When do I consider a wedding to be very personal? It's when your friends and family are not only guests but are involved in the preparations. I love it when everyone gets a role that they can take on, and Kimi and Moira really made everyone a part of the celebration.
The night before their wedding, I tagged along to the venue to watch everyone set up. Moira was in the kitchen making the appetizers with her soon to be sister-in-law Clarita. Estela, Moira's mom, was setting the tables and styling the centerpieces, which turned out to be my favorite detail of the entire wedding, with a mix of dried plants like cottonwood and lively greens like eucalyptus. Kimi was up on the ladder with his groomsmen draping the ceiling. Meanwhile, his mom literally prepared the entire dinner menu from the smoked salmon to the carrot cake.
I knew, even from our first meeting, this wedding was going to be a memorable one for me. Who would have thought that it was the last wedding I'd shoot for a while? The wedding happened in the middle of the Corona virus outbreak. It was one of the last gatherings that were allowed before the lockdown happened in most countries around the world.
Although it was an uncertain time and the couple made several sacrifices like not having some loved ones in attendance, the wedding persisted and it was every bit as celebratory as it needed to be. I'll hold on to these memories for a bit longer while we wait to establish our new normal.