All my future bride’s can rest easy now because Christina and Mike broke the curse.
Before this wedding, every… single… time… that I’ve shot at the Cathedral of Christ the King it has rained. But no longer.
If you pay attention you might recognize the bride since she’s been on this blog a couple times, for their engagement session but usually as my assistant, who I’ve missed dearly since she left to pursue what she’s been trained to do. For the last year or so she’s been traveling the country with the theater production of The Lion King as the on-staff physical therapist. But now that she’s married, she’s back in Atlanta and can start helping me out again. You have no idea how stoked I am. But I know my time is limited because I imagine that she’ll be pregnant any day now if she gets her way.
Did I mention that she’s the youngest of 11 kids? But she’ll probably limit herself to 8 or 10. Moderation ya know.
Then there’s Mike, the groom. Mike, my friend, endeavor to deserve Christina because there’s no man on earth that does. I look forward to getting to know you better and maybe you two can pop out a few girls that are about the right age for my boys?
A few notes about the images…. Christina and Mike and their families are about as Catholic as the Pope. You’ll notice a rosary crucifix on Christina’s bouquet… engraved on the back is the date (in 1975) it was given to her oldest sister on her confirmation day and who later entered the convent (they see her once a year). She and all her sisters were wearing scapulars…it looks like a string necklace with cloth squares that hang in the front and the back. There are two priests that figure prominently on the images… one has been battling leukemia for a while now and the other is getting ready to serve as a military chaplain in the middle east. They are both priests in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and they are both her brothers. And then there’s Mike’s father who you see at the altar… he’s a deacon. We were joking that no respectable hispanic family is without a deacon or priest. And last, there were about a million kids…. when I first met Christina[’s family], she was 12, and there were no nephews or nieces yet. I think the numbers had increased by the end of the reception, but that could be my imagination.
My friend and trusty second photographer Huy Cat was happy to see Christina and again, my trusty assistant Brian Steele rocked.
Remember that you can view the slideshow full-screen by clicking the last icon on the bottom right.
Ben, I noticed your note at the bottom of the slide show… “Ben Vigil, shooting saints” How incredibly true! And I do dare say that equal to their sainthood is your work. Amazing. Amazing and WONDERFUL people photographed spectacularly! As a friend of Christina’s, thanks!
Congratulations Christina and Mike! God bless you and your marriage. Ben, the photo of C & M laying down in the grass is utterly original. I love it. Doesn’t hurt to have such gorgeous subjects!
Okay, maybe not…. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to hang out with Monica and Rich all day. They are such a blast (you’ll see it in the images) and obviously just love life and live it to the fullest. When I met with Monica and Rich we hit it off right away and it turns out that we know a lot of the same people and walk in the same circles, so to speak. Rich is a youth minister at the church were I grew up (some of my family still goes there) and Monica works at a Catholic high school on the other side of Atlanta. Rich’s job explains all the young folk you’ll see in the slideshow.
Monica and Rich’s wedding was #3 in a row with the AMAZING Susan Graham of Susan Graham Signature Events and everybody at Bold American Catering. There’s a lot of eye candy in this show so sit back and relax while you watch the show — the music is a lot different than my usual wedding music but it fits Monica and Rich perfectly. Jason Spruill, a.k.a. Weddings by Jason, another amazing Atlanta photographer, came out to help me cover all the bases and did an amazing job. And again, my trusty assistant Brian Steele made anything possible.
This slideshow has a TON of images so unless you’re on a decent DSL connection I’d suggest that you click once below to start the slideshow downloading and then click again to pause it and wait a little bit (maybe 15 or 30 seconds) before pressing play again. Same goes for the full-screen version, which you can view by clicking the last icon on the bottom right.
What an amazing and pleasurable wedding this was for me!
I must say, Alice and Adam take the award for the most relaxed and calm bride and groom of the year. It reminds me of that line in Pride and Prejudice toward the end, the father speaking to his just-engaged daughter, “You’re each of you so complying that nothing will ever be resolved on.” The entire day was such a pleasure.
Of course, Huy Cat was on hand to shoot with me and Susan Graham did another stellar job.
This is a new way that I will be posting these slideshows: right here in the blog so you don’t have to open a new window to view the show. You can also click through the images one by one and see a ton of them, not just a few that I chose for the blog. Of course, there’s also a FULL SCREEN option if you prefer — just click the little button at the bottom right of the slideshow and you’ll get to see bigger images.
Congratulations to Laura and David who were the most gracious hosts! Wow, what a wedding. Susan Graham and her team along with Bold American and everybody else from the stylists to the band pulled out all the stops and made it a weekend to remember for Laura and David. Chris and Katie from 6ofFour were on hand to help as well as my trusty assistant Brian — they all captured some stellar images and I want to thank them personally.
Congratulations again to Laura and David!
There’s not much explaining I need to do here… I’ll let the images speak for themselves. These are just a quick few. You REALLY need to watch the slideshow — there’s even an option to view the slideshow full screen now.
Ben Vigil
2 Responses to “Laura & David Married in Atlanta, GA (updated)”
BEAUTIFUL! So glad you were able to capture such fantastic pictures from a truly wonderful wedding! You always do such a great job and it’s also fun to work with you!
