samantha & nathan's wedding

every day when i wake up i thank God that i live in such a beautiful place. the weather is awesome, the surf is ok, and there are lots and lots of beautiful people getting married. enter nathan and samantha. they just tied their collective knot at the Chanteclaire Country Manor.

this was the first time i had ever shot at the manor. correction, first time we ever shot there. of course i brought kim and april along...and alyssa joined the ohana for good measure. needless to say, we had the place surrounded. Chanteclair is such a perfect little place for a wedding. be sure to check it out if you're looking for a venue.

pret-ty flowers.

nathan and the guys had the coolest dude room i have ever seen. it had every ammenity a guy could ask for (this side of vegas).

chuck norris is my homeboy

girls go crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man. that's right. i busted out the zz top lyrics.

while i was hanging with the guys, april and alyssa were over in the brides suite with samantha. kim loves these two shots of samantha getting into her dress.

she's so happy

it was a perfect fit. a beautiful dress for a beautiful bride.

samantha was absolutely gorgeous.

samantha and her dad made their way down the path to kick off the show.

samantha and nathan asked the super cool Reverend Powers to be their officiate. (Reverend Powers also did the ministering at our wedding back in the day.) he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. give him a call!

with the ceremony complete, it was time to pop the bubbly...

and the margarita machine. how sweet is that?!

what happens if you mix all the flavors into one margarita?

this part always gets me. the father daughter dance.

everyone looked so good. even the glassware was dressed up.

kim was feeling jeshy.

our time with samantha and nathan flew by. did you see it?

of course i had alterior motives when i set this shot up.
samantha and nathan had no idea that it would totally tie-in their...

ring shot.

stealth cam. while i was sneaking up on samantha and nathan i had an idea for...

ring shot numero dos.

with all the shots shot and the stretch car idling, we bid samantha and nathan adieu. thank you both for choosing our ohana to share your day.

Natalie & Scott's Wedding at Villa de Amore in Temecula

temecula wine country is a great place to take a drive through, and an even better place to have a wedding. natalie and scott chose to have theirs at the beautiful Villa de Amore vineyards in temecula. what an amazing venue. if you're thinking of a place to have a wedding, or any big event for that matter, i highly recommend giving the villa de amore a look. Jenny B floral design did an incredible job with all the arrangements and really made the villa come alive with color.
Kendra from Prima Events kept everything organized and on schedule. her website says they have "an exhaustive commitment to exceeding our clients’ expectations." she's not kidding. when the venue ran out of brew, she drove down herself and picked up some more. no thirst will go unquenched. not on kendra's watch.
i really enjoyed everything about this wedding. natalie and scott, i wish you all the best life has to offer. you made this day extra special with your kindness. thank you both, and thanks to drew too! it was so nice working with you again.

natalie's uniform of the day was princess-like, but no glass slippers could match these sweet pink shoes.

natalie was such a gorgeous bride.

simply stunning.

i love this. there's a whole wall of rustic crosses at the villa, and this is my favorite.

the california sun was bright that day my friends.

scott was grinning ear to ear when he saw his beautiful bride walking down the aisle toward him.

the light was amazing out there...

and it only got better as time ticked by.

mystical floating cake. how does he doooo it? (said in mysterious voice)

like i said, nobody went thirsty.

i think the bouquet toss may have been rigged. can you guess who the crowd favorite was?

hmmmm...

congratulations to the lucky bride-to-be.

agnes and paul's engagement session at the salton sea

some of the worst smelling places in the world are the best places for taking photos.
that being said, up until last year i was missing out on one of the smelliest/best places in california. i had never been to the salton sea. in fact, i first learned about it through our pal nathadius kaisersheizen (see his post by clicking here.) ally's not the only one to fall victim to the toxic sludge. :)
the first time i went out there the heavens aligned and i was able to get some great images. ever since that first trip i have been planning an uber session back out there with the perfect couple.
enter agnes and paul.
when i first met agnes she saw some of my images from the first trip and i could see the gears turning in her head when she left. days later we were talking & agnes asked if we could shoot her engagement session at the salton sea.
the pictures that follow are the answer to her question.

you can't tell by looking at these images, but i didn't actually get to meet paul until the day we all drove out to the salton sea together. it didn't matter a bit. agnes and paul both jumped in front of the camera like we had been working together for years. this is one of my favorites from the day.

here's some of april's post processing magic. she was inspired by a scene in the movie "across the universe."

we found out that skating on weathered gravel roads isn't as easy as it looks.

this old house. circa 2008

here's what that trailer looked like not so long ago. like most of what's left out there, it's fading fast. this shot was taken by Kim Stringfellow. check out her book here.

represent

something about this shot i really like. is it the sun? the stray dog? agnes and paul? whatever it is, i like it.

could these two BE any hotter? nope.

before the sun dipped over the mountains and headed off to light the other side of the world i caught one last bit of it's warmth on the faces of agnes and paul. once again the salton sea provided us with an amazing backdrop for a photo session. there is something special about this place. i'm so glad we were able to preserve another part of it, if only in digital form.
agnes and paul, thank you so much for wanting to do this session. it's was such a treat getting to do your session in this place. i know it took a big commitment on your part to set aside the time to do this. we definitely appreciate it. we can't wait for your wedding in july!

now, you didn't think we just took 17 pictures did you?

want to see more agnes and paul? head over to aprils blog to see some of her shots from the day.