Whitney & Shane : Kauai Bride & Groom

The day of Whitney & Shane’s wedding, we saw a gorgeous sunrise and a gorgeous sunset. It was a really windy day, but the sunshine was brilliant and warm and gorgeous. Even with the rain showers a few minutes before the ceremony, we had beautiful light for the wedding and a few portraits afterwards. I had a hard time falling to sleep after dinner with the family… I was tossing around all of the ideas I had in mind for a gorgeous, sun-lit Day After session with this beautiful bride & groom.

Fast forward to 5:30 a.m. on Friday, and it’s raining. HARD. Storm clouds are rolling, one over the other, coming into the beach at Kapa’a, and I knew all my pre-conceived notions needed to be thrown out the window. Whitney & Shane’s day after session was meant to take about 90 minutes, and ended up taking a little over three hours… we kept having to dive in and out of the Jeep, and time our locations around the pattern of the storm clouds above.

But you know what? These turned out SO.GOOD. I’ve seen tons of sessions with newlywed couples on the beach, but hey… I’ve never seen one in the rain. And while it was only lightly drizzling for most of our little tour of Kauai, by the end of the session, we were met with a torrential downpour. I suited up with our underwater gear and just shot through it, while Whitney & Shane were total rock stars. This session is real life. It’s not just art, it’s a memory for them. I was so proud when the bride & groom hugged us and thanked us for taking them on this adventure… Mack and I were definitely the ones who needed to be doing the thanking. This is some of the most fun I’ve ever had shooting!

I know I could talk for at least a few more paragraphs about what a blast this has been, but I’d mostly just be saying the same things over and over again. So, instead, I’ll skip straight to the pictures!

And let me just say right up front what we’re all thinking… WOWZA. Whitney, my dear, you are absolutely stunning.

Hawaii has such brilliant color, but still, some of my favorite images from this session are in black and white. Sexysexysexy.

While we started the session on the beach right outside our condo, we then went up into the Forest Preserve area. I think my favorite thing about Hawaii is that it’s every bit as much about the mountains and the forest as it is about the beach… I wanted to be sure we showed both in Whitney & Shane’s pictures!

Whitney’s sister and hopefully-soon-to-be-brother-in-law (No pressure, Forrest!) came along to help Whitney traverse the Hawaiian landscape for our session, and made wonderful personal assistants. This picture is goofy, and I love it.

Hello, supermodels!

We finished out the session near Secret Beach, and as I said earlier, there was no letting up with the rain this time. Toward the end of these pictures, you can see how hard it was really coming down… and never once did Whitney or Shane complain. Even when I got them out into the surf, which is serious business here unlike in Mexico where the waves are calm, they just dug their toes in and held on for the ride. Put simply, they just enjoyed each other, which is really what makes for the best pictures!

GAH! Gorgeous! Taking pictures of you two, particularly in such a beautiful place, is just cheating. You are beautiful, inside & out, and you’ve spoiled us rotten by bringing us along for your big adventure. Congratulations again, Whitney & Shane… may the new life you’re starting just get better and better!