My clients, Kristin and Chris, have their wedding featured as one of three finalists in Central Coast Bride's Bridal Idol.  If Kristin and Chris get the most votes, their wedding will be featured in the magazine's next edition due out soon.  So, if you would all be so kind as to go leave a little vote on their entry...that would be great!  I think having your wedding in a magazine is a super cool memento.

To vote click HERE (don't worry, you don't have to enter an email address to vote.  no spam involved.)

One of my favorite things to do in Kauai is to swim with sea turtles at Ke'e Beach.  This is my favorite beach by far in Kauai, located at the end of the road on the island's north side.  Parking is hard to come by, so go early in the day.  If you go just beyond the reef, the turtles hang out there.  The challenge is to make it out over the reef.  The water is about 8 inches deeper than an average person floating depth, so you have to basically do the smallest flutter kicks to get out over the reef without touching it.  The work is worth it.  These turtles are awesome!

This past weekend I pulled off the impossible.  I kept a big secret from Jason.  I surprised him, Anna, and Holly with a trip to Kauai!  As I type this, I am sitting outside our room, enjoying the night's warm breeze and ocean smells.  This is heaven.

Two big influences led to this surprise, last minute vacation.  The first has to do with jealousy (the same influence responsible for some of my horrid high school moments).  The last two couples that I photographed were leaving for Kauai the next day for their honeymoons.  Kauai happens to be one of my favorite places on earth.  Now, I haven't seen that many places on earth...spain, mexico, canada, usa, honduras, guatemala, grand cayman, and kauai...but really I can't imagine much better than this island.  Grand Cayman was great, but since I live on the west coast...the flights are much easier to Kauai than the Carribean. 

Another influencing factor came from our neighbors across the street.  They are Muslim and just came back from a 2 week trip to Mecca to see their religion's holiest mosque.  I saw some amazing photos of their trip, heard some really interesting stories, but one thing they said really resonated with me.  Their trip reminded them that life is short, precious and that we should make sure to appreciate our moments as they come and take advantage of opportunities to spend time with our kids before they outgrow our houses.  And since I had recently been looking at old photos of the girls, this statement really hit close to home last week.

The two influences were strong.  I went home on Tuesday night and booked a trip to Kauai.  It is short trip, since I am in the midst of a busy wedding season...so just Sunday-Thursday.  My wedding on the 4th of July was in Los Angeles area.  Jason and the girls stayed in Paso to watch fireworks and then drove down Sunday morning to meet me for a few days of "visiting my family in San Diego." 

He had NO idea that what he was really doing was coming to LAX for a trip.  The surprise almost got spoiled when Jason let the girls sleep in on Sunday morning...thus leaving Paso nearly 2 hours later than he said he would.  I was sweating bullets that he wouldn't make it to LA in time for our flight...but he did.  I kept my secret all the way until he met me in LA at our friends' house.  He literally didn't believe me about the real vacation plans for hours.  He had a look on his face of complete and total stunned disbelief.

This also marked the girls first airplane ride.  They were a little nervous, but did well.  They spent about an hour drawing pictures of themselves on a beach, swimming with turtles, and smelling flowers (all things they associate with our descriptions of Hawaii).  The plane was empty in our section, so we all got to stretch out over about 4 rows of seats.  Now...please let that happen on the flight home and I'll be super excited!

Some of my favorite moments so far were Holly's excitement when she finally figured out we were staying for more than a couple hours.  When we walked into the hotel room she just shrieked in happiness because she finally understood that we were staying for awhile.  Apparently, she thought that we were just staying for a couple hours before that?!  And, this morning...our first morning...a rooster (one of the millions on Kauai that roam free) made his cock-a-doodle-doo right our our patio door.  Anna jumped bolt upright out of bed and said "What the heck was that?!  Is there a monster in Kauai?!"  Apparently, she's never actually heard a rooster in person?

So...happy Kauai days.  Hug the ones you love tight, plan a spur of the moment event together.  This is where the memories are made.

Ohhh...and Happy Birthday to Holly DiSimone.  She turned 5 years old today!  Luckily, Kauai makes birthday cakes and ice cream, too.  Not just beautiful sunsets and lush gardens.

Melissa and Anthony's wedding has been on my schedule for quite sometime.  They booked me originally for a wedding that was to have happened last year, but unfortunately had to reschedule for family and health reasons.  So...I am SUPER happy to bring you this blog post because I think the photos show just how special this wedding was!

First off...you need to know just how close their families are.  No, really...CLOSE.  As in, Melissa's grandma and Anthony's grandma were best friends in grade school.  Their fathers grew up on the same street with each other.  AND, their parents now live next door to each other in Nipomo.  To say that these families are already entwined is an understatement.

The preparations were easy in the morning.  The guys got ready at one house on the hill, and the girls got ready at the other...and I just had a hop-skip between them to shoot the morning's activities.  But, they did it in a distinctly different way.  The guys had a morning drink(s) at Jacko's, followed by some good dice games...and the girls had twirling skirts, earrings, and adorable flower girls.



And then we moved onto Saint Patrick's Church in Arroyo Grande for the ceremony. As people arrived, there was more than the usual hugging and smiling. Made me feel really good. And, the abundance of large belt buckles and wranglers made me smile too.

Everyone was holding it together pretty well when the ceremony started. Pretty well, until Anthony's sister started walking up the aisle, saw her aunt who surprised everyone by flying in from Texas, and she started crying. It spread through the guests like wildfire...everyone was reaching for their kleenex.

Melissa and Anthony had a wonderful ceremony, made even better by the fact that the priest who married them has known the family for a looong time. After a blessing for the couple, we were off to Spanish Oaks Ranch in Santa Margarita for the reception.

Here's Melissa's side of the Mallosoaresry family

And here's Anthony's side of the Mallosoaresry family

Formal photos out of the way, it was time for the party to begin. The toasts were HILARIOUS and touching. One of those times where you are wiping away tears as you are laughing.

Melissa and Anthony started their first dance to a very traditional song...although I can't remember what it was. Because about 20 seconds into the dance, Anthony walked away to the DJ table, whispered something to the DJ, and a new song started. The new song's lyrics had everyone roaring. And, for the life of me...I can't remember which song it was. Will someone from the wedding please leave a comment and let me know what the name fo the song was?!

Another cool idea that I've never seen before...they had homemade cookies from various family members as part of a dessert table. It was all the favorite family recipes for things like lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, mexican wedding cookies, and snickerdoodles (my personal favorite!)

as the sun was setting...this place still looked magnificant

and, this wedding would not have been complete without a singing cowboy.