Steve and Jackie are close to Sarah and me. They are family friends that go back to my childhood. Being part of this wedding was a true honor. There’s nothing like taking a place of honor in a friend’s wedding. This actually isn’t really a new experience though I must say. We tend to get close with our clients, and they feel more like friends after it’s all said and done. We go out of our way to make you feel at home. Sarah was actually one of Jackie’s bridesmaids.

I really enjoyed this wedding. Not that I don’t enjoy every wedding. But I LOVE it when my brides have a lot of details. Details are the best. They make weddings super personal, and they just add to the ambiance. I really loved the Anthropologie feeling that we got from the centerpieces, the bouquets, the boutonnieres, the cake, the cake toppers, the thumbprint tree, the program fans, and everything else I’m forgetting to mention.

You might remember reading about Sarah and my trip to Anthropologie to learn how to make little animals with cork. Well, Jackie saw what we made, and just HAD to have her own copy. We then proceeded to make a wedding version of the Anthropologie cork birds and they turned out beautifully! Jackie took it a step further and added a base and a some flags.

Stephen and Jackie, we feel honored to be considered your friends. May you have a life full of love, laughter, and God’s blessing. Have fun in Michigan….. We miss you.

To view and order more pictures, please go to http://www.pictage.com/1062946

Hair and Make-up: THERESA HUANG  make-up & hair design
Venue: Porter Valley Country Club
Dress: Pebbles Bridal
Cork Birds: Brian and Sarah Noah inspired by Anthropologie

One of our clients saw them and really liked them, so they requested that we make their own cork bride and groom birds cake toppers. Of course Sarah and I were more than happy to sit down, get our craftiness on, and make a couple little birdies for our good friends.

You’ll be seeing these guys around soon. Most likely in one of the blogposts next month. So stay tuned!

Vera Wang – Fiona: http://www.onewed.com/wedding-dresses/designer/vera-wang/dress/strapless/mermaid/floor-length/spring-2011–fawn/
Jimmy Choo – Clue: http://www.jimmychoo.com/bridal/clue/invt/010cluelas/
Pearl Bouquet Earrings: http://www.stelladot.com/sarahnoah/productcatalog?page=productdetail&selectedLocale=en_US&sku=E131G
Audrey Cluster Bracelet: http://www.stelladot.com/sarahnoah/productcatalog?page=productdetail&selectedLocale=en_US&sku=B122
Chelsea Necklace – Gold: http://www.stelladot.com/sites/sarahnoah/productcatalog?page=productdetail&sku=N131G
Peony Hairpin: http://www.bhldn.com/the%2Dshop%5Fhair%2Dadornments/peony%2Dhairpin

I’d STRONGLY suggest reading the following post before watching… You’ll see this wedding in a different light: Dionté + Tiffany.

Ok… go grab some popcorn, your fiancé, and some tissues. Enjoy! Oh, and make sure you hit full screen, and select 1080p.

Music provided by Songfreedom.com
“As Long as Hearts are Beating” Jenny & Tyler Faint Not 2010 Jenny & Tyler All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This is one of my craziest weddings ever. Every possible thing that could go wrong did, and I’m not being brash or using hyperbole. It was one tumultuous day. At least it started that day. I’m not going to go into detail about everything that went wrong, but I’ll sum it up. The original venue was no longer available, and every single vendor left or didn’t show up…. except for me and my crew. You see, I decided long ago that if something like this were to happen, I would stay all day, even if there is no wedding. This is the first time that I’ve had to use this company policy, and thank God that I did! About 2 hours into the time that we were at the original venue I got a call from Dionté telling me that the wedding was on. Tiffany’s amazing dad pulled together a wedding in 3 hours. THREE hours. He found a location, found a rental vendor for chairs, and set up a reception at the Chart House in Dana Point. It was incredible!

The camaraderie and love in the atmosphere was strong that day. You could tell that Dionté and Tiffany were truly grateful. They just wanted to get married. Their love was too strong to let little things get in the way. Ok, no venue, and no vendors isn’t just a little problem… That’s a HUGE problem! But at the end of the day, Their love for each-other won out. I truly loved shooting this wedding. The back-story gave me a new respect for the two love-birds.

