Lisa and Ben

I know what you're thinking: "Wait a second. I say, hold on there, just a minute; Parker doesn't shoot weddings!"

Now, that's not fair. Yes, it's true that I loath how most weddings (particularly LDS weddings) are celebrated, and feel that the manner by which most people carry out the tradition is silly and antiquated, but there is something on this earth that can get me to step way way outside my comfort zone and shoot the occasional wedding: food. And I don't mean food as in exotic or luxurious food. I mean food in general. I mean survival, sustenance, fuel. That's what happens when you're a flat broke photographer trying to scrape by–you end up doing things that perhaps you otherwise wouldn't do. Yes, it's true that I think most weddings are silly, but that being said, I do get hungry, and weddings pay well, so don't judge me.

All joking aside, I had a fantastic time in Coto De Caza shooting Ben and Lisa's reception. It was nice and relatively stress free because it was round two, so to speak, in the series of receptions, because they were married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, UT, and had a big celebration in Utah the week before, then had an additional party in Mission Viejo, CA the following weekend for all of Lisa's friends back home. I've always been one of those guys that enjoys the occasional trip to California, but wouldn't want to live there. As the years go by, I find myself in Southern California more and more often, and my distaste for ever setting up shop there keeps growing, but it was a wonderful trip, regardless. Lisa and Ben threw a great party, and I made some friends that I hope will last a lifetime. Here's a bunch of photos from the reception. I'm not in the mood to give captions to them, so you'll just have to make up your own stories for each image. Feel free to click on any of the pictures to see a larger version.