When I first met Hannah and her mom, Amy, I instantly knew we would work great together.  In Amy’s words, “Well, this was a great first date!”  It was indeed and I was very excited for our future dates!  I met Dave for the first time on this shoot, and meeting him really completed the picture for me.  They could not be anymore perfect together.  I love the way they adore each other and just how they really complete each other.

Hannah’s an interior designer, so I had her pull some textiles together.  I love the way she mixed patterns here!  (Something I cannot do!)  It was the perfect place to cuddle.

LOVE this shot:

I can’t wait for their wedding next year!  They’re just so sweet together.  You know it’s going to be special!!

I have a super cool family to introduce you to today.  Meet the Ku family.  Sam is the creative genius behind AG jeans.  You can read more about his brilliance in Esquire magazine.  Vivian also has an amazing sense of style.  She loves finding vintage pieces to reupholster & decorated their house all on her own!  Check out big sister, Audrey’s adorable room:

Is this not the cutest thing ever:

Audrey is also a little fashionista herself.  As she got dressed for our shoot, she asked Vivian, “What’s Charlie (little bro) wearing?”  Vivian answers.  Audrey thinks about it a little, then asks, “And what are you wearing?”  She is partially responsible for the family’s wardrobe.

And meet baby Charlie:

He is just the most adorable little guy!

Charlie, no pressure:

Charlie is going to be a professional golfer one day. 

I love their house!  A charming house for a charming family.

Not sure why, but this is one of my favorite photos:

And we learned that Charlie doesn’t like grass… don’t worry, he’ll overcome it for golf though.

And this next set makes me want a daughter!!!

And one of my favorite family photos:

Thank you Ku family for welcoming me into your home.  You have such a beautiful family… and home!

Remember this adorable engagement session?   Scrabble, tandem bikes… doesn’t get any cuter!  Lauren & Chad incorporated the scrabble & bike into their cute DIY wedding.  Most of their guests traveled from out of state for this quaint and intimate wedding.  The Victorian in Santa Monica was the perfect setting.

I love all all of Lauren’s antique jewelery.

Lauren is half Japanese, so she wrapped Chad’s gift with traditional Japanese wrapping fabric:

Lauren’s dress had pockets too!  Love JCrew dresses!

The highlight to me was hearing about how Lauren, with help from her bridesmaids, did ALL the flowers!  Lauren and her bridesmaid took a floral arrangement class together in preparation and did an amazing job.  Flowers are the last thing I would ever recommend anyone to DIY, but if you & your friends are up for it, I think this is a great way to go.  There are lots to think of just to keep the flowers alive, so don’t try it for the first time the night before your wedding.

Love these old photographs of their parents and grandparents…

And I love the tandem bikes!  They rode it in front of all their guests.  Now that’s an entrance!

Escort cards with scrabble tiles!

The patio is one of my favorite areas here:

The best man surprised us all with a back flip during his speech.  Look at the height of his jump!  I love this shot Jonathan got of just his feet off the ground.

Congrats to Lauren & Chad on a beautiful marriage & wedding.  Couldn’t have been any more perfect!

On a personal note, I just finished with my destination wedding for the year.  The rest are local.  Time to readjust to being home and catch up with my emails!  If you emailed me, I’ll be in touch soon.

For those who don’t know Ngoc, she’s the brilliant mind behind Sky Box Event Productions.   In addition to being a great planner, she’s also super thoughtful and the most kind-hearted person.  Whenever she talks about her fiance, Albert, you can see her just swoon and gush over him.  It’s so cute to see how ridiculously sweet they are together.  You may also remember them from their first engagement session and cameo in Ceremony Magazine.

Ngoc wanted a second engagement session that contrasted her first one.  We went with casual for the first, so she wanted to get dressed up for a second session.  The Viceroy was the perfect setting.

I want a wall of mirrors like this…

I also want a library like this.   The Viceroy makes me want to redecorate my home every time I’m there.

There’s something about this that I totally love.

I also want a wall full of plates like this!

This session was also featured on Style Unveiled.  You can read her interview and see more pics there!  I can’t wait for their wedding next month!  Being that it’s Ngoc, you can expect lots of fun, bright colors, and lots of cuteness!

Bonjour!  Just got back from France yesterday and still adjusting to the time change.  I shouldn’t have slept from 6pm-12am.  It’s now past 5am and I’m still up.  It’s going to hurt tomorrow/today.  France was amazing, but I’m really happy to be home!  And relieved that there’s no traveling for another 5 weeks.  My body needs time to find equilibrium again.  I was too jetlagged to blog yesterday, so I figure since I’m up tonight, I might as well get a new post up for you all!  This is from the recent teaser I posted before I left for Hawaii… or was it France?  Either way, here’s my first engagement session shot almost entirely in film.

Lauren and Chad live right by the beach and enjoys riding their bike together and playing their favorite board game, scrabble.  They rode their bike to meet me for this shoot, and when I saw them roll up in that red tandem bike, I knew we were going to have some fun with it!

Aren’t they just so cute together?  Their chemistry is really evident.

Lauren has the most beautiful smile.

From my teaser:

Their favorite game, Scrabble!

This image on the right is one of my all time favorites:

I asked them to describe their partner in one word, and keep it a secret from the other.  I wanted to surprise them.  This is how Chad described Lauren:

And how Lauren described Chad:

They are really so cute together and a perfect match.

We then walked over and down to the beach.  For those who care, these last few photos were taken digitally.

We waited until the life guards left to jump on the tower for a few shots:

Stay tuned for their wedding next month!  And I just dropped off nearly 30 rolls of film from France, so stay tuned for those too!