I’ll share it tomorrow, but I created a fusion video of stills and cinema from the wedding day. There’s one specific line from the song that I chose for the video that I wanted to share. I think it summed up the feeling that went on that day between Tiffany and Dionté.

No more words from my lips, just the look in your eyes says it all, so much more than i could ever. I won’t try.

I know there were tears. I know there was pain. The beginning of the day was catastrophic. That’s not just something you can shake off. But they got through it, and their wedding was absolutely beautiful, and almost poignant, knowing that that the day could have just passed us all by. The warmth from all of the family was absolutely incredible. Dionté and Tiffany are surrounded by friends and family that love them. If they didn’t know it before, they know it now. The bonds that they have are the kind that anyone could envy. I know that the support they have will help shape their marriage into something incredible. They’re not going into this alone, they are blessed.

Dionté and Tiffany, I am truly privileged to have spent the day with you. Your resolve, love, and gratitude spoke volumes to us about your character. I pray that God blesses you in your marriage and life together.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to shoot more Santa Barbara weddings. The combination of the amazing weather, and gorgeous locations really make for a good time, and beautiful photographs. Matt and Jessica’s first look took place at the luxurious Bacara resort in Goleta, Ca. This resort would be perfect for a wedding, and I can’t wait till I’m commissioned to photograph my first wedding there. There’s this adorable little path heading down to the beach, and since the resort is pretty big, the beach is fairly empty.

After the first look and some bridal party portraits, we all headed over to the church for the ceremony. The wedding was beautiful, and the church offered so many unique angles, and I really enjoyed capturing the processional from the balcony.

I have to admit that I love wedding receptions. Everyone is happy, people are eating, celebrating, and getting to catch up with old friends. Matt and Jessica’s reception was held at the beautiful Glen Annie Golf Club a stones throw away from Bacara. The greens are beautiful, and if I were half-way decent at playing golf, I would LOVE to yell “Fore” there, but I’m not even slightly good. Instead, I got to enjoy the reception area, and do what I do best: take advantage of the greens for the bride and groom’s romantic portraits.

True to Santa Barbara’s nature, fog was more than prevalent in and around the small town.  I love the fog, but often times it can cause a real damper for photos. It can sometimes look like smog compared to the blue sky, and can ruin sunsets and the golden hour in no time. But that’s where creative lighting comes into play. If you spend any time on this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I love well-lit portraits. If you’ve ever hired me to photograph portraits or your wedding, you know that I mount my flash on a stand with a big umbrella most of the time. I do this so I can control the light, and the look of the photos. I’m not going to go into the specifics of how I did it, but I was able to create some dramatic lighting in the dismal lighting condition. I love the romance in the images by the lake. The mist coming off the water, along with the blue atmosphere just make me love what I do, and push me forward to shoot more and more. I can’t wait until the next time I can shoot at the Glen Annie Golf Club. I hope it’s foggy again; I love being challenged to try something new, and improvise.

By the way, Matt and Jessica were such a charming couple. Matt owns a car dealership in Santa Barbara, and Jessica is a real life Elle Woods(Legally Blonde). She has a degree in fashion design and merchandising(Sarah does too, she got an AA at FIDM, San Francisco) and then went on to become a lawyer. They were so fun to work with, and wanted to take more and more photos. Kacie and I really enjoyed working with them.

Kacie: Thank you for the opportunity to shoot this wedding with you. I look forward to the next wedding together!

Matt and Jessica: Congrats on your wedding and new life together!

I love the romance that is evoked from just the look of this album, with it’s fine-art, hand-torn, white felt pages, to the pains-taking care that is put into the detail of fastening the book together. To ensure that yours is made to your specifications, the book is available in three different color options: light leather, dark leather, and woven leather. We can offer 5 different fine-art papers, from a thick and sturdy white linen, to recycled, eco-friendly option. I love the look of the hand-torn edges, but a clean cut is also available. These books are hand-crafted on old-world bindery equipment. The same kind that made the old books that are still intact to this day.

