Stephen & Melissa || "The first time I saw your face..."

Stephen and Melissa are funny ones, if you took an Uber pool with them you might get off at the next stop thinking that they were completely smitten with each other and that he was super chill and more of a goofball than anything else, and that she had enough sass to keep him busy for a few decades.

You would be right; and you would be wrong.

He’s a nerdy goofball who acts like a teenager when anyone is looking. He is also a youth pastor with a heart of gold, has quite a bit of brilliant theology rumbling around in his head, and a degree or two stuffed up his sleeve. Stephen teaches my son guitar with utmost patience, and repeatedly listens to middle school jokes- so pretty much he’s a saint.

Melissa, well, she does have enough sass to keep him busy for a few decades, but if you only said that you would miss all of her fierce loyalty and incredible tenderness. She’s generous and kind and hilarious, and she may have actually cried happy tears for me when we moved from a one bathroom house to a three bathroom house. Basically they’re both keepers and they’re keeping each other.

In all the photos above he still hasn’t seen her…

I had the fun of documenting the day they said “for keeps” and watching their sweet faces scrunch up as they did their first look and their eyes leaked out promises of forever.

You’re going to want to click on this to see his expression…

Another thing these two love is baseball, which is why they decided to get married at The Ultimate Skybox, (more on that later), and had their first look at The Omni San Diego Hotel right next door. As a photographer I am always hunting around for perfect light and open spaces in unexpected spots. Who would have thought that a sunlit huge hallway at The Omni would have been the most gorgeous backdrop for these two to bawl their eyes out with whispered promises? It was tucked out of the way by a conference room on an upper floor, which meant that even though it was a busy weekend we had the whole place to ourselves uninterrupted- perfect.

The lines of Petco Park in the backdrop of the photos add just the right amount of architecture for interest while giving a subtle nod to their sporty roots.

On a pre-wedding scouting venture, (where I wander all over your venue and find all the best spots for light at the times you need them and all the forgotten places that others don’t see so that you get unique images), I found an out of the way corner with a framed throw-back baseball jersey that I knew would appeal to their sense of old school nostalgia, that’s where we headed next.

Because if you didn’t kiss below a jersey, did you really kiss at all?

ALL the old school love. Then on to The Omni’s sun drenched ecalator atrium to play with the light. I never guessed I would speak so lovingly about an escalator and some glass but truly this place has the market cornered on gorgeous.

Finally out to the SkyBridge that connects The Omni San Diego to Petco Park because- how could we not?

Now they are off to their wedding at The Ultimate Skybox where they could have all of their favorite things together: each other, baseball, beer, friends, and family. Literally perfect. To see the next chapter in their story subscribe to my blog at the bottom of this post or find it here

That’s what he said…

“Miranda is amazing and so easy to work with! She is very talented and has so many creative ideas we would have never thought about. (She) took the time to invest and learn what we wanted out of our session. My favorite part about receiving our photos was how genuinely excited she was to reveal them! You can tell there is a passion and joy that comes from taking photos for her and it made it all the more exciting to be on the receiving end. We loved our experience. “ - Stephen