Gutierrez Wedding /// November.27.2021

“I saw that you were perfect, and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.”

– Angelita Lim

Carlos + cassandra

On a cool & rainy afternoon, I arrived at the Sacred Heart Of Jesus Catholic Church in my hometown of Breckenridge, TX to capture the love and marriage of Carlos & Cassandra.

I have known these two basically my entire life. Cassandra was in my class growing up and Carlos was a couple of years older but I still knew him. They have been together for as long as I can remember. 16 years in fact - 17 in 2022.

As I pulled up to the church, I was one of the first people to arrive, which gave me enough time to get familiar with the church.

This was an older church, like the kind you see in really small towns (hence, Breckenridge). So, the lighting wasn't the best and the structure of it was very old school - but, I'm always up for a challenge and it went absolutely perfect.

This was also my first catholic wedding to ever shoot and if you've never attended or shot a catholic wedding, depending on the location/venue/church & priest, there can be a lot, little or no restrictions.

For me, I just couldn't go past the altar or behind it, which left a lot of areas for me to shoot (even the balcony which was gorgeous).

The day started good, I saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while but then Carlos told me that the original priest ended up getting sick and couldn't come so, they had to get another priest that was about 20-30 minutes away - and he pulled up JUST in time!

Once he got there, Cassandra arrived and looked breathtaking!

Carlos & Cassandras' son, Xavier, walked his beautiful mama down the aisle and the ceremony began.

The ceremony was a little over an hour but, to me, it went extremely fast. That's probably due to me running from one spot to another, up and down to the balcony, to capture multiple shots and angles.

The ceremony concluded and guests wasted no time heading to the reception to celebrate!

The reception took place at the Ag Barn on the way out of Breckenridge and you couldn't even tell that the reception was in the Ag Barn because of how beautifully it was decorated.

Before we did the grand entrance and introduced them as husband and wife, we went outside to do some couples portraits, and they came out beautifully. And we timed it perfectly because as we were finishing up, it started to rain on us. So, Carlos picked up his bride and we ran inside before we got drenched.

Talk about a movie love scene - a groom picking up his beautiful bride in her white wedding dress running in the rain... I mean, cmon, that's iconic right there.

The couple visited and food was served and it was amazing authentic Mexican food. It was so delicious, that they ran out quickly - and believe me, they made more than enough. So, it took guests having to run to the local Chicken Express to be able to have more food for guests. And like I said, this is a very small town, so there isn't like a catering service nearby or anything that could handle the capacity of people at least on such short notice.

But that didn't stop the couple from having the wedding and time of their lives. After a beautiful first dance as husband & wife, dancing in the midst of smoke and fog, a gorgeous chandelier above them, and legit fireworks going off, it was a dance to remember.

The rest of the night included lots and lots of dancing, family and friends, cake, and fun times ahead.

I was contracted until 10:00 P.M. but, the party went on until at least 1 or 2:00 A.M.

I know it was the wedding they had always dreamed of.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Gutierrez!!!