Destination Wedding Photography- Darla and Marvin's Florida Wedding

In August, 2010, my boyfriend and I bisected our 15-day cross-country train adventure with a few wonder-filled days in Lakeland, Florida. The mission: meet up with fellow wedding photographer Don Campbell and shoot the Darla & Marvin Short wedding.

Being a Northern California wedding photographer, this little stopover in the South really taught me a couple of lessons both as a photographer and as a traveler.

First lesson: the enveloping Florida humidity can wreak havoc on your lens. When going from the A.C. to the outdoors, the inside of my lens would completely fog up for almost 5 minutes.

Second lesson: while shooting weddings in the southern heat, one set of clothes may not be enough. Being a wedding photographer, your priority must be to get the shot. Sometimes, this requires standing in direct sunlight in 95'F at 100% humidity (literally - I looked it up!) which, inevitably, means you're gonna get wet. After the bridal party portrait session, I felt as though I had just jumped out of the lake, clothing and all.

Third lesson: Spanish Moss makes an amazing background and it grows everywhere around here! I would love another chance to shoot a couple in the moss - it would be the perfect setting for a fantastic creative session.

Darla, Marvin and their friends and family sure made our visit to Florida a wonderful experience for our first trip to the south. They make such a sweet, southern couple and told us we are more than welcome to visit them if ever we found ourselves in the Lakeland area - we just might take them up on their offer someday.

Here are some of my favorite images from the day: