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?
June 16, 2010
Christa and Mike got married in Fresno, and had their reception at a really unique place. An airport hangar. Yup. Too cool. It had an old world, Casablanca vibe. Super cool prop planes all around us. Incredible old cars, the kinds where the back doors open opposite direction to today’s cars. Combined with all the details that they put together (birdcage veil, flowing dress, silver table decor), it really made me feel like I should check the calendar to see if it was 1940s.
And then…Christa’s family is full Southern. Big hugs, sweet southern drawls, and incredible love all the way around. LOVED it!!! I even loved them enough that I will accept their undying Los Angeles Lakers allegiance during this NBA Finals season. I do appreciate how Lakers’ colors snuck into the bridesmaid’s outfits with yellow bouquet ribbon and (awesome) purple heels. 
They really REALLY love the Lakers.
Thanks to all the family and friends that gathered around them to celebrate the day! I know that you made them incredibly happy, I can see it in all the photos!
May 4, 2010
Tritia had me at “Hello” when we very first met. Because she followed up with “I love your photos!” LOL…is that wrong that I’m so obvious and easy to please? Tritia is friends with several of my previous clients and their bridesmaids, so we are happy that this season will bring her OWN wedding! I am very excited to be reunited with many of the people I got to know last year, since their facebook updates just aren’t keeping me as in touch as I’d like to be.
Tritia and Eric generously drove up to Paso Robles for our engagement session, a one day trip from LA. WOW! So, we went to a few of my favorite locations as well as several brand new ones. The wildflowers are still holding out some great blooms right now and I REALLY have been wanting to get out there for a session with some of the purple lupin. I’m super happy that the timing worked out for their visit!
May 1, 2010
Jennifer and Michael’s wedding was in the newspaper. Unfortunately, it was caught up in the foreclosure of the Villa Toscana wedding venue and they were one of the first weddings of the 2010 season to be left hanging. Jennifer and Michael had to scramble to secure a new venue and figure out the financial implications that might result from the whole thing. I have no idea how they managed to keep their calm and cool through that uncertainty and stress, but they were wonderful clients from start to finish! KUDOS to them for making one huge kick-butt batch of lemonade out of lemons. Robert Hall Winery ended up provided an incredible backdrop to their celebration, and the affair went off without a problem. Some of my favorite details to this wedding were the barrel-room ceremony, the incredible flowers, and sweet vintage Packard that ferried the wedding party. While most couples choose the brick patio at Robert Hall for their ceremony, Jenn and Mike chose the barrel room. The room is lit by votive candles and dim overhead lights, which while it is challenging to photograph in the dim light, makes such a romantic setting. Well, just look at the photos and decide for yourself…it is a stunning place. Jenn and Mike, hopefully we will meet up soon again…I’ll let you know when we go for our next Disneyland trip!
March 17, 2010
Justin and I met a little less than a year ago during what I like to call my “dark period”. You see, my house is a standard tract house. Looks a lot like our neighbors’ houses…except ours has more kid toys strewn in the bushes. The insides of the houses were built by a developer who looked to save a penny everywhere that the expense wasn’t required by building codes, especially when it came to plumbing and electrical work. Therefore, every bedroom upstairs and my office space downstairs had NO OVERHEAD LIGHTS! How stupid is that?
So we’ve lived for the last six years with those cheap college torchiere lamps in each room. Which means one corner of each room would be well lit, while the remaining three corners would be dark caves. This really was a problem in my office space. A place where I spend hours and hours on the computer was the worst lit in the whole house. Depressing.
Last year I finally decided that we saved enough money to hire an electrician to come and install can lights in the ceilings of the girls’ bedrooms and the downstairs office. I called about 5 electricians for quotes. The first ones that showed up and responded were Teague Electric. Two brothers named Craig and Justin gave me a completely reasonable bid that same day and they were hired. Their work was crazy good…and my life finally had light again. No more torchieres! YEAH! In fact, their work was so good and reasonably priced, that we did two more bedrooms’ overhead lighting, as well as plans for some outdoor lighting later this year.
While Justin was working on my office lights, he told me about his wonderful girlfriend (weddings do tend to come up in conversation a lot with me, after all). He gushed that Mary was so amazing and it was just a matter of time before he proposed. And, I’m so happy he did…because now I get to meet the rest of their wonderful families when I photograph their wedding later this year. Not only did I find the best electricians in town…I found new friends!
By the way, Mary and Justin were set-up by a mutual friend…and normally I’d agree that match-making is an art form mixed with a bit of good luck and great timing. But, in this case I think any one of their friends could have figured out this match. If you separately knew Mary and separately knew Justin…you’d probably set them up together too. It is just that obvious. Those are the great kind of couples.
