I had SO much fun shooting Dana and Mike and I was glad that we actually managed to fit this shoot in!  I was originally supposed to shoot Dana and Mike the first week of July, but my Bali trip came as a sudden surprise and I ended up flying in the night before Mike had to leave town for a month.  We were communicating via email while I was at the Taiwan airport and I decided to bank on my jet lag waking me up at 6:30am and being able to get up and do their shoot down in Long Beach early…just in time for Mike to be dropped off at the Long Beach airport directly after the shoot!  All three of us were cramming in a lot, but it ended up being perfect.  It was a nice way to send off Mike, since I know that they will REALLY miss each other being apart for a month before their wedding. Also, it was nice to go casually walk around the El Dorado Nature Center and to be outdoors after being cooped up in airports and planes for two days straight…and YES, I was right about my jetlag and have been up bright and early ever since I got back!  But Dana and Mike are SO chill and comfortable with each other.  They both share the same interests and goals in life and spent the first couple months of their relationship traveling around together and camping in New Zealand.  Now after having JUST come back from that magical place, I can’t IMAGINE NOT falling madly in love while embarking on an adventure like that there.  These two definitely are a perfect match:)

Danny M, Owner of The Lab Salon in Beverly Hills has done it again!  Not only did he take over the space next door to expand his salon, but now he has opened up a brand new salon called SPRAY Beverly Hills directly across the street.  They do customized spray tanning, nails, make-up, waxing and facials!  I LOVE the arrangement I have had with Danny for 3 years now.  I am his on-call photographer and he is my on-call “Beautifier”.  We always trade our services, no questions asked.  I LOVE my life:), BUT SERIOUSLY LADIES…. go check these places out!  They are super talented Salon artists and can take care of ANY and all of your needs.

I HAD to post this one…She’s just SO tiny in this little chair.  Welcome to the world Mayah Sophia Boedeker:)  

Esteela and Stefan her parents are the bride and groom that I blogged about 6 months ago in December.  They had two weddings, one in Sentul, Indonesia and the other at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles.  I have had the great priviledge of documenting almost all of their important moments as a couple.  I am sure there will be plenty more to come:)

Thank you to Karli Tanner with Simply Mumtaz Events and Lorne Wellington with Sculpted Silhouette for throwing this amazing Women’s event called “Celebrating You” at the Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach on Sunday.  Here was their blurb on the invitation that tells you a bit about the event…

Sculpted Silhouette invites you and other savvy ladies 
to Celebrate You! with fun, food, and shopping. 

Come and discover: Your perfect shade of red lipstick, How to best dress your body type, How you can transform a store bouquet into a stunning arrangement, A nutritious way to manage your weight, Techniques to stay fit at your desk, Gift wrapping made simple and elegant, How a bra can improve your figure, and much more. 

Proceeds will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 
Appetizers, cocktails and goodies will be provided for all. 

The Fabulous Tara Dowburd Luftman with Make-up Therapy and I had to make a joint presentation about how to pose and the most important make-up tips to know…I have to say that other than the time I dressed up as Gwen Stefani for Halloween, this was the first time I have ever rocked out red lipstick:)PS…I am NOT a Triple JJJ size…but they gave us “Breast-Challenged” women little buttons that said, “I’m proud to be on the “A” List!”…Gee thanks! LOL

Also, I would like to acknowledge some of the other Women Business owners that were there showcasing:)

Jackie Combs Floral Design, Caren Magil with Ladies Who Launch, Chelsea Smithson with Belle Paquet, Diana Perez with Il Bella Events, Maria Dumas with Lattes on Location, Project Image Styling, Christine Kwok a Personal Fitness Coach, Brett Gross with Chocolate Delights, Jubilee Journeys, Mishele Vieira a Certified Professional Organizer with Away With Chaos, Cheryl Cisneros with Eyezotic, Pure White Teeth Whitening, Little Bra Company, Massage Ladies, and Paula Estes with Petalos di Pauli.

More photos from this event will be available on Pictage in just a few days….So to view them, just check back and click on this link. Thanks!

So the morning of Shannon Ross’s wedding at the Ojai Valley Inn, after a relaxing breakfast and long bike ride, I shot some pics of Ryan and her family.  I cannot BELIEVE how big Tate is!  She’s like a mini Sumo Wrestler! But Ry is one of my best friends and owner of Savoir Flair Wedding Coordinating and is seriously a SUPER Hero, or superhuman.  Somehow she manages running two businesses, a toddler, a baby AND is handling one of the most stressful situations in life with her husband’s illness with such strength.  She and Matt are such a great team, and they have kept SO positive while trying to find a kidney donor.  They are SO rad and amazing, that people were lining up to donate their kidney’s to Matt, which is a testament to what an amazing person Matt is.  The GREAT news is they FOUND a donor recently!  I am so happy for them.  In the meantime, it was hilarious shooting their family…I HAD to post a few of the lil’ chubster

There is something SO magical about this location…and it wasn’t even the jetlag.  I’m not kidding, I went from Australia to New Zealand, flew back to Los Angeles for three days JUST to shoot this wedding, then turned right back around and got on a flight back to Bali for Leslie and Sim’s Second destination wedding; a 5 day long Indian wedding.  Needless to say, I had NO idea what day or time it was, but I do know that I would not have missed this wedding for the world!  They are one of my favorite couples.  Our engagement shoot that I posted earlier says it all.  They are so fun, so happy and so in love…I knew it would be a beautiful day:)

So Ronda and I had a bizarre experience on the way over.  Michael Jackson had JUST passed away and we were reading an article about him on the way up to the farmhouse, completely unaware that Neverland Ranch is next door to the Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse. Right then, as were were reading about the ranch, we drove past a throng of people paying their respects and realized that that was THE Neverland Ranch!!  We had to get out of our car, take a photo, steal a rose from his rose garden, and then rush to the wedding:)  What can I say I am officially a groupie:)  Alissa and Rich did a really cool thing and donated all of their flowers from the wedding the next day and brought them to the Neverland Gates and left them there….Oh Michael, you’ll be missed.