Just found your website through OSP and wanted to say hi to a fellow Atl phototgrapher! Your images, blog and website are so stunning!!!! Just Beautiful!
I was flattered when The Atlantan Brides approached me a few months ago to shoot new headshots for Elizabeth and Celeste. I was jazzed because they are honestly two of my favorite people in the industry. We had a great time shooting some great images and chatting over lunch. These certainly are two women to watch in Atlanta.
I wasn’t sure what images they were going to use, but these are the ones the magazine ran with.
Elizabeth Ralls, Editor-In-Chief
Celeste Couvillon, Associate Publisher
And speaking of The Atlantan Brides, the Fall/Winter issue just hit the newstands and it looks A-MA-ZING!
Seriously, it’s the best wedding magazine in Atlanta for sure. Nevermind that I have a full-page ad up front in the magazine and a few weddings in the hitched section…
If you’re a bride and looking for some great ideas and great imagery, definitely pick one of these up. You can even thumb through the entire digital version of the magazine here.
One of the nice things about shooting engagement sessions is that you really get to know your couple before the wedding. As a photographer I get to see beyond the facts and connect with the couple not as clients but as a bride and a groom in love and on this little mini journey to the wedding day. You get to find out where they met and what they do, or the stories behind the things that brought them together. One of those “things” is the dog they both cherish.
When Amanda asked if they could being her I thought it was an awesome idea.
I wanted this one image because I’ve never had a pair of sunglasses that I REALLY like, so I’m always a little bit envious of people with killer shades.
It’s the guy that usually needs a little convincing by his bride-to-be prior to the shoot. And it’s also the guy that realizes “wow, this isn’t such a bad deal after all. We can shoot THESE kinds of pictures any time you want, Ben.”
I just LOVE the look on her face! She’s like: “are they done yet?”
I’ve known Meghan for a couple years now. She teaches at my son’s school and she has helped out Pure Fashion in various capacities, which I also help out by doing photography. She’s also BFF with Christina who I blogged about two posts ago. And Nick is the brother of one my wife’s best friends’ husbands. And he handles I.T. at the school. Meghan and Nick are getting married in December at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation, which I am so looking forward to.
It turned out to be a really hot day but they were so very low stress and easy to work with especially in the “down” moments when I’m [supposedly] not snapping away, like this one.
This one is so cute to me.
They had a blast poking around in the water and it actually took quite a while for them to get up to the waterfall and back without killing themselves.
These images have been “embargoed” for a little bit so David didn’t see his bride-to-be before the time was right — so I’ve been waiting to post these! I’m resting a bit after Laura and David’s amazing wedding yesterday but I wanted to take a moment to post these images.
Isn’t Laura just stunning!
Since this is my blog I get to start with my favorites first
If you’ve been to more than one or two weddings in Atlanta, you’ll recognize the setting immediately. This is the Imperial Ballroom at the Biltmore Ballrooms in Atlanta where their wedding reception was held yesterday.
Dear Ben, I could gush, but you’ve heard it all before. Let me just say this: thank you, professionally and personally, for taking such good care of my clients. This is 50% of the reason I support you (the other 50% being your talent). Your biggest fan, Susan
Ben - beautiful, stunning, amazing, works of art - what other words can be used to describe these pictures? Can’t wait to see the images from the rest of the wedding weekend! You are so talented and it’s such an honor to work with you!
As I write this post I’m thinking back to Peggy and Price’s wedding where Christina, my assistant back then, was being hit on by two different groomsmen and she had a guy calling her on the phone named “Garcia”. This former wasn’t unusual. She seemed to get hit on by VERY eligible groomsmen with clockwork regularity but the stalker guy (whom she had barely met) calling and leaving multiple messages on her phone was different. Kinda creepy, yeah, but different.
But I guess it’s not surprising that Garcia… er, Mike, kept calling because anyone who knows Christina knows that there’s no man on this planet that deserves her. See, I’ve known her since she was 12 years old and we all thought she was going to become a nun. No, really, a nun. Her oldest sister is a nun. She has two brothers who are priests. So it’s not so far fetched as it may seem in this crazy world we live in.
But now she’s all grown up and getting hitched… and I couldn’t be happier to be shooting their wedding in a couple months. It means that she’ll be back in Atlanta full-time and she can start assisting me again. Yeah, and I’m happy for Christina and Mike too. (You’re laughing right? That was a joke.)
Okay, enough about me — Christina and Mike:
Ben Vigil, shooting saints…
5 Responses to “Christina and Mike’s Engagement Session”
i’m so so happy you are photographing this stage of their life. what a gift you have- ben!
you have finally captured their beauty on both the outside and the inside.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
Yay! Christina, you look beautiful. Congrats! Love the portraits at the end.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Ben, I noticed your note at the bottom of the slide show… “Ben Vigil, shooting saints” How incredibly true! And I do dare say that equal to their sainthood is your work. Amazing. Amazing and WONDERFUL people photographed spectacularly! As a friend of Christina’s, thanks!
September 26th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Congratulations Christina and Mike! God bless you and your marriage. Ben, the photo of C & M laying down in the grass is utterly original. I love it. Doesn’t hurt to have such gorgeous subjects!
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
ben!!!!
just- ben!!!!!!