santa barbara

The Schmergusons: A Santa Barbara, CA Wedding! Part 1

This wedding was one of the most fun weddings I've ever been to- including ones I was invited to as a guest!  Here are some shots of Kelly Schmandt & Scott Ferguson's (hence "Schmerguson") wedding in beautiful Santa Barbara, California.  Despite the fact that I personally know incredible wedding photographers in Cali that I can highly recommend, I much prefer for West Coasters (can I call them that?) to fly me out for their wedding instead.  :)  I love weddings in Cali and generally find that it's a 99% chance of sun and 70 degrees just about every day.

I know Kelly from college in Nashville and I had never met Scott before- especially since it would be a long distance flight to meet for coffee like I do with most wedding couples.  I was a bit nervous going into it knowing Kelly so well, but having no idea about Scott and his groomsmen.  Maybe it's me, but as a male photographer shooting a wedding I generally find it easy to get comfortable with the bride and bridesmaids, but groomsmen can be hit or miss.  If I had to make a slightly sexist generalized guess, it's that generally women enjoy getting dressed up and going to a wedding, whereas most men generally feel out of sorts with a rented tux and a strange person taking their photo all day- at least until they've had a few beers at the reception.  This wedding was not the case.  Scott was easily the smiley-est person I've ever met.  His groomsmen also fit quite into his personality (you can tell by the hats and bowties).  These guys were a whole lot of fun to photograph!

Now on to some photos of getting ready and the ceremony!

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The first look:

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I'm telling you, Scott was smiling like this all day:

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The ceremony took place in an office building courtyard... but you'd never know it by the fountain, vegetation, and architecture!

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The groomsmen rehearsing to sing "All You Need is Love" as the bride came down the aisle:

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The people that didn't seem to trust that I knew what I was doing.  ;)

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One of the coolest things I've seen at a wedding was having Kelly's yoga instructor have the audience stand and do breathing exercises.

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Which included a "laughter" breathing exercise.

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This was told to me to be the most difficult, but important photo I needed to take.  It almost took me falling into the pond, but I got it.  :)

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"Now put your hand on your hip... no, not you."  :)

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