Jenette & Nick are evidence that there are simply good people in this world.  Selfless, do-the-right-thing-even-when-its-hard, kind and loving people.  The kind of people I want to emulate in my life.  Honest-to-goodness good people.  And after a super long courtship, these two finally tied the knot on Saturday!  It was a HOT day in Orange County.  A perfect day for an August wedding.

Jenette & Nick - Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your beautiful day!  It was absolutely perfect and I’m so thrilled for the two of you.  I hope you’re finally relaxing on the beach in St. Lucia with a chilled cocktail in hand and not a care in the world.  Congratulations!

Her gown had pockets.  And a bow.  And was my most favorite wedding dress to date.  It was gorgeous.

 A super huge thank you to Jenna for the second shooting and for the FiberOne bar

I’m not really afraid of many things.  I tend to jump forward with both feet and figure it out as I go.  I’m especially not afraid of things when I’m pretty sure that I’ll be safe.  I don’t worry about heights when there’s a net and safety lines and professionals.  Typically.  Yesterday was a little bit of a different story.

I went to Trapeze School with Alice, Trista, Sarah, Stephanie, Tey, Michelle & Jen.  And absolutely terrified myself.  Petrified.  There’s something about climbing up a rickety ladder and leaning out over a platform while holding on to a 20 pound steel bar while you ready yourself to swing over a whole lot of nothingness with only your arms to keep you from looking like a crazy lady that will do that to you.  You don’t want to die.  And you don’t want to look like a ridiculous loon either.

But, you let go and you fly through the air and it is one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever done in my entire life.  Ever.  We swung and we flipped and we flew upside down.  Amazing.

And just when we thought we were done, our instructor picked a few of us that he thought might have the ability to do something special.  A hand off.  WHAT!?  I thought he was crazy, but I was bound and determined to be able to do it.  I had to be able to do it.  Because I’m an overachiever like that.

And, well, take a look

I’m not so much a runner.  I have short stocky little tree trunks for legs.  Exercising outside makes me want to vomit.  All around it’s not my favorite thing in the world.  Occasionally I try it, but then I stop and decide I hate it.

But I’ve hit an exercising wall.  I have no motivation to work out at the gym very hard. And well, I really like cupcakes so I needed something to counteract the deliciousness.  I started using the Couch To 5K program and I loved it!  I can totally get on board with running for sixty seconds.  That’s simple!   And then I began to like it.  A lot.

And on Saturday, I ran my first 5K!  I’d gotten to busy for the Couch to 5K, and hadn’t run any significant long distance in a while.  But my Aunt was coming to town, and she’s a runner.  So, with one week notice I prepared to run my first 5K.  I had three goals…

1. Get across the finish line.

2. Don’t be last.

3. Don’t die.

It was a raging success!  I finished without dying and actually enjoyed myself.  It was fantastic!   That runners’ high that people talk about, yeah, that’s real.  It was incredible and I’m thrilled to be running my next one in September in New York.  My friends tell me that this will lead to more races.  Long ones.  Maybe triathlons.  I’m pretty sure that’s not even in my realm of consideration at the moment… but oddly enough, I haven’t ruled it out either!  I never in a million years would have thought I’d do anything like this.  And I couldn’t be more proud of myself!

It’s rare for me to have as little interaction with a couple before the wedding as I had with Lauren & Brad.  They live in Chicago, so I didn’t have a chance to really get to know them before I arrived on the wedding day.  Typically, this makes me nervous.  I like to know a couple, know something about them, know who they are as individuals and as a couple. 

And yet, with Lauren & Brad, I think it didn’t matter.  You know exactly who they are the moment that you meet them.  Their hearts are on their sleeves and you connect with them immediately.  They are kind, they are hilarious & they love each so incredibly much.  They’ve been together since college and have travelled the world, eating their way through countries.  I imagine that will be their lives.. laughing, eating & travelling.  It sounds glorious. 

Lauren & Brad - Thank you so much for choosing me to capture your day.  It was absolutely incredible and I’m so happy to have been a part of it!  I am so thrilled for the two of you!   Hope your honeymoon is treating you so super well!

The boys wore real bow ties.  I love the series of images Chris took, everyone looks beyond confused!

Their first look was one of the best I’d ever shot.  They were both so calm, until the moment it was getting ready to happen.  Then the anxiety and nerves, followed by tears of joy and so much happiness.  It was so beautiful and made me so happy!

They were married at the Pointe Vicente Interpretive Center in Palos Verdes.  A fantastic venue!

I’m pretty much in love with Regina & Rowel.  They’re just good people.  Kind and sweet and absolutely adorable with each other.  They’re calm and roll with the punches.  They’re donut lovers and brought a giant box of them to our session.  See,  what I mean, good people.

We decided to shoot at The Disney Concert Hall and Angels Knoll Park (look familiar?) in downtown LA.  The weather was perfect, the light was absolutely amazing and Regina & Rowel were fantastic in front of my camera. They were fun & natural, needing almost no direction from me.  Which is my favorite.  I really want to capture my couples’ natural personalities & interaction, not what I tell them to do!  Regina & Rowel did it absolutely amazingly and I’m so excited for their wedding next month!

Regina & Rowel - Thank you for being so amazing.  For being so much fun.  Oh, and for the donut.  It was delicious ;-)  See you next month!

Hunter & Mark wanted a simple wedding.  A gathering of their closest family members at an amazing house.  An intimate and meaningful ceremony on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  And an amazing meal under the stars.  And they got exactly what they wanted. 

