Nerina & David have the best kind of love story . . . one that started a long time ago :-).  These high school sweethearts have been a couple for many years and have two adorable sons Noah & Gabe.  It was such a blast to hang out with them and the fun group of family and friends that made the trek up to Las Vegas for the wedding!  We really enjoyed getting to know them and had a great time running around the strip together having our very own fabulous Vegas adventure!  Many will tell you, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, but in this case, the wonderful joining of two sweet people in marriage is truly an event to be shared and remembered for a lifetime.  That’s where we come in ;-)  If you were hoping for Mike Tyson’s missing tiger, random babies showing up in hotel closets, or a naked Chinese man popping out of the trunk of a car, you’ve come to the wrong blog . . . or have you . . . Just kidding, we’ve got something even better!  True Love.

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

The day began at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino where the happy couple was getting ready and where the reception would be held later on that evening.

Nerina had two pairs of shoes – fancy ones for the portraits/ceremony and some comfy ones for the PAR-TAY!

The beautiful bride putting on the finishing touches.

After helping her get into her dress, Nerina’s mom took a step back to take a look at her lovely daughter.  Her expression and sweet teary eyes say all there is to say.  Capturing perfect little moments like this is one of the very best things about our job :-)

Nerina & David wanted to have lots of time before the ceremony to shoot portraits out on the Strip so they chose to see each other before the ceremony.  Their first look was full of happy smiles and tons of laughter.

Nerina – you’re adorable!

Love both of these!  Especially David showing off his awesome kicks.

As we left Harrah’s and headed out for their portraits we noticed that they were holding pinkies.  So cute :-)

Shooting on the Strip was quite an experience.  It was a lot of fun, but it did have a few challenges.  The first was the crowds.  It was a Saturday afternoon and there were people EVERYWHERE!  The other challenge was the amount of walking.  Luckily, the day before the wedding Ryan and I had set aside a few hours to scout out some locations that weren’t TOO far for our couple to walk to in their formal attire.  It was pretty entertaining to have so many people “woo-ing” and yelling congratulations as we made our way through the crowds!

We spend most of the session focused on the classic and elegant look of Caesars Palace and The Bellagio.  Love the drama of the high ceiling and curved lines in this first spot.

Can’t complain when the Eiffel Tower makes an appearance in your wedding photos, right?  Only in Vegas!  (Well, I guess you could get that in Paris too, but the plane ride would be much longer.  Ha ha!)

We took a little walk through the casino at the Bellagio and just couldn’t help but showcase Vegas’ most popular landmark . . . slot machines :-)  Hilarious!

Nerina & David were so easy to work with.  They didn’t blink an eye when we asked them to sit on the ground in their formal wear.  Bride & Groom + awesome hallway + outdoor marble floors  = yummy photos :-)

A couple individual shots of the awesome couple.

Next, we were off to the Flamingo where the ceremony would take place in a lush garden at the center of the hotel.  Since Las Vegas is such a popular wedding destination, the Flamingo is like a well oiled wedding machine. There are five different ceremony locations and a good possibility that there will be a wedding going on at each one at the same time.  The hotel requires that all of their couples use a photographer and videographer from their staff during the ceremony, so we were actually sitting in chairs the whole time, shooting as guests.  It was kind of a fun challenge to stay in one place and not have our usual ability to move around.  Despite having a little different perspective, we ended up getting some really great shots and our feet got a little rest too so that part was kinda nice :-)

Super cute :-)

We did have a little advantage over the other guests that were taking photos from their seats.  With our handy zoom lens, you’d never know that Ryan was sitting in a row of chairs at the back of the ceremony and was still able to snag these awesome shots :-)

The bridal party workin’ it on the steps of the casino.

It was so great to catch up with one of our past couples Manny & Rachel that were both members of the bridal party.  They play softball with Nerina & David and that’s actually how they first heard about us.  Happy (almost) one year anniversary you guys!

The lovely ladies :-)

Couldn’t help posting this silly one of the guys :-)  It just makes me laugh!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Gutierrez!

The reception took place at the Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill at Harrah’s.  It was super casual with no formal events – just the couple hanging out with their closest family and friends.  We snuck out to grab a couple quick ring shots in the hotel casino.  A friendly Pai Gow dealer let us use his table as a fun photo back drop (with permission from the pit boss of course!)  Does anybody actually know how to play Pai Gow by the way? There’s dice and dominos and cards – what’s the deal?

Time to get the walking shoes out for some fun night shots on the Strip!

The one photo request that these guys had was to get some shots in front of the fountains at the Bellagio.  We were more than happy to oblige!  Talk about iconic Vegas, right?

Don’t be fooled by the images above.  It may look quiet and peaceful, but there was actually quite a crowd to work around and it was TOUGH getting enough room to shoot out there!  It was an adventure for sure!  The fountains go off every 30 minutes and we got there about 10 minutes in advance, but as the big moment got closer and closer people started to line up along the water’s edge to watch.   We had to sweet talk a family, two middle aged men and a rather drunk/crazy local who kept shouting, “I’m having a picnic!” to stake out our territory.  Befriending “Picnic Guy” actually worked to our advantage because he scared off other onlookers :-)  As you can see, the images were well worth it and I don’t think any of us will soon forget it!

There are many more great images from the day so make sure to click on the “view slideshow” button below!

To Nerina & David:  You guys are so perfect for each other.  It warmed our hearts to have the chance to capture such a sweet and honest love story.  Thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of it.  We truly enjoyed every moment!  You guys ROCK!