Southern California Wedding Photographer - John Riedy

Congregation Beth El
The Hotel Del Coronado
August 23, 2008

What an amazingly cool right of passage… becoming a man. Young Bradley Tauber did his parents proud on Saturday when he did just that. Let’s face it, 13 years old is an awkward age for anyone, but Brad was just about as bright, poised, respectful, and positive as any young man I’ve ever known. As a father of two, I can only hope that my boys turn out as well. Of course, when you meet his parents, Laura and Brian, why Brad is the way he is, becomes immediately apparent. The Taubers are just a very, very cool family. Brad’s younger brother, Lou, and sister, Leah, are also both super cool kids and I REALLY hope to one day have the honor of photographing their Bar and Bat-mitzvahs respectively.

Now, you may have been to a Mitzvah before, but I doubt it was anything like this one. The term, “over-the-top”, comes to mind (but in a good way). After the service at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, the festivities took place at the Hotel Del Coronado. All told, about 70 kids swarmed the beach. Between, boogie boarding, beach volleyball, water balloons, tug o’ war, colored sand filled glass thingies, and much more, the only superfluous detail that day was the beach chairs. There was WAY too much to do for anyone to sit. Next, while Brad and the kids were hosed down (it would take a fire hose to get all the sand off of them), the adults arrived on the Windsor lawn for a cocktail hour replete with steel drums, a full sushi bar and a hands on reptile/giant cockroach show for the little ones. Then it was on to the fabulous Crown Room, aka “Camp Tauber” for the party. And what a party it was…

Estancia La Jolla Resort
August 9, 2008

I LOVE shooting at Estancia.  It’s just one of those really great San Diego wedding venues that you just don’t get anywhere else.  The light is amazing, the architecture is unique and works beautifully with posing portraits, and it’s very intimate.  You don’t get the feeling that you’re one of four weddings happening at the hotel that day (the dreaded wedding mills).  The location alone was enough to make me happy.  Combine that with the classic beauty of my bride, Danielle and you have one very HAPPY photographer.  To be honest, it had been so long since I had met Danielle and Josh that I had totally forgotten how beautiful she was.  One look at her mom, Kim, and you know where she got her looks.  Good grief, the gene pool was good to them!  For my third wedding in a row, Rachel Peniche of Plan-it San Diego, was the planner.  She’ s as good as they get.  What more can you say.  She makes my job easy (so I guess you can say that).  Anyway, enjoy the sneak peek photos.  I’ll have the slideshow up soon!!!

The Loews Coronado Bay Resort
August 2, 2008

One of the things I pride myself on in my business is to post shots on my blog from every wedding I shoot at the latest within a week of the wedding.  WELL, I have to admit that the Oly’s have thrown me a bit off my game.  I’m so sucked in by them.  Right now I’m watching Trainor and Walsh kicking some Belgian butt in beach volleyball.  Next up is Phelps going for gold #6.  Nevertheless, I FINALLY did get around to editing the images from Cathy and Damon’s wedding.  Cathy was one of those brides you dream about…  she was on TIME!  Just kidding… Yes, she was on time, which IS quite remarkable, but more importantly, she was just so chill.  So was Damon for that matter.  Nothing was going to rattle either of these two and consequently, nothing went wrong that could possibly rattle them.  It was just one of those smooth weddings.  I think the photos reflect the relaxed feel of their day.  Enjoy…