Courtney & Joe | Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

"Did you see the mother/son dance?" asked a member of the country club staff. "Of course," I replied. He looked away for a second and shook his head. "I watched it from the hallway, through the window in the doorway, and even from that far away, I have never felt so much love in my life. You know, these two must be some pretty special people, because I've never seen a wedding where their guests care so deeply and genuinely for the couple. What a great wedding."

I had this conversation while packing up our camera bag after Joe and Courtney had driven away. Their guests were mingling in the banquet room, laughing, crying, and saying their goodbyes to one another. These two are very special people. It only happens every so often, but sometimes Jeff and I are granted the privilege to photograph not only love between two people, but love between entire families and friends. Everyone at this wedding had their heart invested into the marriage of Courtney and Joe. Every person that took the time to attend the celebration had reasons beyond just a fun time. They came out of pure love for two people that were meant to be together.

Courtney and Joe - thank you for bringing us into your lives and allowing us to capture your contagious laughter, your enormous smiles, and your unconditional love for one another. Jeff and I were so blessed to be a part of such a celebration! Keep on celebrating the rest of your lives!

We love it when our couples decide to see each other before the ceremony, because we get to take pictures like this:

And then we get to play around for an hour!!

It was super overcast when Jeff and I arrived that morning (like gray, yucky, not good for skin tones overcast), but the sky cleared up just before picture time to gave us some perfect clouds and deep blue skies.

Coutrney's grandmother was seriously the cutest grandma! She had flown out to Southern California all the way from the east coast and was nothing but smiles the entire day!

I love how imperfect photos can actually be much more than perfect. The emotion in this picture is so warm and I love how the fuzziness of the image draws out the intimacy of the moment. I just had to share it!

This wedding was a family affair through and through. That's Joe's dad officiating the ceremony!

Now THIS is how you walk back down the aisle after getting married!! Wahoo!

Jeff is so stinkin' good at taking family portraits. This is how we Youngren's capture the traditional "three generations" picture! But like I said, this family was so excited just to be together that these kinds of moments were happening all night. We have loads more of these kinds of images filled with these amazing people!!

The golf course let us hijack some wheels for some shots on the putting green.

Ok seriously, what better way to enjoy the centerpieces, than to eat them? This is definitely the cutest and most creative spin on centerpieces that I've seen in a while!

The first dance. This is when the tears in the room began.

Dad and his toast. This is when the tears got bigger.

Pause for a moment: WOW. What could he be thinking as he says goodbye to his little baby girl with mom looking on in the background? All I have to say when I look at her father is powerful. (Unpause)

This is when their wasn't a single dry eye in the room! Jeff and I have witnessed some pretty powerful moments at weddings, but when Joe's mother danced with her son, everything and everyone came to a standstill and watched as she SANG in his ear the entire dance. I'm tearing up typing about it right now!

And now to the fun part of the night! Cake and dancing!

Like I said, the greatest grandma in the world! She was cuttin' a rug all night!

Here she is dancing with all of her children - you could tell that this family is super tight!