I met Alison and Chris last year at their Newport Beach home and as we spent the morning chatting about their wedding plans, how great their wedding planner, Courtney Toney, is and how much fun their wedding is going to be I couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest girl ever. When Tim and I decided to make the move to the bay area I risked jeopardizing my relationship with my clients- I crossed my fingers and knew I was doing the right thing for me and just trusted that my clients would understand. I knew that I’d be traveling back and forth a lot and hoped that my relationship with my 2010 couples would be able to grow despite the locale difference.

Imagine my surprise when Alison e-mailed me to tell me her and Chris would be living in the Bay Area awhile while she took classes up here! And then even more surprise when we realized that our new places of residence were practically around the block from each other! It’s so nice having them close by and I can’t wait for their gorgeous wedding- Carissa Jones from JL Designs is working on it so I know it’s going to be nothing short of amazing.

We started shooting at the house they are staying at- too cute for me to handle!

Tim and I are off shooting our engagement session today- will have a full recap soon! Yey!!!

A little something sweet……

On Monday Tim and I will have been together for 7 years… (for the record, that is since I was 19 years old!) I was recently talking to a friend of mine about how crazy it is that we’re all reaching this age where people have been in our lives for over a decade… and while Tim and I haven’t quite reached 10 yet, it hit me that Tim and I have history together. We have a story and we have been such a huge part in each others lives for so long now that I cannot, and hope I never have to, picture my life without him. To celebrate our last anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend (oh, how charming!) we are having our engagement pictures taken in the neighborhood that we called home for years.

One of the first things that everyone asked me when we got engaged was, “Who is going to shoot your wedding?” Being that we were getting married in the bay area my first thought was, “Oh good lord…. can I afford to fly her up here?”  – and then I was like, “Doesn’t matter!” … When I was just a wee thing of 23 (ha!) and working at Architectural Digest and shooting weddings and not knowing which was the right road to follow my dear friend Ana took me to a party in good ol’ Orange County for a new wedding magazine launch. At the time I read, maybe, 6 blogs on a consistent basis: fashion, food, shelter, design,and The Pioneer Woman, and Jasmine *… Not knowing much about the beast that is the wedding industry I happened to see Jasmine from across the room and thought to myself, “If I had a blog, I’d want to know who was reading it…..” So, being my dumb self, I said hi! I don’t remember exactly how the conversation went but all I remember is that I left that party knowing wedding photography was the road I was going to follow and I do believe that Jasmine’s little push played a huge part in that decision.

“What’s stopping you?” she said.

It only made sense to me that she’d be the only choice. There is a lot about planning a wedding that being a wedding photographer hinders (information overload??!?!?) but this was not one of them. I have so many friends that are photographers and so many people who do such amazing work that it wasn’t easy. One huge thing was that I wanted my photographer friends to be able to enjoy themselves and only take pictures if they felt like it. I don’t want to feel like I’m short changing them! I’m only getting married once and there is only one person besides myself and Heather (who is in the wedding, duh!) who I know I will be completely calm and collected working with and that’s Jasmine. So there ya have it folks- Who is going to shoot my wedding? She is!

Can’t wait to share the images we capture on Monday- I’m part nervous and part excited .. but I’ve got a good team of girls helping me looking good and Tim is wearing the cutest clothes I’ve ever seen him in so we’re all good to go. Here are two images from two engagement shoots I did last weekend that I am looking forward to sharing next week!!!

“A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.

So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts.”

-Henry David Thoreau

California had a storm! Did you hear? We got RAIN! Like, actual inches of rain. No joke, flash flood warnings in downtown Los Angeles, garbage cans being dragged down the street by rushing water, umbrella’s being blown inside out kind of rain. I was staying on Heather’s couch for the week and was doing some work in my home away from home office, The Coffee Bean, and a huge crack of thunder rocked through- you would have thought a spaceship had landed. Every adult in “the bean” stopped what they were doing, looked up to make eye contact with someone who they could connect with, and burst out in nervous giggles, woots, and clapping. It was magic.

But the sun came out, like is always does, and California returned to it’s perpetual state of 70 degrees and sunny and I carried on with my scheduled engagement sessions! Stacy and Clark are a rare breed of pure class and style and were such an absolute joy to photograph. Clark works “in the pictures” and had so many fun ideas for images and between the three of us I think we accomplished all that we set out to accomplish. Fun, flirty, sexy, sophisticated…. Can’t wait for your wedding, guys!

We started out in front of The Roxy on Sunset Blvd. Fun fact- this is where Tim and I met!

Stacy’s hair and make up was done by the lovely ladies at Fiore Beauty- doesn’t she look gorgeous???

Continuing the rock ‘n roll theme we headed down to The Whisky…

To class it up a little we headed over to Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills- I love the story we were able to tell here!

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I was reminded why I love California with all of my heart while driving back to the bay area from Los Angeles last week.

(taken on my point and shoot)