Hidden Oaks Wedding

Let me start off by saying I have photographed more weddings than I can recall. My typical wedding day routine involves me going over my notes about the wedding and the couple, scouting the venue online if I am unfamiliar with the location, checking traffic conditions and then going over the check list of all my photography gear. I drink plenty of water in the morning, grab a couple protein bars and begin thinking about how I want to document the wedding and what new techniques am I going to try in order to push myself to be better. Once I mentally have the game plan mapped out I print the wedding schedule, list of family names for family photos and drop the directions into Google Maps before I hit the road. I try to arrive at a wedding about 45 minutes early that way I can scout the venue in person and worse case scenario if I run into traffic or something have a little buffer zone to make sure I am on time. As well prepared as I am for every wedding this time things did not work out for me. My Mom was late for babysitting, I left the wedding contract on my living room table and worst of all when I put the venue name into Google Maps it was sending me to another venue by the same name but in a much different location. It took me about 40 minutes of driving before I realized this. The end result was I was late for my very first wedding by almost an hour! I cannot even begin to explain the level of panic I had. I was literally screaming F*** in the car as loud as I could. When I arrived at Pieter and Rachel’s wedding in Ramona, California at Hidden Oaks I still had plenty of time to get all the photographs I needed to stay on schedule. Regardless, I felt like the worst human being in the world. I apologized over and over again and even though they only booked me for 5 hours I made up the hour I was late and stayed another 3 hours free of charge to make up for the error. Rachel and Pieter could not have been more amazing and totally put me at peace when they could have (and rightfully so) given me a very hard time for being late.

The wedding featured about 80 guests and was put together for less than $15,000, which was beyond impressive. Pieter brewed up his own blend of IPAs that were amazing and everybody chipped in with the details to make the wedding come together as best as possible. Rachel’s father, a pastor, married the couple and Hidden Oaks provided a gorgeous backdrop. The wedding turned out awesome and showed me firsthand that a couple could have a fantastic wedding without breaking the break so cheers to you Pieter and Rachel for showing the world how it is done! And thank you for being two awesome human beings!

All photos were captured at Hidden Oaks in Ramona, California by Lake Arrowhead wedding photographer Ryan Horban.