Ryan Phillips Blog

We just returned from an amazing weekend in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for Sharon and Ken’s wedding at The One and Only Palmilla. This is going to be a long post so sit back and enjoy. There were 3 full days of events and no way to showcase everything, but here are a few great shots that hopefully sum up the whole thing. Carrie was still on maternity leave at the time, so I am grateful to Mike Hedden of Evoke who came down to shoot with me! The weekend kicked off with a semi-casual welcome party. I say semi-casual because no matter the occasion the guests were dripping with style. The second day started off with a pool side party. One guest drove in to town and returned with over 200 Rosie’s Tacos. If you haven’t been to Rosie’s than you haven’t had a real taco. As the day turned to night Sharon transformed from poolside diva into a stunning bride. She wore a beautiful Amy Michelson dress with a plunging neckline and swarovski crystal straps. The back of the dress was…..well there was no back. The One & Only Palmilla is called “The One & Only” for a reason. From the time you step out of one of the luxury SUV’s that picked you up from the airport you are treated to world class service that doesn’t end until you are delivered to your flight home. Seriously, when they dropped us off at the airport someone carried our gear to the final security check point.

Anyway, back to arrival. I stepped out of the car and this guy greets me with 6 flavors of home made popsicles! Ryder would be in heaven! After check-in your Butler comes to escort you to your room. Did I mention that every room comes with a Butler. He promptly unpacked everything and took our clothes to be pressed.

The diggs…

This may be my favorite thing about The Palmilla. The welcome tequila kit. There was a hand-written note welcoming us to the resort and a large bottle of tequila with all the fixins. It was a custom tequila made just for the hotel and it was gooooood!

The details of The Palmilla are impecable and we have far too many to share but this is one of my favorites. There is an amazing church on the property in the hills. Mike shot this pic of the fountain and you can see the church in between the trees. Very cool! The whole place is lit up at night with tons of candles, hurricane lamps and stamped iron lights.

Here is the set-up for the Welcome Party. It was perfect weather. Light overcast and a slight breeze. The beach was set-up with white lounges, candles and amazing lamps. There was a ridiculous amount of food. From grilled blue shrimp and 6 different types of ceviche’ to a taco bar and mountains of flan.

The guest were then treated to an amazing display of Fire Dancing. They lit a huge ring of fire and everyone gathered around to watch the show. While taking this next shot I backed up into 3 guys by accident and turned around to see Bas Rutten, Amir Perets, and Chuck Liddell. Seriously. I may have even let out a whimper as I made my apologies and moved on ;-)

The goods…

The bling from J.Katz Jewlers

The Manolo’s…… of course…

The beautiful flowers provided by Elana Damy. If you are getting married in Cabo you have to call Elana

Gettin’ Ready…

Their beautiful daughters…

The chuppah was awesome! There was a huge white lucite runway that ran from where the walkway ended all the way down to the end of the beach. The chuppah was a large white lucite platform with columns wrapped in chiffon and covered in white roses. Simple and elegant. Perfect for a beach wedding. The aisle was lined with pillars and atop the pillars were cala lilly wrapped hurricane vases with candles inside.

This image still gives me chills. Sharon and Ken were married by Ken’s cousin Ron. Towards the end of the ceremony Ron started in about Ken’s mom who passed away. Half the place was in tears as was Sharon and Ken. I have about 40 or 50 shots from this angle and there is not one with that sunburst coming through the trees other than this one when he is talking about Ken’s mother. It’s like she is giving her blessing.

We were able to snag this shot right before the last bit of usable light was completely gone…

The entire pool area was cleared for dinner. The trees were let up and you could hear the water in the zero edge pool gently cascading over the edge.

Ken brought a bottle of 1995 Petrus for dinner…

After dinner guests were escorted along candle lit walkways to the ballroom. The ballroom is normally a rich opulent old world kind of room but with some serious L.A. Style it was transformed into an ultra chic lounge. Wall to wall white chiffon curtains, white leather chairs and couches and white cube tables lit from the inside. The party got started real quick with some espresso martinis and an unbelievable latin band. Sharon and Ken tore up the dance floor. I’ve never seen anyone dance that well in 6 inch heels.

What’s more fun than a room full of Isreali’s and UFC legends doing the Horah?

After seeing Sharon’s dad dance I can see where she got her moves…it’s in the DNA.

A couple of Cubans in Mexico…..(cigars that is, not actually cubans :-)

The next day everyone was hanging out by the pool and we got Sharon and Ken out for a little impromptu photo shoot. The Palmilla has these awesome private cabanas out by the ocean. They have huge sun beds with wood covered tops and there is a desk as well in case you need to do some work. Yeah, lots of work getting done out there…

The weekend was coming to an end but not before a huge farewell bonfire. The whole beach was layed out with orange cushion lounges and pillows. There were several fire pits scattered along the beach and tables full of smore fixins’ surrounding the perimeter. Sharon and Ken thanked everyone for coming and a couple of guests gave some of their words to the tune of a Beastie Boys song. After the speeches, a brazillian band came out and it was one of the most electric performances from a band at a wedding that I have ever witnessed! These guys were amazing! They involved all the guests as well…

The next day we joined the Hummer caravan back to the airport to get a few shots with their private jet. We only had a few minutes but Mike and I busted out the Acute 600 pack and were able to get some really cool shots. Sadly we left and returned to the common folk airport to our coach seats at the back of the plane…..

We headed out to the ranch for Guilianna’s 6 month shoot. Marika brought such cute outfits. I love this coat! I need one for Kennedy.

Here are a couple shots from some recent maternity sessions. Karen asked if she could come with her sister who is also pregnant and due at the same time.

Rachel…

Check out the coat and matching shoes she got at Tori Spelling’s garage sale…

Happy Birthday Ryder! My son turned 3 yesterday so we ran out for a couple of quick snapshots for Mommy. We hadn’t shot in a while so when I saw this scene on the way home from picking up his birthday dinner I had to stop. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for pictures and proceeded to pull a Bruce Lee maneuver with a stick on my brand new 14mm. Ouch!

More gratuitous pics of my daughter. She wouldn’t take the bottle while mommy was gone but she was rarin’ to go for a photo shoot….

This was Anjali’s second session in our baby’s first year package. She is one of the world’s cutest babies! She also wins the best behaved award. You may see her all over town as she is the face of our new portrait ads….

Carrie and I received some great invitations this week and thought we would share. The first is for Sharon and Ken’s wedding at The One and Only Palmilla in Cabo San Lucas. I fly out first thing in the morning for that one. When I get back we are headed out to another wedding in Miami Beach so the blog posting might be a little lax for the next 2 weeks :-) But stay tuned since I will be blogging the Mexico wedding soon. The first invitation was entirely hand-made by Diana Lansleen of Emily Rose Papers and is featured in the current issue of 805 Weddings.The next one is for Naomi and Larry’s wedding at Eucalyptus Lane in May. I am not sure who did it but once I hear back from Naomi I will be sure to post the name.

Carrie and I just received some great news and we would like to share it! 805 Living is the hottest magazine that covers all the 411 in the 805. They just released  the first issue of 805 Weddings and we made the cover! We love the magazine and are honored to be chosen for their premier issue. Lynne and Carla do a spectacular job and their new venture is already creating huge buzz all over town. If you are getting married in the 805 ( Los Angeles thru Santa Barbara on up to San Luis Obispo) than this magazine is a must have!!! They have a clean layout full of great tips from honeymoon hangouts and groomsmen’s gifts to fabulous flowers and California couture. Check it out!