Tag Archives: Christina & Mike

Christina & Mike

All my future bride’s can rest easy now because Christina and Mike broke the curse.

Before this wedding, every… single… time… that I’ve shot at the Cathedral of Christ the King it has rained. But no longer.

If you pay attention you might recognize the bride since she’s been on this blog a couple times, for their engagement session but usually as my assistant, who I’ve missed dearly since she left to pursue what she’s been trained to do. For the last year or so she’s been traveling the country with the theater production of The Lion King as the on-staff physical therapist. But now that she’s married, she’s back in Atlanta and can start helping me out again. You have no idea how stoked I am. But I know my time is limited because I imagine that she’ll be pregnant any day now if she gets her way.

Did I mention that she’s the youngest of 11 kids? But she’ll probably limit herself to 8 or 10. Moderation ya know.

Then there’s Mike, the groom. Mike, my friend, endeavor to deserve Christina because there’s no man on earth that does. I look forward to getting to know you better and maybe you two can pop out a few girls that are about the right age for my boys? :)

A few notes about the images…. Christina and Mike and their families are about as Catholic as the Pope. You’ll notice a rosary crucifix on Christina’s bouquet… engraved on the back is the date (in 1975) it was given to her oldest sister on her confirmation day and who later entered the convent (they see her once a year). She and all her sisters were wearing scapulars…it looks like a string necklace with cloth squares that hang in the front and the back. There are two priests that figure prominently on the images… one has been battling leukemia for a while now and the other is getting ready to serve as a military chaplain in the middle east. They are both priests in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and they are both her brothers. And then there’s Mike’s father who you see at the altar… he’s a deacon. We were joking that no respectable hispanic family is without a deacon or priest. And last, there were about a million kids…. when I first met Christina['s family], she was 12, and there were no nephews or nieces yet. I think the numbers had increased by the end of the reception, but that could be my imagination. :)

My friend and trusty second photographer Huy Cat was happy to see Christina and again, my trusty assistant Brian Steele rocked.

Remember that you can view the slideshow full-screen by clicking the last icon on the bottom right.

Enjoy!


Ben Vigil, shooting saints

Christina and Mike’s Engagement Session

As I write this post I’m thinking back to Peggy and Price’s wedding where Christina, my assistant back then, was being hit on by two different groomsmen and she had a guy calling her on the phone named “Garcia”. This former wasn’t unusual. She seemed to get hit on by VERY eligible groomsmen with clockwork regularity but the stalker guy (whom she had barely met) calling and leaving multiple messages on her phone was different. Kinda creepy, yeah, but different.

But I guess it’s not surprising that Garcia… er, Mike, kept calling because anyone who knows Christina knows that there’s no man on this planet that deserves her. See, I’ve known her since she was 12 years old and we all thought she was going to become a nun. No, really, a nun. Her oldest sister is a nun. She has two brothers who are priests. So it’s not so far fetched as it may seem in this crazy world we live in.

But now she’s all grown up and getting hitched… and I couldn’t be happier to be shooting their wedding in a couple months. It means that she’ll be back in Atlanta full-time and she can start assisting me again. Yeah, and I’m happy for Christina and Mike too. (You’re laughing right? That was a joke.)

Okay, enough about me — Christina and Mike:

Ben Vigil, shooting saints…