The sheath album cover is a separate option, and well worth it. The combination of the archival print quality, and the sheath box ensure that your album will stay safe and secure. This is an album that you will want to show to your children, grandchildren, and in turn, have them show their grandchildren. The Toscana wedding book is made that well. It will stand the test of time, and is well worth the investment. As shown here, the Toscana album with 100 pages, and sheath go for $4,400, or $3200 without the case. The same book & case with 200 pages goes for $4900, and the 300 page option for $5,325.

If this wedding looks familiar, that’s because it is. Check out the photos and the video from this wedding here: Steve & Lara’s Wedding.

The reception is a fun part of the wedding. For the majority, the dancing and festivities are a lot of fun. But there are always those times during the reception that you’ve danced just a little too hard, or you need to sit back and relax. Your beautiful linen covered tables and chiavari chairs just don’t cut it as far as being a comfortable haven. The Lounge offers a refreshing take on being a brief respite from partying on the dance-floor. It also gives your two-left-footed groomsman a chance to sit and talk with your cute cousin; you can then take credit(or blame) for them ending up together.

The lounge can take multiple shapes and forms. It can take a gorgeous venue and make it even that much more elegant. It can take a beach wedding reception, and transform it into an exotic barefoot festival. You can go all-out and have LED lighted tables and uplighting, or you can have candlelight.

We do regular work with Del Rey Party Rentals. They offer a huge assortment of rental equipment and lounge furniture to the greater Los Angeles area. They’re literally knocking holes in the walls of their warehouse to fit more lounge furniture. If you ask me, they’ll have to move to a larger warehouse soon to accommodate everything they supply. A couple weeks ago they asked me to come down to the warehouse to create a promotional video for their lounge furniture. We spent the day setting up the showroom as a lounge, and I didn’t want to leave. All that was lacking was a bar-tender, and the music(and the wedding party and guests). Make sure you give Julio a call, and tell him that Brian sent you.

So is the lounge right for you? I can unequivocally say yes… Having a lounge at your wedding reception will make your beautiful wedding even more so.

When I drove down in December for the engagement session I felt like I already knew Lara, and had a pretty good knowledge of Steve. Steve is a commanding officer in the Navy, and is currently getting his masters. They’re both some of the coolest, most real people you’ll ever meet. We had a fun afternoon running around Downtown San Diego in the light rain. I love San Diego as it is, but I love rain even more, and it just lit up the city with romance.

One of my favorite moments during the wedding was when Lara’s daughter Willow walked her down the aisle. It brought a few tears to my eyes, and made my job that much better. Not only did they have a beautiful ceremony, but the location was absolutely gorgeous. The Sub base on Point Loma, facing Downtown San Diego is perfect for a wedding. Overlooking the bluffs, and the skyscrapers, it’s really quite breath-taking.

Lara and Steve, may God bless you and your marriage!

The wedding was supposed to be in the beautiful gardens of the Kyoto Grand Hotel, but because of the crazy rain, everything was moved inside. They both took it so well, and nobody would even know that something had gone wrong. Plus, the inside of the Kyoto is absolutely beautiful. The architecture is superb, and we loved the outcome of the portraits.

One of the most memorable parts from the wedding was the DJ show-down. Hideaki is an LA area DJ and so a lot of his DJ friends attended the wedding. At the end of the reception, Hideaki had some fun mixing some beats, and Jenny joined in while a friend free-styled. Man, do they have some talented friends.

Thank you Jenny and Hideaki for the chance to photograph your wedding!

Check out the fusion video/slideshow from the wedding.

Florist: Exotic Green Garden

Coordinator: Porras Wedding Consulting

Venue: Kyoto Grand Hotel

I had this wedding planned for a couple weeks. I assisted/shot second for Kelly Segré of Ventura. It was a very relaxing wedding, and the couple was a lot of fun. The venue, Fess Parker’s Double Tree was absolutely gorgeous. Right next to the ocean in Santa Barbara, and within walking distance of the pier. I’d really suggest checking it out for a your wedding venue. The staff is also top notch, very professional, personable, and on top of everything.

