A Balboa Island & Newport Beach Wedding
Hillary and Chris are, without question, the most joyful couple I’ve worked with. They found me just one month before their wedding day. What could’ve been a scramble was, in Hillary’s hands, the opposite. She planned the entire day to a T, without a single hitch.
Every conversation we had, we connected on another level. We’d all three grown up in New York in our twenties, and all three of us are genuinely huge film lovers. Chris especially got to nerd out with me about film cameras and Super 8, and honestly, so did I.
Getting Ready and the Ceremony at St. John Vianney Chapel
Hillary and the wedding party got ready at Hyatt Regency Newport Beach before heading to Balboa Island for the ceremony at St. John Vianney Chapel. It’s an intimate, unassuming space, and that’s exactly its charm. No grand production, just the island’s character and a chapel that’s been part of this community for generations.
St. John Vianney Chapel doesn’t publish capacity, pricing, or booking details anywhere, including their website. The chapel office itself is actually run out of a separate parish nearby, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Newport Beach. If you’re considering it, the best thing to do is call or email the chapel office directly and ask.
The Reception at Hyatt Regency Newport Beach
From the chapel, everyone made their way to the Hyatt for the reception. It’s a flexible space, 26,000 square feet across indoor and outdoor settings, built to handle anywhere from an intimate elopement to a 500-guest celebration.
Nothing about this reception felt generic, though. Every detail was intentional. From the monochrome napkins to party favors that were somehow both classy and completely silly. Filled with paper crowns, confetti poppers, kazoos, the kind of small touches that told you exactly who this couple was before the night even got going.
The Show
When the reception started, so did the real performance. Chris sang a song to his new wife. Then, during what everyone assumed was just their first dance, Hillary and Chris stepped outside and came back in with a fully choreographed routine they’d quietly rehearsed, and brought the house down. They’d told everyone beforehand, almost as a joke, “oh, we’re dancers.” Turns out they weren’t kidding.
What Hybrid Film and Digital Coverage Looked Like for Them
Hillary and Chris booked hybrid coverage, both film and digital, and this wedding is a genuinely good example of why that combination works. Digital carried the parts of the day that move fast and can’t be missed: the ceremony processional, the reception entrance, the choreographed dance, moments where I needed to shoot in real time with zero risk of missing the frame.
Film carried the parts of the day that were about feeling, not speed. There’s something about the actual texture of film, the grain, the way it renders light, that a digital recreation of the same moment just doesn’t carry the same weight. For a couple who wanted to literally repeat a piece of family history on the same kind of film stock, shooting it any other way would have missed the point entirely.
That’s really what hybrid coverage is for: digital where reliability and speed matter most, film where the moment itself calls for it. Not a default, a choice, made deliberately for the parts of the day where it counted.
Planning Your Own Balboa Island & Newport Beach Wedding
St. John Vianney Chapel doesn’t publish pricing, capacity, or wedding policies anywhere public. Contact the chapel office (run through Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish) directly to ask about availability and requirements.
Hyatt Regency Newport Beach is far more flexible in scale, seated ceremony capacity up to 400 indoors or 800 outdoors, reception capacity up to 400 indoors or 300 outdoors. One third-party directory lists venue rental in the $2,000 to $5,000 range per event, packages starting around $140 per person, and a food and beverage minimum between $5,000 and $30,000 depending on the day, season, and guest count, plus a 26% service charge. These are directory estimates, not venue-confirmed figures, so confirm current pricing directly with the Hyatt.
The Vendors Who Made This Day
- Dress: @moniquelhuillier, @moniquelhuillierbride, boutique: @kaya_bridal
- Tux: @brooksbrothers
- Hair & Makeup: @brittanybrownbeauty
- Florist: @teresa.caraveo_
- Cake: @couturecakery
- Band: @vaughnfahiejazz
- Rentals: Signature Rentals
Thinking About a Wedding at Either of These Venues?
If a chapel ceremony followed by a bigger celebration elsewhere sounds like your day, or if you’re drawn to hybrid film and digital coverage the way Hillary and Chris were, I’d love to talk it through with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you get married at St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island? Yes, it’s an active Catholic parish chapel that hosts weddings, but capacity, pricing, and requirements aren’t published anywhere. Contact the chapel office, run through Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, directly.
How many guests can Hyatt Regency Newport Beach hold for a wedding? Per the venue, ceremony capacity runs up to 400 guests seated indoors or 800 outdoors, and reception capacity up to 400 indoors or 300 outdoors.
How much does a wedding at Hyatt Regency Newport Beach cost? One third-party directory lists venue rental around $2,000 to $5,000 per event and packages starting around $140 per person, plus food and beverage minimums and a 26% service charge. Confirm current pricing directly with the Hyatt.
What does hybrid film and digital wedding coverage actually mean? It means choosing film or digital deliberately for different parts of the day, digital for fast-moving, can’t-miss moments, film for moments where texture and feeling matter more than speed, rather than defaulting to one or the other for the whole day.
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Meet Your Photographer
Hi, I’m Teresa. It started 22 years ago, the first time I stepped into a darkroom. I started experimenting with wedding photography in 2019, on purpose, and differently than what I’d been trained to expect from the industry. If there’s one belief that’s driven all of it, it’s this: have fun, and let it be what it’s going to be. I’ll be there to catch whatever happens.
My photography is a blend of art, experience, and instinct, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It started 22 years ago, the first time I stepped into a darkroom, a moment that sparked a lifelong pull toward capturing the world through a lens. That pull eventually led me into the fine art space, collaborating with artists, managing studios, and working alongside galleries and museums, studying art and photography through both undergraduate and graduate school, where my aesthetic developed under the influence of critical theory and contemporary art. I found myself drawn to the intersection of documentary photography and the spontaneous, unfiltered moments of real life. My goal has always been the same: images that are raw, honest, and deeply human.
I founded Teresa LoJacono Photography in 2013, and started experimenting with wedding photography in 2019, on purpose, and differently than what I’d been trained to expect from the industry. Travel plays a huge role in my creative process too, I find inspiration in the unfamiliar, letting light, movement, and emotion guide my eye. With a camera in hand, everything becomes a canvas and a chance to catch what’s actually happening, not what’s staged for it. If there’s one belief that’s driven all of it, it’s this: have fun, and let it be what it’s going to be. I’ll be there to catch whatever happens.
