San Angel Photography || College Station, Texas || Epoch Co+
As part of our continued Wedding Vendor spotlight series, we are happy to introduce an absolutely wonderful wedding photography duo! Miguel and Maryann of San Angel photography based in College Station, Texas are true joys. Miguel is an Aggie graduate, so he always has a soft spot for Aggie weddings (ditto). Maryann never stops smiling and brings just the happiest mood to your big day. As a husband and wife duo, they understand more than anyone the logistics of a wedding day, and they can also perfectly capture the “His” and “Hers” side of the wedding day, working together as a team to capture your day as a whole.
How did you get into photography? How did you learn your way around a camera?
Miguel started assisting other photographers during college and convinced Maryann to spend the last of her savings on buying her first camera as well. Photography was both fun to learn and a unique way to grow as a couple. We are so grateful for our journey thus far.
What made you decide to specialize in wedding photography?
We love the energy of the day! Also it’s a unique challenge because you combine portraits, candids and product photography all in one. You must be skilled in each aspect all while being fun and friendly with family and guests.
What are three words you would use to describe your style?
Modern, Vivid, Flattering
Favorite wedding to date?
While it’s impossible to pick a favorite wedding, one of the dearest most recent weddings was Alexis and TC’s day. Their family was so welcoming and they had the coolest attitude and were very open to our ideas. It was seriously so much fun!
5. Favorite moment to capture during the wedding day?
Miguel - I love couple’s portraits, it’s such a privilege to get to spend time with the bride and groom while they take a little break to themselves. You can see it in their faces just how happy they are to be sharing that moment with each other!
Maryann - I really enjoy photographing the ceremony - specifically when the bride first walks down the aisle. I feel really lucky to get the chance to see their heartfelt reactions of one another during this moment. It’s incredibly sweet.
6. What has been your biggest wedding day challenge to date?
When other vendors are late it really squeezes our timelines. It forces us to be quick and efficient with photos. During one wedding, the makeup artist did not finish on time and the ceremony ran longer than expected. We really had to work together during formals to make sure the couple had all of the photos they requested!
7. 3 tips for future clients
Hire a good planner/day of coordinator (and if photos are a priority please tell them!)
COORDINATOR TIP INSERTING HERE BY EPOCH: Hair and Makeup are usually the first on your wedding day timeline. If you have a long photo shot list, ask your hair and makeup artist if adding an additional artist on the day of is an option, this can cut your hair and makeup time down by 1-2 hours! Ideally, we want you to have a joyous time getting dolled up, then plenty of time for pictures, and THEN time to relax and freshen up before ceremony go time. Hair and Makeup can be the biggest consumption of time pre-ceremony without the right hair and makeup team!
Leave buffers in your timeline, it’s totally ok if you have a little downtime on your wedding day as it’s much less stressful than rushing.
SHARE ALL THE DETAILS with your photographer, even if you might not even think it’s important. We always want to know things like if you’re driving away in a cool car or even simply hiring a videographer. That last one is very important for us as photographers (we’re videographers too so we understand)! Communication is key.
8. What do you like to do in your free time?
We are big into music! You can find us at live shows, searching through record crates or at home dancing to almost anything. Maryann is an excellent cook and is always experimenting with new recipes, Miguel loves to play guitar and has been at it for 17 years! We both used to be in a cover band too, that's a whole different story though...
9. Some of your favorites:
Movies
We LOVED watching French films when we first started dating years ago. Our movie tastes are all over the place, from 16 Candles to The Godfather to Pierrot Le Fou, we’re up for almost any movie however we’re currently on a Wes Anderson binge.
Books
Classics are our favorites including works from Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Fitzgerald (highly recommend This Side of Paradise!) but Harry Potter has a special place in our hearts.
Place in the world - whether bucket list or a place you have been
We have been to some pretty rad places including Barcelona, Germany, Cuba and Curacao (the beaches are gorgeous there, we couldn’t put our cameras away) for our honeymoon!
Foods
We’d love to say that we are into super trendy and healthy foods, but honestly, we are most likely to be eating pizza or tacos. We’ve been to almost all the pizza places here in town and we have some secret spots for the best tacos. Ask us for a list!
We absolutely love featuring fellow wedding vendors, getting some insider tips to share with our readers and learning a bit more about the “who” behind the business. San Angel Photography is such an amazingly kind duo. From a vendor to vendor standpoint, we highly recommend them. They are talented beyond measure, great at communicating and such a joy to work with behind the scenes. We have also been really pleased with their picture turnaround time, and their willingness to share the images with the fellow vendors our clients hired to complete their wedding day dream team. If you are in the market for a local or destination wedding photographer, give San Angel Photography a ring!