Anyway, the timing couldn’t have been better. Doug came out on Friday, we all spent the evening talking, hanging out, drinking mudslides, having my famous grilled chicken with a family recipe sauce, until early in the morning. Doug had some friends he wanted to visit on Saturday, so it was perfect, I shot the wedding, he hung out with friends, and everyone was happy.

Enjoy!

We started out the day at the Westin Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The view from the hotel was incredible, we could see the whole city from the 33rd floor, even the Disney Concert Hall. When Laura was in her beautiful wedding dress we went directly to Union Station where they had their gorgeous fall themed wedding.

If you ever have a chance to have a Union Station Wedding, by all means go for it. There’s nothing quite like getting married with a backdrop of a romantic 30′s styled train station. There’s something so “Old Hollywood” about Union Station that I love. It creates such an incredible atmosphere.

Here are some of the photos that I made during the day:

Åse and Stephan are from Sweden. They’re a very relaxed easy going couple, and fun to work with as well. They’ve been together for about 17 years now, and have two kids; 7 and 10.  They live in a small town, and have been planning their Los Angeles beach wedding for about a year without anyone finding out. They want it to be a surprise to everyone back home in Sweden. They even planned on announcing their destination wedding nuptials via the local newspaper! Stephan works for an American company based out of Santa Monica, and stayed a stone’s throw from the Santa Monica Pier.

They flew out on tuesday for their destination wedding in Los Angeles, and got married on Friday at the Trump National Golf Club.  The ceremony itself was tiny…It was the priest Staaphan, two witnesses, and me. It was such a beautiful wedding with the cliffs of Rancho Palos Verdes in the background, the ocean, the clear blue skies. We really couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. Åse had told me that she mostly just wanted some photos of the ceremony and a couple portraits afterwards.. she said about 10-15 photos. For a 1 hour session like this I’ll usually hand over about 25 quality select photos… but since there was a ceremony as well, I had to capture those moments too. I always try to under-promise, over-deliver… and this time was no exception. She ended up with a total of 84 photos. I hope she like them!

I usually don’t offer 1 hour wedding packages, but Åse just wanted portraits and a couple shots at the ceremony and had promised that it wouldn’t go over 1 hour. It was one of the most fun, easy “weddings” that I have ever shot!

Here are a few of the photos:

We decided on Trippet ranch in Topanga State Park in Los Angeles California to photograph their wedding photos. I love this park! I used to go there as a little kid. There’s a nature trail where you can see the ocean, and picnic area… it’s a great place for photos and to just hang out and relax…. I plan on doing another shoot here pretty soon.

Sarah and I got to Liz’s house in Tarzana at about 9:30 to get hair photos, and getting ready photos. We went to MAC at Nordtroms in the Topanga Mall. We had planned on getting back from make-up at around 12 noon, but we ended up getting back at 1:30, leaving us barely any time to take family photos before the wedding at 3. Which didn’t happen because It was too hot outside to take photos, and the church wasn’t open until 2:30.  Which meant we didn’t get to take formal family photos. At least we had planned to take couple shots a week or two after the wedding. So we got out of the wedding at about 5:30, and got to the Royal Palace in Glendale around 6 or so. Fortunately there was enough time to set up and get ready for the grand entrance, and take some detail shots.

After all of that the evening went really well. and we had  a ton of fun dancing around and taking all sorts of photos… there was even a belly dancer.

Here are some images that we made during the wedding:

Family and friends of Liz and Arnold sign up here to view all of the images as soon as they’re ready: pictage.com/683788

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Alysha and Edgar Gonzales got married today at Casa Sirena Hotel in Oxnard Ca. The wedding area was beautiful, and I got some great shots. A boat owner even let us get on their boat and get some photos there, we lucked out.

We got home around 12, and I’m recharging my batteries, and transferring all of the images, Got another wedding at 9 a.m. tomorrow.I can’t wait!

Here’s a few that I got today: