Southern California Wedding Photographer - John Riedy

La Jolla Presbyterian Church
La Jolla Country Club
September 20, 2008

I feel sorry for other wedding photographers throughout the country. I really do. I honestly can’t think of any other city where you have SUCH an amazing array of wedding venues. I mean, you’ve got the Hotel Del Coronado, Estancia, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, The El Cortez, La Costa, L’Auberge Del Mar, and soooo many more. This week was yet another perfect example of why being a San Diego wedding photographer rocks.

My day started at the bride’s parent’s house in La Jolla. It was a beautiful single story home with great light inside and beautiful landscaping outside. We did bridal portraits both inside and outside. It was a beautiful 70 degrees outside due to the cloud cover, but the light was a little flat so I popped in a little studio strobe to give the light some shape. Other things I noticed at Melissa’s parent’s house were that she had REALLY cool shoes with red bottoms that the bridesmaids all signed and that there were EIGHT bridesmaids! I thought that was a lot. Wait until I get to the groomsmen!

From her house it was on to the La Jolla Presbyterian Church where I found the groom and THIRTEEN groomsmen waiting for me! Yikes! We banged through the formals pretty quickly with the guys and Justin’s family, which gave us some much needed down time before the ceremony. The ceremony itself was beautiful, although, as I’m finding more and more these days, the photo policies of churches are becoming EXTREMELY restrictive. It’s sad, because you just can’t capture the emotion from 150 feet away. Still, I did my best and managed to get some nice shots.

After the ceremony is when it got fun. We popped off a few quick altar formals and then it was me, my assistant, and all 21 members of the bridal party plus the bride and groom heading to the beach in La Jolla for some portraits. The women of the bridal party were VERY brave and despite their less than practical (but oh so sexy) footwear didn’t complain at all when I begged them to pose on the sandstone cliffs. The sun was nowhere to be found still, but thanks to a little strobe action, we again created great light.

Next it was off to the La Jolla Country Club where wedding planner, Trena Lozano, and florist, Adrianne Smith had transformed the already beautiful ballroom and dining room. I also have to give huge credit to Trena for putting together a timeline that I wasn’t sure could be achieved, but she managed to pull off with amazing accuracy. The wedding band was NRG. They ROCK. Plain and simple. The long and short was that it was a fantastic party that flowed extremely well and was capped off by a great sparkler send off. I also want to say a big thanks to Melissa and Justin for making my job so easy and also to Melissa’s mom, Sally. I’ve met her SO many times at other weddings, it was a pleasure to finally have her as a client. She was awesome. Enjoy the photos!

Well, as I come up on my 10th full year as a wedding photographer, having now shot weddings all over the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and even Europe, I’m very, very, VERY happy to announce the launch of my brand spankin’ new website. Same address, www.johnriedy.com, WHOLE new look. The images are BIG and, miraculously, they load FAST.  On my new site I have total control! I can very easily add images, galleries, menu items, change text, colors, design…just about anything. The other amazing thing is that this site is totally optimizable for search engines. Keep your eyes peeled on Google my friends, John Riedy Photography - San Diego Wedding Photographer - is COMING!

So, if you have a moment, please have a look around. If you see any spelling errors like my good friend, Shawna Krystek did last night at about midnight (what, it’s not spelled “Portolio”? There’s an “f”? DOH!), please don’t hesitate to tell me. Make sure when you view the galleries to use the “View Full Screen” function. It’s crazy.

Have fun!

The Diamondview Terrace
September 6, 2008

Being a wedding photographer in San Diego definitely has it’s advantages.  We have some of the best wedding venues in the word, such as the Hotel Del Coronado, the Prado, Estancia, La Costa Resort, Aviara, and many more.  The problem is, after a while, many of those hotels can seem quite similar and it becomes harder to get excited about shooting when you’ve been to a location so many times.  Once in a while, though, a new wedding venue comes along that shakes things up a bit and demands your attention.  The Diamonview Terrace is one of those locations.  Situated in the middle of downtown San Diego directly overlooking Petco Park, the actual venue is on the 15th floor with spectacular views of the city and bay.  The interior is contemporary and yet very warm and inviting.  Outside there’s a cozy fireplace and couches for lounging.

The venue was the perfect match for our happy couple, both of whom are very stylish and attractive, yet warm and approachable at the same time.  Although they currently reside in London, Jaime grew up locally.  Jaime got ready at the new Hard Rock Hotel.  Talk about a stylish venue!  Wow.  I was definitely feeling old in that lobby.  Jaime, of course, fit right in.  Once she was dressed and ready, we walked a few blocks to the Park in the Park at Petco Park where she patiently waited to see her groom for the first time.  Park in the Park is a GREAT location for formals as you can incorporate the baseball elements as well as beautiful greenery.  The light bounces off the buildings and allows shooting in almost any direction.  From there I went with the groom to chillax before the ceremony at a REALLY sweet bar called Basic.  There we took a few minutes to do some killer portraits of Barrett.  It was then on to the rooftop ceremony which, although it was relatively to the point, was very meaningful and emotional.  After that, there might have been a little drinking going on.  Hmmm. Not sure.  I am sure that everyone had an amazing time.

As is so often the case at weddings that I photograph, Rachel Peniche of Plan-it San Diego was the wedding planner.   Basically this means that everything flowed very smoothly.  She’s simply as good as they get.  So please enjoy the photos and if you’d like to see more, please have a look at the slideshow at the bottom of the post.  Enjoy!

August 30-31, 2008

This was the second year I’ve had the pleasure of photographing the Aspen Jazz Festival. I was actually flown there by a very special client to photograph both the performances and their private party in a tent just off the side of the stage. Out of respect for my clients privacy I’ll only be posting concert pics; however, I must say that the party- two nights of it, mind you- was completely top drawer. From the food, to the copious amounts of what I’m sure was VERY expensive wine, to the flowers and to top it off, a 104 inch plasma television, few expenses were spared. So if you didn’t feel like trekking the 50 feet from the tent to the reserved seats directly in front of the stage, you could sprawl out on the leather sofas and watch in complete comfort.

Last year’s headliners were Joss Stone and John Legend, both of whom were phenomenal performers. Here are some pics from last year. This year Jazz Aspen Snowmass went a little more old school with headliners of Ziggy Marley, Bob Dylan, Dwight Yoakim, and John Fogerty. Okay, I know they’re not exactly “Jazz” acts, per se, but who REALLY wants to listen to jazz for three days. Trust me, this was better. In addition, day one was kicked off by someone named Nikka Costa and day two by Tift Merritt. I have to say, although Tift hails from the mean streets of Chapel Hill, it pains me to say that she TOTALLY ROCKED. She’s amazing - and not too bad lookin’ for a Tar Heel (If you haven’t read my bio, I’m a Blue Devil). Keep an eye on her. This festival has been known to launch some careers. Anyway, enjoy the photos…

Nikka Costa…

We weren’t really supposed to shoot Dylan. I guess this is where the old adage, “shoot now, ask for forgiveness later” comes from…

The lovely and talented, Tift Merritt…

Dwight “Dear GOD these pants are tight” Yoakim…