Jun 4, 20092 min read

Yosemite Wedding Pictures| Eric + Melanie

A Destination Wedding in Yosemite Valley

Ahhh.. A Wedding in Yosemite! Home to some of the most beautiful wilderness in the country. What a perfect backdrop for a wedding! Melanie and Eric hosted a fantastic wedding here last weekend and we were thrilled to be there. We stayed in the rustic Yosemite Lodge which is in the heart of the valley and by no means roughing it like most of the campers you see in tents everywhere. I figured since we were in the lodge, it would be nice to sleep with the balcony door open at night to let the fresh air in. After all, we were on the second floor. Well around 2am we were greeted by a raccoon the size of Sawyer our 2 year old! The raccoon wasn’t at the screen door trying to get in..he had already opened the screen door with his claws and was rummaging through the room when we heard him. So here is this wild animal in our room who was obviously hungry and my wife wants me to go take it outside like it’s a trained dog or something! No honey, this is a WILD ANIMAL with 4 in” CLAWS and SHARP TEETH and I know I swore to protect and love you till our dying day and all, but you’re on your own! (And I rolled back over to go to sleep).

That didn’t go over too well ..LOL…so we finally got him out of the room and then locked the screen door. So anyway, back to the wedding!

Melanie and Eric are so in love it’s like cavity sweet! They couldn’t take their eyes off one another for a second and it was really special to see two people who fit so well together. They held the ceremony in the Yosemite Chapel in the valley which is the oldest structure in Yosemite and built in 1879. Our plan was to go in an open tram tour of the valley after the ceremony and jump out at all the various scenic points to take photos, but a thunderstorm quickly rolled in, so we switched to plan B which was a chartered bus. We still went on the tour, and saw many beautiful locations, but didn’t jump out and take as many pictures as I had hoped because of mother nature.

So it was back to the lodge for a nice reception filled with heartwarming toasts, good food and great DJing by a groomsman! Dre wanted me to mention how cute Melanie’s “reception dress” was too!

From a photography standpoint, this trip was just waaay too short for me. I need at least several days in Yosemite to scope out, setup and plan the right time of day for the scenic pictures I wanted to get. So I will be going back soon becasue it’s one of the most beautiful awe-inspiring places to ever see.

Here are a few portraits from the day.