Thursday, June 17, 2010

An Incredible Wedding at The Hideaway


On May 30th, 2010 Laura and I photographed the wedding of Robert Kearney and Kelly Mosier at The Hideaway Club in La Quinta, California. The Hideaway Club is an exclusive golf club and spa which looks as though it was transported from Andalusia, Spain. The clubhouse is surrounded by a luxurious golf course with million dollar homes positioned on each hole.

I'd met Kelly a couple of years earlier when she'd flown me to San Francisco to photograph her engagement pictures. So I knew just how crazy and spontaneous she was. Kelly's family is wealthy and this wedding looked like it was going to be a complex one for the coordinator, Cathy O'Connell, to organize. Kelly planned on arriving at the ceremony in a helicopter, (with me riding along for photos). The dinner wasn't going to be in a ballroom, or patio, or even out on the golf course but in actually out in front of the club in the driveway. Which actually made sense because there was a big fountain out there and the large circular area was ringed with lighted palm trees.

But when Laura and I arrived at 3pm it was 103 degrees. About a dozen people were hard at work setting up tables and cooking stations outside. I recognized Luna Salomon, from Arrangements Floral and Party Design, right away. She and her husband were sweating as they set glass vases and antique lanterns onto each table.

At 5:30pm I joined Kelly and her dad and we drove out to the helicopter, which was parked near their house. David, the pilot and owner of Dedicated Helicopters Inc., strapped us in and we took off. As we gained altitude I found that from I co-pilots seat I couldn't turn around to shoot pictures of the bride and her father behind me. So I put my camera on my shoulder and shot backwards using a 15mm fisheye. A few minutes later Cathy called and said that the groomsmen were lined up at the ceremony, and told us to deliver the bride. We landed about 100 yards away in a dramatic style. I followed Kelly and her dad as they approached their guests. The wedding was just a blur after that. The twilight hour was just magical out in the desert and I shot dozens of slow-shutter shots so I could capture some of that beautiful light and the blurred movement of the guests. All together Laura and I shot almost 2,000 images which we'd later edit down to 600. It was one of the most memorable weddings of our lives and we were grateful and honored to have been hired to photograph it.

Contact Robert Marcos at (760) 504-4787. Cathy O'Connell at (760) 777-8420. Luna Salomon at (760) 776-1144. Dedicated Helicopters at (760) 898-9601