planning is hard...

wow, what a difference to be in the bride-to-be position instead of on the photographer side. since we got engaged in early august, james and i have been thinking about what we want to do for our wedding, when we want to do it, where we want to do it, etc.

in typical me fashion, i bought a TON of wedding magazines, and have been poring over them for the past month, which has made our process of making a decision even tougher because we are now in information overload and have become almost paralyzed by the vastness of the bridal world.

and after a month of planning and thinking, here is what we have so far: no location, no date, no colors. but here is what we do have: james wants to have a tiger (yes, a real tiger) at the reception. he also wants to drive away in a ferrari, so if anyone out there has one they can lend us for the night, that would be great. i think i know that i want to wear a white dress, so that is good progress for me. i am also pretty sure that i want cotton candy at the reception, although we haven't decided on the main courses yet. for anybody planning to attend this soiree, be warned, do not expect filet or maybe not even a glazed chicken breast with soggy potatoes. no, dear wedding guests, we are planning on something extra special for our big day, stay tuned for updates.

so if any of you have any other fabulous ideas you can share with me, maybe have some fire-eaters at the reception or something fun like that, feel free to send them along. otherwise, check back soon for updates on the wedding.

wedding: leti and gilbert

we had a beautifully hot la afternoon in august to celebrate leti and gilbert's wedding, at st. mark's church in venice and then at the sheraton hotel near lax. i met leti in the hotel for a few of the fun getting ready pics...


her very cool engagement ring, a blue heart...

and pretty white bouquet, made by leti and her family...

the ceremony was traditional, though the mariachis were playing before the processional


after the ceremony, we headed over to leti's aunts house for some beautiful garden pics--you would have thought we were in a tropical jungle with all the foliage...



james got the guys looking very un-groomsman-like in the street...

while i got the girls sassin' it up...


the reception started with some very cool mariachis, james and i were tempted to break into a little dance but we restrained ourselves...

look at all the confetti...

we snuck outside for a quick dip in the pool, ok, not really, but at least a couple more shots of the happy couple...

back to the reception and a beautiful first dance...

and the traditional cake cutting...


leti and gilbert, we wish you a lifetime of happiness and lots of wonderful memories of your wedding day, thank you for letting us share in your joy.


To be notified when all of the images are online, click here to sign the guestbook.

wedding: sanjai and charmi

we got to be part of another very fun celebration, the day after our chinese wedding experience, this time, it was for sanjai and charmi as they culminated their week-long wedding festivities at the la jolla woman's club.


the flowers were beautiful and the family did all the preparation themselves...


how cute is this little guest? she is the daughter of another photographer, Lu, who is also a friend of Sanjai's.


since they had already had their traditional indian wedding earlier in the week, this celebration was really just that, a celebration of their marriage for friends and family. we snuck out of the meet and greet to grab a few shots in front of one of the more famous churches in la jolla, st. james by the sea.





at the reception, the grand entrance was really grand, everyone did a fantastic dance, here is sanjai's mom...



i don't know if i have seen a more beautiful first (or second) dance in all our weddings, so we had to share more than one of these amazing pictures. the colors of the gown were amazing, so we didn't even bother with black and white...


thank you sanjai and charmi for letting us capture your amazing celebration, and we wish you the best for a very happy marriage.

wedding: jonathan and nancy

well we weren't fortunate enough to get to go to santorini to capture jonathan and nancy's wedding vows, but we were lucky enough to be at the reception in san gabriel, for a traditional chinese dinner and marriage celebration. jonathan and nancy braved the over 95 degree weather, strolling around the san gabriel mission, a beautiful old spanish mission with amazing architecture. i love how nancy's cheongsan played against the spanish architecture.






jonathan is quite possibly the happiest groom i have ever seen, which makes our job so much easier. there is nothing better than a couple who is truly happy to be together, and you can tell by these pictures that nancy and jonathan are very in love and happy.


the reception was great, the DJ (randy and jen from pj events) had all these fabulous games planned, which kept the night lively and a lot of fun. there was a kissing game and a trivia game and the traditional first dance, and then jonathan's friend serenaded them with a series of songs on his sax, very cool...



congratulations jonathan and nancy, thank you for inviting us to share with you in your celebration

Happy 1st Birthday

Its been an amazing year following my friend Deanne's little girl Sydney grow up. James and I took pictures of Sydney every month for the last year, and last month we celebrated her 1st birthday, which was so much fun. Here are a few of the shots from the party and the photo shoot after at the beach...

we're engaged!!

its the greatest thing in the world, to be engaged. except when you are a wedding photographer and you realize that you can't possibly take your own engagement or wedding photos. it all happened last weekend, at our favorite restaurant, ruth's chris. we were sitting out on the patio, and for those of you who know me, al fresco dining is not always my favorite thing, especially when i am sitting next to a possibly bug-infested tree. james quickly moved us to a romantic table with a view of the harbor and out of the wind tunnel so we could enjoy our meal. after a delicious dinner (which by the way is on special now until the end of summer), james surprised me with the cutest dessert that said "will you marry me?" i am rarely, if ever, surprised, so that made it even more special.


by the time i finished reading the plate, he had the ring out on the table and tears filled my eyes. here we are post-happy tears...


of course i said yes, and we celebrated all night long--or at least for a couple hours because we quickly remembered that we had to drive to la for a wedding the next morning.

as soon as we started telling people, everyone asked if we had a date and wanted to know where we were going to get married. unfortunately, we don't have either, since we have been busy photographing other people's weddings for the past couple weeks and really haven't had much time to even think about what we want. a few things we know we want--friends, family and our favorite foods, which just might include cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, fried chicken and our fave little cookies.


if any of you are wedding photographers and are reading this, please let us know, as we will be looking for you very soon. here's a couple photographerish shots of my amazing ring...

wedding: heather and randall

its so much fun to be a wedding photographer when the couple is as cool as heather and randall. we met them getting busy on the dance floor last year, at heather's sister's kirsten's wedding, and we were psyched when heather called us to do her wedding this year. randall is in the marine corps, and recently returned from a tour overseas, and we were so happy to see him return safely, and in plenty of time for their wedding.

heather and randall got married on a gorgeous saturday afternoon at the marine corps recruiting depot in san diego, and everything was just perfect. heather was a beautiful princess, in an amazing dress...




... and all her bridesmaids were so sassy it was easy to make them look good. check out heather's extremely sassy mom and aunt in this picture






and what can you say about a man in uniform? and ten men in uniform? enough said. james had a lot of fun with randall and his groomsmen, sharing marine stories and passing around the flasks.


randall was obviously psyched to be getting married that day, and heather looked amazing as she walked down the aisle with her father...





after the ceremony, we spent a few minutes with the happy couple, but didn't want to delay getting into the very fun party...









the cake was beautiful, and the dances were so emotional




heather and randall, thank you so much for letting us share your special day with you and your family, we truly feel like we are part of the family now. be on the lookout for wedding invitations to our big bash next year!!!