San Diego Wedding Photography Destination Wedding Photography – Acqua Photo

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Posts Tagged ‘Rock the Dress’

Rock the Dress – Destination Wedding Moab UT & Arches

One of the most beautiful and otherworldly places in the United States is Arches National Park located near Moab, UT.  Incredible rock formations soar thousands of feet out of the ground forming natural towers, bridges, and arches — a landscape that is truly awe inspiring.  Years ago, Shane and I camped and hiked throughout the park and always hoped for an opportunity to come back and photograph it with clients.  When Lynn and Peter contacted us and asked us to travel to photograph both their destination wedding AND a Rock the Dress Session here, we were floored!

The day after their amazing wedding was held in a natural canyon just outside Moab, we headed back out with the goal of creating some incredibly unique bridal images in Arches National Park.  Weather moves quickly across this state, and the perfect blue sky day quickly became tumultuous and stormy as we drove through the entrance gates.  We had originally envisioned landscapes with full sun and vivid colors, but the soft light and cloud cover revealed a romantic and unexpected glow that we find to be captivating.

Rock the Dress at Huntington Botanical Gardens & Leo Carrillo State Park

In the last ten or so years, there has been an awesome phenomenon in wedding photography called a “trash the dress” photo shoot.  Brides all over the world have donned their wedding dress for a second time and modeled for a photographer while literally destroying their dresses.  The theory behind this type of a shoot is that the wedding is over and the bride won’t ever wear the dress again. So why not trash it while making beautiful images instead of letting it collect moths in a closet?  We think it is a fantastic idea, but what about all the brides who aren’t so eager to part with their most cherished of keepsakes?!?

We present to you: the Rock the Dress session!  Rather than going for the shock value of a trash the dress session, give your (likely expensive) dress the respect it deserves by modeling it in a full-fledged fashion shoot.  This is your opportunity to get breath-taking shots in incredible locations that would otherwise be difficult to achieve within the constraints of a wedding day.  Afterward, you might need to get the dress dry-cleaned, which you should plan on doing after the wedding anyway!  Who says you can’t have your wedding cake and eat it too?

This Rock the Dress session was sooooo much fun!  We started out at the historic Huntington Botanical Gardens, where a kind groundskeeper drove us around on a golf cart so we could shoot in all of the best spots.  For the second location, we drove out to Leo Carillo State Park (where the groom originally proposed to the bride), and were able to capture some really romantic moments during sunset.

Live It Up! Acqua Photo featured in Latter Day Bride Magazine 2010

We are excited to be included in the 2010 Latter Day Bride Magazine, in bookstores now!  The theme of this year’s magazine is “Live It Up! Celebrate For Life” and our images were chosen as the main feature to help illustrate the overall spirit throughout the issue.  We couldn’t think of a better couple to embody the joy and excitement of marriage than Jen & Rhett Walker.  We had such an amazing time shooting their Rock the Dress session in La Jolla.  To see more images from the session, click here.  See below for tear sheets!

Special thanks to Jennifer Oldroyd & Emma Freeman at Latter Day Bride Magazine .