The Lafayette Hotel Wedding San Diego | Julie & Dan
When Julie and Dan contacted me about there planned Lafayette Hotel wedding I must admit I got very excited about the possibility of shooting a wedding there. I’ve been to many indoor wedding venues and a large majority are bland, lack character and don’t offer much in the way of unique. It’s why most of my weddings clients choose to go outdoors, okay the weather helps with that also. The Lafayette however is a different breed of hotel. It’s got bags of style as soon as you walk in, offering retro decor and sharp colors and a pool surrounded by rooms that kind of remind me of the Saguaro in Palm Springs. Plenty of non hotel guests and locals come in the summer to chill by the pool, myself included, it’s got that vibe and it’s non pretentious. It’s cool and I knew before Julie and Dan contacted me, so I was stoked they got in touch with me.
Julie and Dan live on the East Coast, so we met on Skype, with the help of cell phones for sound, which made for an interesting first meet/talk. Straight away I liked them, cool and super chilled, my kind of people. I knew it would be a fun wedding with these two and it was. It must have been the most humid day of the year so it was a good thing the wedding was all indoors, I remember pitying the wedding photographers working outdoor weddings that day. We all battled through nonetheless with regular room breaks to cool down and stop the sweat creeping, okay I was dripping throughout but thats fine with me as I’m behind the camera always moving. We started early at a nice and relaxed pace, but then as the ceremony time loomed things started to speed up and before we knew it the guests had arrived and the ceremony was about to start. Just check out the ceremony room, eclectic chairs for the guests seating, (yeah you would pay a fortune to rent these out) and colorful umbrellas hanging from the ceiling and a few tropical plants scattered around the ceremony site. It’s nerve racking walking out to a lot of people knowing all eyes are on you, but I think these two handled the situation perfect. The ceremony was swift but long enough to get a few different perspectives, this is where having a second photographer present helps a bunch, thanks Esteban!
As soon as the ceremony ended the sun was close to setting so moving fast with family portraits was a priority, this way I could have time alone with the couple for the romantic portraits with just enough of that golden light of California. Esteban my associate and trusted second photographer got some fantastic cocktail hour candids whilst I was shooting the couple, another great reason to have two photographers at your wedding! The classic lafayette sign and the clean white beams and columns that support the vivid brick that is the building of the lafayette, makes for a great backdrop for some portraits whilst also taking the couple away from the friends and family that want to congratulate the newly weds ( this is a wedding photographers nightmare when working with a tight timeline). After the taking images of Julie and Dan together I had a small amount of time to get some decor details of the ballroom downstairs before the wedding guests started coming in, just enough time! I didn’t realize until only a few days before that part of “Top Gun” was filmed in the ballroom, the piano scene I believe? The lafayette ballroom has really nice lighting, not like that crazy orange light like a lot of ballrooms, so it was very pleasant shooting there. The grand entrance, the toasts, first dance and food all passed and it was party time and boy did the guests know how to party. The DJ always sets the vibe for a good party and he did great with this one! A very fun wedding indeed, and only a short walk home for me, perfect! A Lafayette Hotel wedding is the way to go!
For more information on having me photograph your Lafayette hotel wedding please get in touch by emailing me here or directly info@johnnewsomephotography.com
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