As predicted, this is one of my favorite weddings I have EVER shot.  I was completely obsessed with Alissa’s Funky Dress and Vintage style that her gay designer created for her.  Other highlights: her sister drew and created their Cotuba for them, her entire family walked her down the aisle, the vows brought tears to everyone’s eyes and then the sun sets to create these beautiful pastel colors that made our magical portrait shooting hour even MORE magical.  They both sang to each other and had a choreographed dance for their first dance, which I had never seen before….and from that point the dancing NEVER stopped!  It was actually out of control.  Her gay friends were making out with everyone, even the Mother of the Bride!!  Gotta love you Daveen!:)  I know I seem to fall in love with my couples lately and they become my new BFFs, but seriously, I LOVE these guys and I hope that we will remain friends.  They are such an inspiration to so many couples out there.  They have been together for almost a decade and truly are best friends.

To see more pics from this event, just click on this link

Sarah and John had their wedding at the famous Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes and then went across the street to the BRAND new mega resort, The Terranea.  This property is SO opulent and vast that you will get lost on the property, but it is absolutely STUNNING and on a clear and lucky day you can see whales frolicking in the distance.  I was out of the country in Australia and wanted to make sure that Sarah was MORE than taken care of, so I had my photo posse take over for me (Heather Kincaid, Jennifer Jasso, and Ronda Gregorio).  I am SO pleased about our recent discovery of the yellow grass field next-door to Wayfarers Chapel, because it adds another stunning location to shoot photos at on the Peninsula (not like there is a bad spot to shoot there though).  Sarah was SO stressed that the hotel would not be ready in time for her wedding, but the week before on our walk-through, we knew it would be amazing despite the construction still going on.  

Please check out this event to see just how gorgeous the Terranea is…AND of course Sarah:) by clicking on this link.

What  can I say? I am UTTERLY in LOVE with Australia and have been since the first time I visited Kristie there years ago.  The people are so sarcastic and funny and just FUN and the landscape is gorgeous. I could totally live there.  It is even more beautiful when you drive a few hours outside of the city to the Blue Mountains where her wedding was.  Kristie and Johan bought a ranch with horses there together and decided to have their wedding ceremony there.  They then went to a quaint Hotel a half hour away called Lillianfels for their reception.

This wedding was VERY close and dear to my heart.  Kristie is like a soul sister to me.  We met years ago and have one of those relationships where it doesn’t matter how much time has gone by, we just can pick up right where we left off.  We both have witnessed each other and supported each other through some majorly dramatic situations and break ups and to see Kristie FINALLY find a man as in love with her as Johan and to see how he calms her and dotes on her is just the most amazing gift to me.  This was my first time meeting him and I know they will both be in my life always:)  Although Kristie has calmed down SIGNIFICANTLY since our partying days:), they still tore it up at her wedding…I was deliriously exhausted being up till 5:30am and having to catch a flight to New Zealand the next day, but I would have had it no other way.  Here are some photos from her wedding in the Blue Mountains.  I am doing my best to reach out to Aussie Coordinators so I can spend our LA Winters/Their Australian Summers shooting weddings in Australia.  I will be back very soon Kristie and Johan!  Mark my words!!:)

I have to ALSO say a HUGE Thank you to one of my dear friends/assistant Sarah Emery (featured below) who not only was the BEST travel companion, but worked her butt off assisting me on this trip.  Thanks girl!

To see more photos from this event just click on this link.

By “Backyard wedding” I mean amazingly manicured  Mansion and gardens on the best street in Los Angeles.  Drew has a bit of a green thumb to say the least and was landscaping and planting plants specifically for the wedding for over a year now.  He also is an amateur photographer with his walls covered with amazing prints from his travels around the world.  I have to say, the pressure was on:)  But after a few nights of meetings over wine…LOTS of wine with Drew, Elena and their FABULOUS coordinator Linda Pittelli with Eventful Designing (who is a great friend of mine) I KNEW we were all a great match.And the rest is history.  I JUST had the great pleasure of sitting in Elena’s backyard today, having a drink and reminiscing about their wedding a few weeks ago.  It was so surreal to see their backyard just normal and quiet.  Linda TRULY is a visionary and created a Tahitian Wonderland out of their backyard (and front yard) for their wedding.  The highlights of their wedding…DEFINITELY Elena’s Vows and how eloquent and emotional they were and the planting of a tree during their ceremony to symbolize their growth together in marriage; the catering by Wolfgang Puck…It was like a mobile 5-Star restaurant (I was SO impressed!), the music and dancing performers, the PHOTOBOOTH!!! (It was SUCH a hit! see our Team Photo below), and finally the BEST part of all, leaving at the end of the night and seeing Drew and Elena draped over one of the plush Chaise Lounges just making-out..OBLIVIOUS to the world around them.  That’s how it SHOULD be on your wedding night. Elena has NO memory of that, but I know what I saw:)

The event was GORGEOUS and PERFECT and special and super intimate and touching. I left there with my heart overflowing with love..seriously.  I love them both and how much they have embraced their spirituality and LOVE.  After hearing about their crazy honeymoon travel adventures, I knew that we will be keeping in touch for a long time.  They are MY kind of people:)  If you would like to see more photos from this event, please click on this link.