Yuki lives in Japan and met Justin while he was traveling there.  The chemistry was instant, though Justin had to come back to LA.  I’ve always admired couples who could make a long distance relationship work.  I think it takes two very independent people, who are at the same time strongly connected to each other.  Yuki planned their whole wedding from Japan!  They had a beautiful wedding day at the Trump National Golf Club, with help from her fab coordinator at Tolain Studio.

I saw this book in her hotel room and thought it was very appropriate for her destination wedding here:

Yuki’s sister SEWED all of the bridesmaid dresses & her own dress!  Aren’t they adorable???  I LOVE that bow on her back!  The entire wedding party & family flew in from Japan for this special occasion.

Yuki wanted *no one* to see her in her wedding dress before the ceremony, besides her immediate family.  Not even her maid of honor saw her until she walked down the aisle!  We hid her in the limo until it was her turn to walk!

I just adore her wedding party!  They’re all so cute!  Looks like they just walked out of a Japanese fashion magazine.

Since they didn’t do a first look, Yuki planned almost a 3 hour gap in between for photos.  I recommend considering a large gap if you plan to skip the first look!  We were able to get photos at their church, at the lighthouse, and then at their reception venue.

Guests were greeted into the reception with customized fortune cookies:

In house bakery did an amazing job with the wedding cake and macaroons!

yum…

Trump’s ballroom is so gorgeous.  So ornate – I wouldn’t expect anything less from Trump!

My first time seeing half a duck served at a wedding!

Congrats to the two love birds on such a heartfelt day.  Everything was so beautiful, just like their relationship.  I wish them all the best on their new adventure together in Japan!!

Back in college, Donna attended a party… as fate would have it, Virgil was the DJ.  They’re both super fun loving and have great style.  For their engagement session, the best way I could think of to bring out their bubbly personalities is lots of color.  We met halfway in Orange County for their session and had so much fun together and endless laughs.  I can’t wait for their big day in San Diego!   Technical note about this session, I shot part of it in film.  Can you identify which photo was taken in film and which in digital?  I processed my digital like how I normally do and my film is how I got it from the lab.  I didn’t try to match them, so I think it should be easy to identify.

One of my favorite giggly photos ever:

So many pretty colors!

And since Virgil’s a DJ and had his headphones on him, I just had to do a few shots with them:

I’m so in love with the green vines + purple wall!

We found this cassette tape stuck on a wall.  They both got a kick out of identifying it… but I forgot what it was already.  I’d love it if one of you can remind me what it is, just for kicks.  A nice coincidence since they’re both so into music.

They each brought an item that represented them.  Virgil brought his headphones and Donna came with a big blue balloon.

Check out the yellow flowers that are about to bloom!  I’m excited for wild flower season!

Aren’t they just so sweet?  And stylish too!

So were you able to identify which were taken in film and which in digital?  In my most recent rolls of film, I used 3/4 of the photos!  Getting better!  When shooting film,  I think it through more before clicking the shutter.  I’m trying to carry that habit over when shooting in digital too.

I’m sad that my Whistler trip has come to an end.  I’m probably flying home as you read this.  To brighten my day, ready for part 2 of Jen & Jason’s awesome anniversary session?  Well if you haven’t checked out part 1 yet, go check out their stylized vintage picnic photos first and read about the making of it on Green Wedding Shoes.

I love that photo of the lonely arm chair.  Isn’t the color of the upholstery awesome? 

I have a thing for trees, especially cool symmetrical trees like above.  I’m a sucker for symmetry… and trees.  You can imagine how excited I was to have found those trees!

Jen’s dress & boots were so cute!  It’s SO important to wear something that you feel GREAT in to a shoot.  Your confidence will really shine through.

And this bouquet of blue thistle (is that what it is?) that Jen made for this part is to die for!  It’s simple, organic, and charming!

Doesn’t Jen look fabulous??  Flawless hair & makeup by Fiore Beauty.  Even if you’re going for a natural look, professional makeup will give you that perfect finish.  And one of my favorite parts of her look is that beautiful hair piece by Untamed Petals.  I love the oversized flower!  Amanda of Untamed Petals makes the most amazing hair pieces!

I’m so in love with Untamed Petal‘s hair pieces!!

