Ann and Clinton are two of my absolute best friends in the world.

Guess who has always wanted to get married in the Azores.

Ann called me about four weeks before take off to tell me that it wasn’t a dream anymore……. “We leave in 4 weeks, you in?”      Twenty minutes after I get off the phone I’m at the post office with my passport application.  To be able to share an adventure like this with four friends was the chance of a lifetime. We had our very good friend Erin, who was going to be giving the ceremony. Then we had another, and equally awesome, Ann L., who would be doing some video.  The rest was to be determined. No plan. No worries. We’ll figure it out when we get there.

Well, she did. Ann is a rock star. By the end of day two, she had a cake being made, 4 potential wedding sites, dinner reservations for a reception, flowers being made, and any other potential detail you could think of was already covered….. oh, and did I mention she managed to meet the president of Faial somewhere in their as well….. seriously. Everyone was down for whatever, whenever.

So here I find myself on a beautiful island in the middle of the Atlantic, with a bunch of my very best friends, a volcano and my camera……..

This post is of and for Ann & Clinton. I am honored to have been able to spend this week with you.  Thank You.

This is Manuel Brum’s garden. He was an amazing and hospitable host and was gracious enough to do a lot for us. He has a sick garden.

Who let Clinton drive?

fashion shoot

not one of his better ideas

I think it was pretty much a given that Caldeira was where the ceremony had to be.  To walk up to the edge of such a majestic thing is absolutely breathtaking.  It is impossible not to be affected by it.  We were all like little kids, running to and fro, in total disbelief of where we were. I was absolutely awe inspired.

“Just take one big step back”

I spent half the trip hanging out the window by the waist.

Ann wanted to find where her father had grown up on the island. On the way down from the mountain we saw an older couple walking. Ann stopped and asked them if they might have known her father. Well, they did. They hopped in the van and brought us to the house. It ended up being the house who’s driveway we had just turned around in.. There were a lot of really awesome coincidences on this trip.

The Big Day.

I never get to do getting readies with the girls.

Gorgeous.

He cleans up pretty nice.

what handle?

We couldn’t not go back to Manuel’s garden in the wedding dress.

badass.

The other beautiful Ann on the trip.

Erin and Ann. We did not stop laughing til we had to get on the plane home….. then we began to cry.

Really?! Thank you guys for trusting me, being down for whatever and caring as much about getting the shot as I did.

Horta didn’t know what hit them.

The aisle shot.

When we got to the rim of the volcano the temperature dropped to about 40 and the wind started blowing hard. Ann elected for a short and sweet ceremony and a quick retreat, but determined none the less to have it on the volcano.

The wedding party.

The wedding photographer.

We had a delicious and relaxing meal at an amazing restaurant followed by cake and champagne.

They did their first dance in the abandoned stone house next to where we were staying.

To stand ad the edge of a volcano is simply put….. surreal. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

There was no lava, or deep grumbling warning of an imminent catastrophe. No running for my life and having Pierce Brosnan whisk us away in the nick of time. There was no epic traverse up uncharted routes, but I guess the route must have been a little uncharted cause it took a few tries to get there, but paved none the less. None of this mattered.

It was as majestic as I never could have imagined. To stand amoungst the clouds with four amazing friends and look into the now overgrown mouth that created the island we stood on, is tough to put into words. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in that much awe of a scene before in my life. Had the trip ended there, every minute of it would have been worth it for those few minutes up there, but thankfully……… we were just getting warmed up.

This is the first of many…….. posts and adventures.

We stayed on Faial. This is her neighbor, Pico. We get a lot closer to that on the way home….. a lot.

I could not have asked for better friends to go on this adventure with.

You’re gonna see them get Hitched.

One of the most beautiful places I have ever stood.

by the end of the trip I was taking sick photos without even looking.