As a photographer, whenever a bride and groom tell me they're waiting to see each other after the ceremony, my photographer brain immediately thinks about the photos we have to take after the ceremony and how long I will have to keep the newlyweds from enjoying their wedding. If photographers (or maybe I should just say me) have a choice, we would choose to do a first look simply because it's less time we have clients during the reception. But there's always one thing that you can absolutely never get when you choose to do a first look rather than wait until the ceremony. It's the look that the groom gives his bride when he first lays eyes on her, and man did Jose have that look. It was one of those pictures worth a thousand words, and I was privileged enough to capture that.

But let me rewind a bit. Alina and Jose are literally two of these most polite people I've ever met and they just come off as two old souls that found each other. That's at least how I felt and continued to feel every time we met. And they had a very clear vision of their wedding and paid attention to so many details. It paid off, their wedding was gorgeous.

There were so many great and different things about their wedding, that I've never seen at another wedding. They had a mariachi band that was amazing. They bought rosaries for all of their guests, rented a bouncer for the kids and had a photo booth. The groom was flung into the air by his fraternity brothers and males guests, which was both crazy and hilarious to watch. The list could go on.

I think one of my favorite things about Alina and Jose's wedding was how much you wanted to smile or laugh or even cry with them. There was so much love for these two, not only as individuals, but as a couple. 

Jose and Alina, I just wanted to say that it was truly an honor working with you guys and I wish you both many, many years of happiness!