Time flew by since the morning when Sheila and Eugene’s wedding photography first started at downtown at the San Diego Marriott and at their beautiful Immaculata San Diego wedding. It was now the late afternoon and time to begin the couple’s Admiral Kidd wedding reception. Guests soon began streaming in and the reception began to take on a whole life of it’s own, full of fun and excitement, including traditions of a Laotion wedding reception. You can see some of the fun wedding reception shots in this collection of some of my San Diego wedding photographer favorite photos.
So many things were really wonderful about their wedding reception at Admiral Kidd. The place settings and decorations, made by Excellent Designs looked fantastic. There were bright and accented with Tiffany blue, a primary color for their wedding. Holding on to wonderful customs, the couple incorporated Laotian wedding costumes, dances and other traditions. Many guests also came from the Philippines for Sheila and Eugene’s wedding at the Immaculata and their Admiral Kidd wedding reception.
I always enjoy photographing weddings that incorporate cultural and traditional celebrations. There just seems to be such great energy and a sense of family and close friendship amongst the guests, as it was with Shelia and Eugene’s Admiral Kidd wedding reception. And perhaps that comes from my own ways, but certainly it also helped me in creating a wonderful collection of wedding reception photography.
Located on Naval Base Point Loma next to San Diego Bay, the Admiral Kidd Catering and Conference Center is a very nice event space with great views of San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. You can see some of that skyline, and how I subtly used it as the background for a portrait photo of Sheila and Eugene. The event venue is bright and easy to get to, and that’s probably a main reason why Sheila and Eugene booked it as their wedding reception venue.
The wedding reception began with Sheila and Eugene welcoming each of the guests as they arrived. The couple were dressed in Laotion costume, as was Sheila’s mom and many others. With the guests having all now arrived and mingling, the couple, along with their wedding party and their many sponsors prepared for their formal entrance. Cameras were going off everywhere, as the wedding reception guests excitedly took pictures of the wedding party’s fun entrance.
Their formal entrance, and all of the evening’s events, were coordinated very well by Primo of Primo DJ’s. In addition to making all of the announcements and keeping the schedule for the evening spot-on, the guests loved his performance and games. First, Primo got the guests excited with his amazing skateboard performance on the dance floor. Next, he moved onto a game of having guest tossing napkins between tables, and when the music stopped the holder of the napkin would win the table setting. He then had another game of guessing songs, and the winners received a disk of his music compilation. It was quite fun photographing the wedding reception during Primo’s wedding guest activities.
I also photographed the important wedding reception dances for the evening. These included Sheila and Eugene’s first dance. The groom also danced with his mom, and the two thrilled the guests with the mix of music and very fun and lively dancing. Bride Sheila then danced with her mom, and the two looked very lovely. The pair’s mother-daughter dance melded into a traditional Laotion dance and this brought a large number of wedding guests to the dance floor. Switching between several different lenses and cameras, as I always do at weddings and receptions, I photographed the wedding reception in a variety of views and perspectives.
Dinner was of course enjoyed by all of the wedding reception guests. It was a buffet style meal that was prepared by Admiral Kidd Catering. All through the evening their staff were very friendly and professional. This was followed by toasts and a very fun slideshow created by the groom’s brother. I looked for a good perspective to photograph the bride, groom, and wedding party’s reaction to the slideshow that was projected onto a screen. I found that photographing the head table directly, looking at them from near the screen, I could captured the head table and a reflection of the show in the event venue’s windows. How handy.
With more dancing, including the fun money dances, the wedding reception moved onto cake cutting. Made by The French Gourmet, the beautiful Tiffany blue, multi-tiered square wedding cake looked wonderful. It looked just as nice when sliced up! Next it was time to photograph Sheila tossing her bouquet, and Eugene removing and tossing Sheila’s garter. A lot of energy sure went into trying to catch both of these!
It was so delightful photographing Sheila and Eugene’s Admiral Kidd wedding reception. There of course are hundreds of more wonderful and fun wedding reception photography images in their complete gallery, which can be seen at San Diego Wedding Photographer Client Galleries (password required).
For more information about San Diego Wedding Photography please contact me.
