I've had the wonderful opportunity to be in the wedding industry for a good decade now and have witnessed first hand how technology can not only change the wedding industry, but the destiny of two souls.

I remember when I was back in High School, this was back in the 90's, and the internet at that time was reserved for a lot of nerds or computer geeks. Only geeks had an email address, and only geeks chatted online. Yes, I was one of those geeks...and I did...well, all of the above. Fast forward to the present day, I'm happy to say that we geeks were ahead of the curve. But nothing could have prepared me for what would come....Online relationships.

See, no matter how geeky I was back then, I didn't chat with people with the intentions of transforming that relationship into something meaningful. I, like many other people, thought, "Hey...Online dating, well...That's only for dorks." Was I ever wrong.

If I could recall correctly, I was back in Long Beach, sitting with one of the kids I babysat for when I was living nearby. He was in high school, and he was one of the cooler kids. I did the usual talk "Are you dating anyone now..." and he answered with a casanova, "Oh yeah..." Then, he casually pulled up his myspace website where he had literally hundreds of girls as friends. How many of them did he date or meet in person. Almost every single one. Was online dating for geeks anymore? No way. In fact, online dating was just a portal to meet in person...to date them in real life.

Times changed. It was cool to meet people online, and to date them.

With each sunset, I started to realize that my clientele started to evolve with the tide. Slowly more couples who met online poured in. The current statistic, close to half of my couples have met online. Are they dorks. Far from it. In fact, they are all quite good looking. Even one of my preachers met his current wife online, and boy are they happy together. A lot of couples who met online are kinda embarrassed about it. I say, don't be embarrased. Love is love...just be happy you found it. Even if Bill Gates and Al Gore had somethng to do with it. (Didn't he take the initiative to invent the Internet??? haha)

Teri and Joaquin, met online. Teri is a smart and looker and Joaquin, well, he's a full fledge American Hero who helps defend our freedom overseas. I married them a year ago at Kawela Bay and remember that day as though it happened yesterday! They were planning a HUGE wedding back at home, but instead opted to elope in Hawaii. They truly ran away to get married. They have the right idea. Getting married is not about guest, not about stress...it's only about the two people who are making the comittment.

Teri, she was very nervous. And Joaquin, he was nervous as well, but he just didn't show it. Teri wore a very very elegant wedding gown with a very long train. Predictably, the wind at Kawela Bay was not very strong at all, which made her dress very manageable. Once I set the dress, it just stayed. The downside, boy was it hot. It was so hot, that I treated them to shave ice after their wedding. That shave ice, boy did it hit the spot.

As you can see, the pictures turned out just picture perfect. Great looking couple, great weather, great setting. You really can't ask much more from a photography standpoint.

I just got an update from Teri and she told me that Joaquin is headed back to Iraq. Lets all keep him in our prayers to make sure he returns home safely to keep this one of a kind love story...rolling.