It’s rare that I have a wedding where I have never met the couple.  But since Erina and Aaron live in DC, I didn’t get the pleasure to meet them until the night before at their rehearsal dinner.  They both just and sweet and kind as I could have hoped for!  Their friends loved to dance and they had an incredible dessert bar too!  This post is extremely portrait-heavy, so enjoy!

Oh, and I want to give a little shout out to Lindsy Hines of Weddings by Lindsy.  It was our first time working together and is was a total joy!

Ceremony and Reception Location: Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park
Photography: Melissa McClure Photography
Assistant Photographer: Mandi Contreras
Coordinator: Lindsy Hines – Weddings by Lindsy
Florist: Brides Mother
Getting Ready Location: The US Grant
Hair: Mish Mucho
Makeup: Ashley Lowe – AC Makeup
Officiant: Peter Reck

Photos by Mandi Contreras – Associate of Melissa McClure Photography

Congrats to Tory and Veronica!  Mandi can’t wait for your wedding next year!

Mandi Contreras is an associate photographer for Melissa McClure Photography.  To contact her directly, email mandi@melissamcclure.com

This family was in town for a wedding and contacted me for some family portraits!  What a great idea! They all live in different states so its rare they are all together. It was a blast especially since I got to capture the kiddo’s first sand experience! Enjoy 🙂

Deb and Markus were married on a gorgeous August day in downtown San Diego.  The ceremony and reception were at the awesome New Children’s Museum and they did great incorporating their theme with the location!

I love this angle of their First Look that Emily captured.

We snuck over to Embarcadero Park for some more portraits

Isn’t their son Lukas adorable??

I love that the museum provides a chalk artist to write whatever the couple wants!

Detail photo below by Emily

After a yummy dinner by Peartrees Catering, the dance floor got packed (thanks to Primo DJ)!

If you are looking for a fun/funky new place for a wedding, I highly recommend the New Children’s Museum!

xoxo, M

Erin and Jerry’s wedding was my second wedding of that weekend…in a completely different state!  I flew out after my Saturday morning wedding and arrived in Milwaukee the night before the wedding.  It was a beautiful, but overcast day in the Midwest.  The wedding was at the War Memorial Center in downtown Milwaukee.  Erin and Jerry both live in Chicago, but have family in Wisconsin.

Hair and makeup by the Matron of Honor, Elizabeth Comino (based out of Chicago – contact me for her info!)

Erin could not stop smiling ALL day!  Remember from their engagement session?

They had such an energetic and fun first dance!

Jerry and his family are from Cameroon so there was plenty of traditional dancing the entire night!!

I’m so happy for you two, so glad you found each other – and stayed in touch! 🙂

xoxo, M

Big thanks to my awesome 2nd shooter, Monica Z for driving up for the wedding!! <3