-and-twenty photos later, Kevin and Britt cut the cake, and, naturally, that’s when the gigantic gold piñata came out.
As the evening wore down, guests said their goodbyes and Chloe and I began packing up. Rather quickly, I realized that Britt and Kevin were leaving too, but didn’t have a planned send-off in mind. A quick idea occurred to me that I had almost no time execute, so I grabbed the maid of honor to help spread the word. Not two minutes later, we’d lined up the remaining guests for a surprise cell phone flashlight exit. It was a perfect end to the wedding I’ll forever refer to as my “birthday wedding”. Between the hula-hoops, the piñata, and my first field test of our very own photobooth, it was a resounding success. As usual, a big thanks to Chloe, who’s shucking her assistant days to become a second shooter/photobooth watcher/dessert sneaker extraordinaire. And of course, a huge thank you Britt and Kevin for allowing me to take part in their unbelievably fun day!
Photographer: Tajreen Hedayet Photography | Photobooth: The Green Box by Tajreen Hedayet Photography | Location: Newland Barn, Huntington Beach, CA | Bouquet & Crown: Twig & Twine
