“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world,
and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson
Is their a better way to kick off 2018 but with a shoot with our dear friends: Nikki and Paolo? Well there is. How about a Trash-the-dress session in Lake Tahoe with the same lovely couple, but with Nikki wearing a wedding dress custom made by sought after Filipino designer Francis Libiran. Yea that's more like it. The beauiful dress, which was flown all the way from the Philipines for her wedding, had one more job to do: make Nikki feel like a princess on the edge of a rocky cliff, while she tries to ride out the 30 degree cold weather. Well, 1 out of 2 isn't bad. Standing on the cliff was the easy part. Trying not to shiver so you don't look like your freezing your butt off on the photos was the hard part. But Nikki, the trooper that she is, and with the help of her husband Paolo, braved the cold, the hike and the climb, so she can finally preserve that wedding dress of hers and put it away permanently. Something she's been wanting to do since August. But these photographs will definitely help her remember how beautiful she was in her wedding dress.
And this is why I love to do trash-the-dress sessions. Besides seeing the newly married couple one last time, being able to photograph the contrasting aspect of seeing a bride wearing her beloved wedding dress in a peculiar, off the beaten path location is something I will always appreciate and strive for my couples to do. And besides, not having the pressure of a wedding timeline breathing down my neck, I get the chance to really direct the couples into shots that are beautiful, albeit, sometimes risky. But to coin a phrase that Paolo jokingly said in Tagalog: "buwis buhay, tiis ganda." (which roughly translates to: risking your life just to have a pretty shot), is pretty much my M.O. when I go into a session. So having a good health insurance beforehand is almost a necessity when you book a shoot with us. Of course I'm joking. Having good balance is much preferred. Enjoy the photos!
