June 8, 2011
WOO HOOOO! I think this wedding was the marriage of more than Susie and Ben. For me personally, it represented the marriage of great planning and a bit of luck. You see, the three of us worked hard ahead of time to plan the timing of this day. Susie and Ben knew they wanted to get married at Still Waters Vineyards in Paso Robles. The reasons are obvious…the place is stunning, well laid-out, and offers great wedding facilitation by the staff there. But, they were concerned about their ceremony’s start time. They wanted to make sure there was adequate light for their ceremony AND family photos afterwards given typical timelines for events there. I sent them galleries of weddings I’ve photographed there previously and we looked at the time stamps on the photos to see exactly how long the light lasted at the venue for the time of year. We talked about how we’d plan the photos for the day, and which we’d do before vs. after the ceremony. Susie and Ben worked with Still Waters to move their ceremony time up just a little before the “normal” start time there…and wow…the results were great. The ceremony light was beautiful and even, family photos were taken in the olive trees with stunning backlight, and the toasts were held under a twilight sky and large moon. What was the part about a “bit of luck”? Well, there was a chance of rain the day of their wedding. Instead, blue skies developed and, although slightly windy, the weather was great. This is not a joke…three minutes after the wedding reception ended and guests were going home, I felt it start to rain. Great planning and a little bit of luck. Yup. I think their marriage will be the same. They work hard, love well, and will inevitably run into a little bit of luck. They deserve that.
Thanks again to the Mendes family for sharing another wedding with me! So happy to see you all again. And to Toby…a special thanks for being such a good sport when the Germans forced me to play that joke on you. Rhonda, excellent job again with your on-location hair and make-up. Jeremy at AMS, big thanks to you too for keep the activities running smooth. I hope Maui provides the perfect honeymoon for Susie and Ben, too.
May 24, 2011
Erin and Jeff are getting married on the east coast, and while I won’t be there for that…I was lucky enough to photograph their engagement photos. They both came from a looong way away for this session. There was no rescheduling to be done if the weather was bad, so we all had our fingers and toes crossed in the days leading up to the session. Rain was predicted for the time of our session, but things were still looking ok as we headed out the door. My hopes were high. Until we saw a large black cloud coming closer. and closer. and closer.
And please explain to me how this one pocket of HEAVY rain ended up coming directly over the three square mile where I was photographing that day? What are the odds? I suppose the one great thing about that, however, was that for a short time it offered the combination of bright, late afternoon light with dark rain clouds behind. I’ve only been lucky enough to get that dramatic natural lighting for a wedding once before (Julie and Trisha’s wedding). When it happens it is absolutely jaw-dropping. Chills-inducing for photographers everywhere.
Thanks Erin and Jeff for braving the weather, running fast from the moving storm clouds, and your willingness to trust my suggestions in the face of such odd conditions. I think you’ll appreciate just how special those couple hours were now that you see the results.
March 4, 2011
Julie and Anthony are getting married at the coolest vineyard up in Morgan Hill. Can’t wait!! They are friends with one of my 2009 clients and so it will be like a mini-reunion for me. I’m also really hoping that their adorable little Yorkie makes an appearance. My daughter has been begging for a Yorkie, and I can see why. I just adored watched Anthony carry around such a pocket sized pooch.
March 3, 2011
As single people, Peter and Michelle were quite selective. At their reception, friends recounted stories of the list of high standards each of them were looking for in a potential date. When Michelle finally met Peter, the rest was quickly history. The high expectations had been met and love took hold.
Peter proposed to Michelle at Summerwood Winery on a romantic wine country vacation from their LA-based life. When they started planning their wedding, Summerwood was a clear front-runner in venues. Not just because of the engagement memories, but also because it suited their plans for an intimate celebration. Great wine, fine cheese, incredible cuisine in a beautiful inn surrounded by a small group of friends and family. And…check out the wonderful sunset vineyard photos we snuck in there too!
August 2, 2010
Maricela and Paul come from my family*. They are wonderfully giggly. They have a ton of friends who love them dearly. And, based on the stories I heard, Mari and Paul are actually Pari and Maul. As in, they are interchangeably together always. Maricela and Paul got married in her family’s backyard in Fresno, so when you all call and ask me where you can find this venue…sorry. It’s a family affair. They worked for a year to build so many of the incredible parts…a redwood chiller, grapevine-covered pergola with benches, a large grass lawn, lovely flowers, and more. The weather was warm and the party was hopping. If some of the people look familiar to you, it’s probably because Maricela is the little sister of Juan Carlos. You remember his wedding photos? Yup, that’s right…beautiful people run in this extended family!
*Family= Not by blood, but by love. I love their families. Les quiero muchisimo!
July 12, 2010
Tritia and Eric got married in the Los Angeles area. I drove down happily knowing that I was getting the double bonus of meeting up with many of my “they live too far away, it makes me sad” friends at the wedding. (Cindy, Kristen, Jennifer, Adrienne, Andrew, John, Berry, Jesse and more…HELLO!) It was a fantastic time, and I met new friends too. In a very surreal experience, turns out two of those new friends (the Kiyoi brothers, for those of you who know them) ended up attending another wedding in Fresno that I shot 2 weeks later. Completely unrelated wedding parties, but apparently the world is just that small. How cool is my work that I get to make new friends like that?!
If you’ve ever had the experience of being around me when I am photographing people, you’ll know that when a photo *really* speaks to me, I get chills. Literally, my whole body gets goosebumps instantly. This was the first time I’ve had that at a wedding from hearing the musicians. You see…Tritia was a music major at UCLA and so when she called on her friends to play music at her ceremony…she literally had the MOST amazing talent to draw from. The music was first class delight. Another delight? Tritia put little elements of Disneyland into her wedding. Which, of course, made me feel right at home. Now if I could only learn Mandarin Chinese. I was inspired to look for classes after doing so poorly on the few words I tried to say. Luckily, I could manage to get yi, er, and san halfway decent, right?
Can’t wait to see you guys again. We are going to Disneyland soon…want to meet us there?