There were just a handful of family members, their nearest & dearest.  The ceremony, officiated by her brother, overlooked the beach and the fog that rolled in just as we were beginning.  The evening was capped off with a beautiful meal by the pool at an absolutely fantastic house with beautiful views of the ocean.  I expect that it was exactly what Hunter and Mark wanted.

Hunter & Mark - It was beautiful.  Fantastic.  And I’m so happy to have been a part of it!  Thank you so much for having Diandra and I!   Congratulations!

My mother is an amazing seamstress.  Her mother was an amazing seamstress.  I feel as if it runs in my blood.  So, a few months ago, my friend Jess & I took a sewing class and I fell in love.  We learned how to make pillow cases and I’ve probably made, oh, 395 pillows since then.  And two aprons.  And then a few more pillows.  Lucky for me I have a lot of chairs that were in need of a bit of dressing up.

But then I got a bit bored.  Not wanting to move too far from the basic square, maybe even a rectangle… and so not ready for anything involving more than four edges, I decided to try some piping!  My pillows are getting dressed up these days kids! 

They’re no where near perfect yet.  Maybe a little bit lopsided & crazy looking.  But I must say I’m in love and now the rest of my pillows don’t look tailored enough.  Time to replace all the new pillows with even newer ones

I get asked tons of questions about the albums that I offer to my clients.  Which company do I use?  What do they look like? All kinds of things, so I thought I write up a quick blog post.

This album is a 40 page 12 x 12 album from Jennifer & Damons‘ October wedding at La Venta Inn.  I exclusively use Leather Craftsmen for all album printing and binding.  They have incredible service, fantastic detail choices and an impeccable product.

They also take care of branding the box with my logo.  Love.

We can imprint anything you’d like on your album.  Either on the spine or the cover. 

One of the biggest questions I get is about the crease in the middle of the spread.  I design all of the pages as spreads (2 pages).  Leather Craftsmen prints spreads, so there is no split in the middle of the page!  I’m always super careful not to put any faces in the middle of the crease, because, who wants to fold a face in half!  That little teeny line is where the book folds.

I tend to keep spreads very clean, no more than a few images per page.  I really feel that if there are too many things going on on a page, you lose it all and really can’t see anything.  Nothing stands out.  And giant images are my favorite.

These albums are so heavy.  So substantial.  Definitely something that will be on a shelf for many generations.  The top book is a 10 x 10 20 page sample album, and the bottom Jennifer & Damons’ 12 x 12 40 page album.

I’m pretty sure these two people are currently changing the world. Not only with their amazing attitudes, sparkling smiles and absolutely genuine personalities.  But with their actions.  Chris met Jillian last year while he was filming a documentary at an elementary school in Watts.  She was one of those teachers that he would come home and tell me about.  Ms. B.  He would say that she sparkled.  That she put her heart and soul into these children that had been passed over for years and years.  He would tell me about one particular student that, at the eighth grade, was finally learning to read because of her.  Because she refused to give up on him.  It makes me warm and fuzzy to know that there are people like Jillian in this world.

And Jillian chose Adam because he has the same need to be kind.  To do good in this world. To be a force for change.  I have no doubt that this couple will be powering change for their entire lives.  Because that is what they do.  With amazing attitudes, sparkling smiles and absolutely genuine personalities.

I am so happy to have been part of this wedding.  It was a team effort, with all of their family & friends coming together to create an amazing day for Jillian & Adam.  It was heartfelt.  It was beautiful.  And really it was just amazing to witness Jillian & Adam joining their lives.  Could not be happier.

Super huge thank you to Alice Hu for shooting with me!   And to my most favorite husband Chris for joining me after work and helping with lighting!  Kiss to you both!

Jillian & Adam - I am so happy for the two of you.  Thrilled. Giddy. You are two amazing people and I know that your marriage will be so much more than the sum of your parts. Congratulations!

One of the hardest things about working for yourself from home is the lack of human interaction.   There’s no one to talk to.  To swap stories with.  To lean on.  I didn’t realize how hard it would be.  Chris would come home from work, after spending two hours in traffic, and I would be bouncing off the walls.  "Want to go out? Want to make dinner? Want to get ice cream? Want to go for a walk? Want to paint the house? Want to clean up? Want to see a movie? Want to demolish the kitchen and build a new one?" A television in my office became immensely useful for at least the illusion of human interaction.

And then came Twitter and lunches with photographer friends and then I ended up in Palm Springs.  These ladies have become my "co-workers", my friends, my inspiration, my lifeline and my hilarious release.  We spent an absolutely amazing two days sitting at the pool at the Ace Hotel, hanging out in our rooms and piled around a dining table.  There was laughter, real life & camaraderie.  It was absolutely perfect.  The perfect getaway to re-energize! 

We all contributed to a Tumblr page and it’s been hilarious to watch individual iPhone photos over the trip, and even better to see our "real" images going up as we’re getting settled back in to real life.  Definitely take a look.  It’s pretty fabulous.

Ala, Ashley, Heather, Adrienne, Heidi, Jackie, Megan, Amanda & Mary Frances - Thank you for the most amazing trip a girl could have asked for.  For the most amazing conversation.  For the tasty cocktails.  For the most perfect swag bag,  For the laughter.  For the introduction to Talking Tom Cat.  For the amazing portraits.  And for the building excitement for Catalina 2011.  Reunion?

I spent most of our time there with only my iPhone.  Adrienne introduced me to the ShakeIt App and I am currently obsessed.  Pretty sure I’ve been living under a rock.