I met Lizbeth and Roland at the Pearl for their engagement session and I already knew then. The birds were flying around them at sunset on the Riverwalk like they had been hired specifically for the occasion. These two have that kind of energy. The kind that makes the universe cooperate.
But when I saw them on their wedding day I was genuinely speechless. And I do not say that lightly.
Lizbeth looked like a prettier Ariana Grande. I am not being hyperbolic. I am being factual. Sposa Mia Couture found her something that fit who she is so perfectly it almost did not seem real. And Roland? Roland is just so visibly in love with her. You can see it from across a room. You can see it in every single frame. As he should be.
The Gardens at West Green is an absolute sleeper of a San Antonio wedding venue and I need more people to know about it. The entire wedding was outside and somehow comfortable which if you know Texas weather you understand is basically a miracle. Lizbeth kept looking out over the venue from the bridal suite window while she was getting ready, just watching her vision come together below her, and it was one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed. You could tell she had thought about every single detail. Every single one. And the dessert table. I have never in my career seen a prettier dessert table. It looked like a magazine spread that someone forgot to tell was a real wedding.
Andrea Milo Blooms brought florals that felt like they grew there naturally. Cake Shop SA showed up. The whole thing was just beautiful from every angle.
And then the music started.
The harpist played Bad Bunny. I need you to read that sentence again.
A harpist. Playing Bad Bunny. At a wedding. It was one of the greatest things I have ever heard in my entire life and I will be chasing that high forever.
When the dance floor opened it became a full on Mexican fiesta and I mean that as the absolute highest compliment. Dollar dance. An uncle who decided the vibe called for a full bull impersonation and was completely correct. People mostly spoke Spanish all night and I do not speak Spanish but I understood every single thing that was happening because love does not actually need a translation. This was not two families becoming one. This was one family that had apparently always been one and was just making it official.
And then a tia and tio stood up and serenaded Lizbeth and Roland in a beautiful Mexican ballad. AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS. From the heart. The whole room went completely still and then completely apart and I was somewhere in the middle of that trying to keep my camera steady.
Before the sparklers we snuck away to a tucked away room in the back of the venue with these enormous white curtains and we did a private last dance. Their shadows stretched tall above them on the curtains while they whispered to each other and I stood there thinking this is exactly why I do this job. That room. That light. Those two people in their own world for just a few more minutes before forever officially started.
And then Roland ran them through the sparklers and showed off a few of the lifts he learned at their Pearl engagement session because of course he did. That is Roland. That is these two.
Toast Entertainment kept the energy exactly where it needed to be all night long and Viktoriia did Lizbeth’s hair and makeup and had her looking like exactly herself, only more so.
Lizbeth and Roland, I was there when the birds flew around you at sunset on the Riverwalk and I was there when your tia and tio sang you into your marriage with everything they had. I got to watch your whole family love you out loud all night in every language. Thank you for letting me be there for all of it. Every single second!
If you want a photographer who will cry a little during the serenata and not apologize for it, come find me at xoxochelsea.com. San Antonio weddings are my whole heart and this one proved exactly why.
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