During this stay-at-home lockdown, I’ve had plenty of time to go back to older weddings and events and critique my own work from several years ago. It’s funny to see how much I’ve grown and have improved my shooting and editing skills! Yikes! I decided to revisit Sumari and Pete’s San Diego wedding at the Westgate Hotel and browse through images that I forgot how much I loved and decided to give them a little polished re-edit and re-share them on the blog this week!

Is it weird to bring attention to some content from 5 years ago that doesn’t reflect my style today? Yeah, sort of, but it’s also fun to see how much we’ve grown. My older blog post isn’t even properly formatted for my blog (this one, the one you’re reading) because it was posted via Blogspot or something wickedly outdated and it was transferred over about two years ago – another reason to re-share something old and make it “new”.

From my older blog post: The story of how met Pete & Sumari isn’t most likely a common one, but a treasured one. I wanted to embark on doing surprise proposal shoots and wasn’t sure where exactly would be a good place to look for those opportunities without any prior images to show for it so for instances like this, Craigslist it is! I ended up booking several, actually, as I guess around Christmas time, surprise proposals are huge. Pete was one of the ones I vibed with right off the bat and we’ve remained buddies ever since. His proposal and shoot following it with his fiance, Sumari, was a success and when they asked me to photograph their wedding after settling on a date, I immediately accepted.

I got to spend another fun and memorable day with these two as they said their vows in a very elegant and intimate ceremony, followed by a really fun reception, and then an even more fun couples session at The USS Midway and then at Balboa Park, where we could have easily spent another 12 hours. I think my “theme” with this couple seems to be nautical of some sort as this is the second time we’ve shot on the water, either on a vessel or with one in the background! Love it!

Sumari and Pete’s San Diego wedding at the Westgate Hotel