Wedding Photography at the Barrier Chapel ~ CASAS

Signage from outside the chapel is combined with a scene during Anna and Cory's wedding ceremony inside the chapel

Casas Barrier Chapel is a newer building, added to the spacious compound of the much larger Casas Church, between, La Cholla Blvd. and Lambert Lane, in Oro Valley, Arizona.

Photographing weddings in either church building is always a treat for me! I have several family members who happen to be faithful members of the much bigger Casas Church. I have even attended services there myself on occasion.  As a wedding photographer, having any kind of familiarity with a church or wedding venue, knowing its nuances, helps you to be more resourceful and creative in your photography.  My home-office is also located just two short miles away, which makes photographing weddings here almost like sliding the door open to trim the bushes in my own backyard. I love it!

Architecturally, between the two church buildings at Casas used for wedding ceremonies, the Barrier Chapel is probably better tailored for weddings. Anna and Cory’s wedding, the pictures of which can be seen below, was the first time I ever photographed there. When compared to main church building, which is huge, the chapel’s smaller size lends itself to a more intimate and perhaps traditional setting. It also offers two separate and very well suited rooms for the bride and bridegroom to make last minute preparations.

As a photographer, I always look at lighting and found the interplay of natural and artificial light inside the chapel to be exceptional, when compared to that of most churches. Lighting conditions can change, however. Weather conditions, the different times of day and year can all factor into it.

Barrier Chapel ~ Casas
Signage from outside the chapel is combined with a scene from Anna and Cory’s wedding ceremony inside the chapel
Cory and the Boys
Cory and his groomsmen pose for a few photos outside the Barrier Chapel. In the Bride’s Quarters
In the Bride's Quarters
In the Bride’s Quarters
Wedding Ceremony ~ Barrier Chapel CASAS
Wedding Ceremony ~ Barrier Chapel CASAS
The Church Exit
The Church Exit
Bon Voyage!
Bon Voyage!

My sincere and very best wishes go out to Anna and Cory, as they begin their lives anew, as one. May love follow your trail, with every sunrise and sunset. May the sacred circle never be broken.

My wedding gallery video on YouTube includes some of the pictures in this post.

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Author: Paul Van Helden

Paul Van Helden is a professional headshot, portraits, event, nature, still life and landscape photographer, based in Tucson Arizona. Some of his published credits include The Valley Wedding Pages and Sierra Club. Paul has worked professionally for over thirty years. Biologist and nature photographer Fred Dodd Jr. first introduced him to photography in 1982. Later, Paul studied photography at Dean College and began to photograph weddings under the tutelage of Craig Roberts of Franklin, Massachusetts. After working as a freelance wedding specialist for five years, he started his own photography business in Bellingham, Massachusetts in 1995. In December of 2004, he moved to the American Southwest, a part of the country he fell in love with, when he first visited the region in 1984.