Excitement had been building for me since July of 2011 when I met Kym for the first time at Panera on Park Lane by Northpark Mall. I guess I “passed the test” so to speak when we met at that same Panera for a second time, this time with Mark. For the next nine months we built a friendship alongside their engagement and wedding planning.
I’m always intrigued by what stage of their planning process the bride is in when she contacts me. Although Kym hadn’t nailed down many specifics other than the venue when we first met, she had a clear vision of a bright and lively wedding with Spanish flair. A few details mentioned were a long Spanish vail, lanterns, and a mariachi band for the reception! She had my imagination working to picture in my head what it would look like, and I have to say, it all came together with the perfect amount of subtle zest.
More often than not I’ll meet the bride before the groom, and I love seeing their descriptions of their future husband gradually come out in person after shaking hands. Some of my favorite portraits of them that we took at SMU, the Arboretum, and the Bishop Arts district came from Kym pinching Mark’s side to make him laugh.
Nothing added more of a Spanish touch to this wedding than the Kym & Mark’s family. A theme can be carried out by colors, music, and decoration, but it’s the personal elements that really make it vibrant. The liveliness that their family and friends brought to the reception was even bolder than these pink and orange petals that lined the aisle.
Kym’s excitement is priceless! I love how the flowers on their cake cascaded down each tier. And below, look who caught the bouquet! Thankfully for me (photographically) Kym and Mark had boo-coos of detail. I’ve never seen a timeline at a wedding before and I thought that was an AWESOME idea. Normally I simply have the ‘day of’ schedule on my phone or printed in my pocket for my personal reference– but how great to creatively inform your guests of when the significant moments are going to happen so they don’t miss out!
In light of mother’s day yesterday I had to include these two images above. When I see these images of their mom’s affection, it astounds me that there’s a word in Spanish that comes to mind immediately, and I can’t think of an English word that fits the scenes as well as cariñoso. Google translates some english synonyms as endearing, lovely, tender… but cariñoso wraps all of those and more together in one meaningful word. There is something culturally I think that Spanish mothers have the trump card against all moms out there (Italian moms come at a close second, but I’m biased).
Kym and Mark’s wedding was nothing short of a celebration. It’s pretty neat to see months of planning meet its purpose so perfectly. Although it wasn’t late December of ’63, the song that was stuck in my head while writing this post was “Oh What a Night” by Frankie Valli” and the four seasons. Oh what a night!
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