And I adore Jason’s outfit!  Love the vest & hat.  Their outfits coordinate perfectly!  When planning your session, you don’t want to match like twins, but you do want to coordinate your outfits to that they complement each other.

It’s really cute watching them together.  Jason is so so sweet to her.

Jen couldn’t decide what color balloon to go with, so she brought both a pink & a green.  Good thing she had 2 because after we took those last two shots with the pink balloon in part 1, it hit a tree branch and popped.  It was loud!

Then Jason busted out his guitar.  I love it when a guy plays an instrument… and girls too!  I just love hearing live music.  Makes me wish I didn’t quit piano lessons back in high school.

I really enjoyed watching them interact together.  They really adore each other so much and share so many laughs together.

And another gorgeous bouquet Jen put together!  I love how organic they look.  And another gorgeous headpiece by Untamed Petals!

That’s right, love is all you need!

I love the messages she wrote on these vinyls.

You have to stop by Green Wedding Shoes next (if you haven’t already) to read Jen’s perspective & her process of putting this all together!

So what do you think?  Love this stylized photo session?  Well, you could have your very own stylized shoot!  Jen & I will be giving away one stylized photo shoot!  Details will be announced tomorrow, so start dreaming about what you would want your shoot to look like! 

Greetings from Whistler!  Before I hit the slopes, I wanted to share with you an awesome session stylized by Jen of Green Wedding Shoes.  Green Wedding Shoes is one of my all time favorite wedding blogs.  Jen has amazing taste and shares the most wonderful inspirations.  We got the ball rolling at the end of summer and shot this past fall, right at their one year anniversary!  What a great way to celebrate!  Jen is an amazing stylist!  We came up with a look and Jen stylized the entire thing.  I love the outfits and props she put together!  Many people don’t realize it, but a lot of thought and planning goes into a shoot!  If you haven’t, go to Green Wedding Shoes to read all about how she put this session together.   She is amazing!

Jen is now going into photo styling, and she is totally perfect for it.  I love the book Jen put together and the bouquet.

I LOVE trees!  Give me a cool tree & sun and I’m in heaven!

Every detail counts!  I love Jen’s adorable cute red nails.  And check out Jen’s perfect makeup below.  Her flawless makeup and gorgeous hair was done by Fiore Beauty.

Aren’t they just so cute?!  And their details matched them to a T.

They’re just so cute & gorgeous together!

I can’t get enough of those details!  And the amazing light!

The colors and light here just melts my heart.  So sweet, just like them.

Persimmons, one of my favorite fruits!  My parents have 3 trees!

I love Izze!  They taste as good as they look!  If you haven’t, come by my office and we have a fridge full of them to share!

I love that vintage camera and I love the follow photo of them.  They’re laughing because they see tiny me through the camera.

Jason started taking pictures of Jen and he was a natural!  We totally cracked up when he started to imitate me!

This next one is a total favorite of mine!

And of course, we got a pink balloon.  It’s how Jen and I met. 

Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!  In the meantime, head over to Green Wedding Shoes to read about the making of this awesome shoot!  Happy anniversary, Jen & Jason!

It’s my birthday today, so I gave myself the day off… after this blog post!  I wanted to post something really fun today!  Janet and Jack are a super cute couple.  Janet lives in HK and was in town visiting, so we took the opportunity to schedule in their engagement session!  They wanted something fun & casual, so they came with lots of pink bubbles!!  8 little pink balloons, 2 large pink balloons, & soap bubbles!  While we were planning, Janet mentioned she wanted to bring extra balloons just in case we accidentally popped them or lost them, which I thought was so awesome of her.

LOVE all the birdies!

Minutes into the shoot, we lost a little balloon.  oops!  I feel bad that it’s in the environment now, but that was totally not our intention!  slippery hands.

After this shot, I wanted to do some shots with just the big balloons.  We tied the little balloons to my camera bag and while we were walking, I suddenly look up and realized the balloons had come undone.  So now we’re down to 2 balloons left…

I love watching couples laugh together… In fact, they were having so much fun and so into each other that they didn’t even notice right away when another balloon had escaped!

And then there was one…  kinda symbolic though, right?  how they are becoming one?

And you know how much I love my blurry couple shots!

Congrats you two on a beautiful engagement!!  I’m so excited for your wedding at the Langham next year!

Okay, so now I offically begin my day off!  Happy hump day!