After 38 weddings, I can now say I'm done for the year. And Saturday's ceremony in Los Angeles was an epic finale. Amber and Adam got married in a plush French restaurant in West Hollywood called Ortolan, and gave their guests an incredible nine-course meal, a few drunken toasts and a visit from their dog. At 2 in the morning, we ended up getting kicked out of the pool area of the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills for trying to take pictures on the way to their hotel room. It was a very cool way to end the year ("fighting the man," as Adam called it), and I'm really glad I got to be there. In a few hours, Amber and Adam will be driving across the country to start a new life in Ohio and I wish them the best. I also wish Ohio the best, because I have a feeling the newlyweds are going to teach the Buckeyes a thing or two about being from southern California.

To see their slideshow, just click here: www.benchrisman.com/amberadam

Laura and I are in Los Angeles now for a wedding here this weekend, and we had dinner tonight with one of my oldest friends Eric and his beautiful daughter Velouria. I used to work with Eric a few years ago when we both lived in San Diego. Eric is now a celebrity/commercial photographer here in LA, and before dinner had just finished up working on a shoot with Robert Downey Jr. for Esquire magazine. It's really interesting to hear about those Hollywood photo sessions because they are so different than what I do. For one shoot, you have several assistants, a producer, a make-up artist, tons of lights, computers, etc. It's really an intense day of work, and Eric knows how to do it all. So if you're reading this and you're famous, call Eric for your next portrait.

At the beginning of this year, I told myself I wanted to spend as much time as I could in Mexico so I could learn the language. I even dubbed it "The Year of Mexico" in my head. Throughout the last few months, I've gotten to see a lot of the country, including Isla Mujeres earlier this week for the stunning wedding of Stacey and Eric.

In college, I never went on the big Spring Break parties so I had never heard of Isla Mujeres (which is next to Cancun) before Stacey wrote me a few months ago. It's an incredible place to have a wedding. The beaches are beautiful, the water is really warm (I have a hard time with cold water) and the locals are very nice. Stacey and Eric got married on the beach of the Zama Beach Club, with the wonderful Tiffany making sure everything went perfectly.

And it did.

Laura and I now have so many new friends after spending several days with Stacey, Eric and all their amigos. We're counting on our new poet laureate Sam and his wife Pari to come down for our New Year's Eve party, and we're planning lots of trips to Denver to see indie rock shows with our new gang. Stacey and Eric are still getting tan on the beach, while we're battling 13 degree weather here in Santa Fe. But I'm flying into San Francisco later today, and I'm glad to be getting out of the snow. But I can't wait to one day get back to Isla Mujeres.

You can see their slideshow here:
www.benchrisman.com/staceyeric

Hi everyone. I'm in Isla Mureres, Mexico (near Cancun) right now where I shot a beautiful wedding on Saturday. I promise to write more when I get home later this week, but here's one shot of Stacey and Eric in the mean time.

I had really been looking forward to Sharon and Joe's wedding since their engagement session last Fall. And Saturday turned out even better than I had hoped for. We had beautiful weather, great light and a really energetic reception. And Joe was always looking for an excuse to kiss his beautiful wife.

You can check out their slide show here: www.benchrisman.com/sharonjoe

Set your VCRs and grab some popcorn because we're going to be on television. Sandy and Mike's wedding last weekend at the Loretto Chapel and Inn was filmed by the Style Network. The show is set to air sometime next year, so I'll probably be asking one of you to record it for me since I don't have cable. But it promises to be a good time because the wedding day had everything: a beautiful bride, lots of tears, tons of laughter, an insane amount of dancing and a groomsmen smoking a cigar outside wearing only a towel and a wristwatch. I love weddings.

You can see the entire slide show here: www.benchrisman.com/sandymike

The best part of my job is getting to know each couple I photograph. Some couples I don't meet until their actual wedding day, and others, like Ronny and Andy, I get to know very well long before their big day arrives.

But I almost didn't get to know Ronny and Andy at all because I was already booked for their original wedding day. So Ronny convinced Andy they should change their wedding date just so I could be there. Besides being a little nerve wracking, it's also extremely humbling and flattering to have someone put that much faith in what you do. Their wedding went perfectly and the reception was one of the best parties I have been to this year, especially with Andy's good friend Vinny helping dominate the dance floor. I hope the photographs live up to their expectations. But if not, I'm sure Ronny will make good on her threat to "Drop kick me like the Spice girl she is."
And then she'll probably try to steal my cat. Again.

You can see their slide show here: http://www.benchrisman.com/slideshow/ronnyandy/

Yesterday I had a portrait session with the investment firm Housatonic Partners. The people at Housatonic wanted shots that went a little beyond the normal studio portrait, which worked great for me because I've never been a fan of big studio lights and fake backgrounds. My friend Vlad came along for the ride, and also Intel's Andy Grove (Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1997) spoke at the conference. Really interesting day.

I had a portrait session yesterday with four City of Santa Fe police officers for their department's recruitment campaign. The photos are slated to be placed on the sides of the city's buses, which will be really cool to see while driving around town on my way to get the usual breakfast burrito and coffee in the morning.

I head home on Saturday, but I wanted to show everyone some of the faces and places I've seen during my time here in Mexico. See you all soon.