St Petersburg Hilton Wedding – Alma and DJ – (St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church)

Our day began at the Hilton Bayside hotel in downtown St. Petersburg. Since the entire bridal party was getting ready at the hotel (guys and girls), I had plenty of time to cover preparations in great details. Alma’s room was quite spacious and large windows provided lots of soft afternoon light which helped tremendously with the detail shots. Later on I caught up with the guys in DJ’s room and after few prep shots we all headed downstairs for group and family pictures. Once the guys departed, I went back upstairs to finish with the girls. Alma’s mom and dad were there helping her with the final touches. I was making sure to stay out of everybody’s way, mostly “working” room corners and using my trusty zoom lens to capture as many candid shots as I could of these final very emotion family moments. At the same time, downstairs, the hotel staff were setting up Alma and DJ’s reception room. As we were about to leave for the church, I managed to sneak in and take few shots of the setup – it looked absolutely stunning.

The ceremony took place at the magnificent St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church. With no flash photography allowed during the mass and very dim available light I was glad that digital cameras have evolved to the point where now we are capable of capturing such events without any problems. Just a few years ago we were a lot more limited at what we could do in dark churches. Nowadays we can shoot not only what’s happening near relatively well lit altar, but also capture some awesome candids of the guests in the audience.

After the mass we took few family portraits by the altar and headed back to the Hilton where all the guests were very excited to great the newlyweds. Reception began with the introduction of the entire bridal party, followed by the toasts and a nice dinner. Then Alma and DJ danced their first dance as a husband and wife. Their parents joined them on the dance floor first and the rest of the guests followed shortly later.

I had wonderful time shooting Alma and DJ’s wedding and hope my pictures show that!Congratulations again to both of you guys!