Durant and Natanya's Hawaii Wedding

So how did I get those Jurassic park ripples in the water? Simple. I told Natanya
to stomp in the water before I shot the picture...

YOUNG AND IN LOVE
Durant and Natanya's Wedding at Ko'olina.

Natanya's wedding inquiry was one that I wouldn't forget. Her inquiry, was at first like all the rest of my inquiries from curious brides. Our conversation started off with me fielding the normal questions I usually get from brides. You know, the usual "Steve, what's the meaning of life? Will the Federal Reserve raise rates this quarter? If I could run at the speed of sound, would my MP3 player still work?" I of course, have all the answers.

But then, Natanya dropped the bomb on me when she told me, "I think you may like my fiance."

"Really? Why is that?" I asked. "I like all my grooms, but I don't like-like my grooms....I'm straight"

"Well, it's because he plays for the Philadelphia Eagles", she stated.

Hmm...maybe I did "like-like" his groom, BUT STILL, in a completley bro-mance way.

To say the least, I was speechless. Now, Natanya's dream wedding had evolved into my dream wedding. I would be part of a Philadelphia Eagle's life...forever... I couldn't imagine that'd ever be possible. This was cool.... too cool. Durant, her fiance, was the newly signed punter for the Eagles and was there to give the current punter, Sav Rocca competition in training camp. All of a sudden...punters were cool...

It had been my life's dream to assist a Philadelphia Eagle in thier wedding. I had trained for this day, dreamt for this day, and now...it had come true..

"This was what I was put on this earth to do", I thought.

Natanya's dress was made for jumping. Durant clearly has some hops.
This is high for jumping in the sand!

Shooting directly into the sun. This is why I shoot on film.

The easiest shot of the day....

Natanya and Durant met the old fashioned way, at a bar. Should I say it's "my way" as well? The new fashioned way is of course, meeting on the Internet. From that one chance meeting, they quickly grew into friends as they had a few college courses together. Then that friendship, eventually evolved into a serious relationship. And then...they got married and paid me handsomely.

Just a side-note. Remember back in those high-school days when we were ALL young and stupid? Back then, we all feared that we'd fall into the "friends-zone" when it came to relationships. Little did we know back then that mature relationships, was all about the "friend-zone." Your best friend should be your significant other. And there's no if's, and's, or but's about it.

That's postcard like isn't it.

Dancing, on the beach...

Walking on the beach...

From the frist second that I met Natanya and Durant, I knew that my day would be easy. To start, this couple was a good looking couple. I mean, they weren't just above average. They set the bar when it came to good looks. But not only were they an extremely photogenic couple, they were fun, energetic, and they just flowed together well.

It was rather funny because Durant had an easier time posing than Natanya. But you know what? Lately, it's been the trend. Surprisingly, it's been the grooms in most of my past weddings that have been more natural in front of the camera. Isn't that funny?

I call this pose, "The David Hasselhoff" as it is inspired by the slow-motion running made famous by the beach documentary, Baywatch.

There isn't water on top of here usually.

Durant's idea. I got a few great shots of this. You can see the others in the video.

Truly, my favorite shot out of the set.
I will call this peice of art "Good-Looking people at sunset and by the water."

With all the planning that did go on prior to Natanya and Durant's wedding day, there was one minor hiccup in their plans. Originally, Natanya had ordered the ceremony package, as she only wanted one camera video coverage for her wedding, but about 2 hours before her wedding, she called me to see if she could upgrade her coverage to three cameras. Luckily, I was near my house so picking up the extra cameras proved not to be a problem. Her choice to upgrade to three camera coverage was a wise one. Three camera coverage is at least 100 times better than one camera coverage.

Here is their video:

Durant and Natanya from Steven Young on Vimeo.

So my thoughts on this couple. They have weird names don't they? Haha. I remember when we did their wedding, I was the only person with the only regular name. Elias was the minister, the wedding singer's name was Tahiti, and there I am...."even" Steven. I think I should change my name to something more powerful like King Leonidas, or maybe even a verb like "snap." haha.

Natanya sounds to me like a great undercover female spy name. Durant sounds like a name for a really good polish for a car. I'm wondering what their kids are going to look like and what their names will be? If anything, I think they need to patent their genes or something, and then sell their genes on eBay. They are just that good looking.

All joking aside, Durant, Natanya...I wish you all my best. Keep in touch!


Steve Young "The Wedding Guy"
The Hawaii Wedding Report
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com/