robert + louisa - ritz dana point wedding

Rounding off my incredibly busy weekend was Robert and Louisa's wedding at the always beautiful ritz in dana point. Robert & Louisa are the third couple in a group of Indonesian friends who are all getting married this year! It has been a blast to get to know them all and I am blessed to be a part of all of their special days. (The fourth couple will be in two weeks! Look for Willy and Megs clip on my blog soon)

Everything about their day was very classy and elegant. I thought Louisa had incredible taste with everything from her dress and cool little feathered umbrella (complete with dangly butterfly thingies) . The brides maids shimmery dresses were so unique and different. Outdoor wedding right on the lawn over looking the ocean. Every thing was so scenic and beautiful.

And of course the bride looked spectacular.

Got a chance to work with my good buddy Erwin from Apetura photography. (along with his 3 shooters/assts and at least 5 other photographers also shooting for the couple!)We always have fun together being total goofballs.

Also worked with the ladies from Burgundy Events for the first time. Fransiska and Prisca were so awesome about everything. I always mention it but it bears repeating, the single most important quality of a coordinator is being on point with everything but also being able to be flexible. And thats exactly what they were. They were very helpful and encouraging.

Bride let me pick a song so I went wit ha new artist that I am really excited about. You blog stalkers should check out Kelly Sweet. I found out about her last week while editing a Cinema Reale at a hotel bar. A beautiful cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On" came on and I used my favorite iPhone app Shazam to find out who it was..downloaded her album and used this beautiful song for their wedding video.

"We Are One".

It doesnt get better than this when you talk about marrying someone.

matt + erin - el cortez san diego wedding

After being up North on the 101 in the Westlake Village area on Friday it was time to head down to downtown SD to shoot Erin and Matt's wedding. Erin is a BI bride (Bridal Insider forums) who signed with me a long time ago after seeing some of my work posted on the boards by another BI bride. I was really looking forward to shooting her wedding because she was very excited about me doing a Cinema Reale for her. As I have shared a million times on this blog, it always makes me excited to know that someone really appreciates what I do.

Erin and Matt are a really adorable couple. Cliche to say ? Yes..but..really..they are..and they are great together. Erin has one of the most warm and engaging smiles you will ever see in someone. Matt is a huge Charger fan and total joker and Erin loves him just the way he is. The chemistry is amazing between them.

Erin let me pick the song so I went with Joshua Radin's "Lovely Tonight".

matt & joanne- moorpark country club wedding

Yet another back to back to back weekend!

Kicking off this fri-sat-sunday weekend was Matt & Joanne's wedding at the Moorpark Country Club. I had not even met the bride and room until the day of dealing exclusively with the groom's Mother Janet. So the first time I met the bride was the day of and our first meeting was memorable.

I was in the getting ready room chatting with the grooms lovely twin sister Lyndsay waiting for the rest to arrive. When I heard commotion I stood up in front of the doorway to greet them...which apparently was a big mistake as the bridal party started screaming like I was an intruder! I can understand their POV though. They weren't expecting a tall man in their room when they walked in. They were so boisterous and it was then that I realized that the bride are her entourage were all Brazilian. They told me.."you have to excuse us..we're loud because we are Brazilian". Too funny.

I had a blast shooting their wedding. Both families are so close knit and was such a neat thing to witness two families, as well as two cultures, come together so nicely.

Bride wanted either Endless Love or Breathe by Faith Hill..so i chose the latter. :) I love that she took a very deep breath when she walked down the aisle. Of course I had to time it with the song!

duy + hanh - vietnamese wedding doubletree anaheim

You know its a great day when 12 hours seems like 2. Seriously, the day flowed so super smooth and was so fun that it just flew by. Traditional Vietnamese wedding started with groom coming to brides house to perform tea ceremony before going to grooms' parents house for a couple more ceremonies. After their traditional Vietnamese ceremony , the bride changed into her "American dress" and they had a short ceremony outside in the backyard.

Besides their two close friends and family members that each had in their wedding party, Duy and Hanh also had a bunch of little kids in their party and they stole the show. There are a couple of shots in their videos that are up there in my list of all time favorite shots. The bride kissing the little boy and the look on the little girl's face as she watches Duy put the ring on Hanh..PRICELESS!

The fact that they featured these kids tells you all you need to know about Duy & Hanh. They are two incredible people who care deeply about everyone in their life. They constantly made sure that Drew and I were taken care of. They made us feel like we weren't just their vendors, we were their friends. Of course that makes you want to go the extra mile and do the best job possible. (Plus they are HUGE Laker fans which always pumps me up!)

They decided on using Chantal Kreviazuk's "Feels Like Home" for their Cinema Reale. It worked perfectly because of ceremonies being at their houses...and the duel meaning of "home".

ton + virra - montage resort laguna beach wedding video

Virra found out about my work through Jeff & Linda, a wedding I did in June of last year.

Well, now all that's left for me to shoot to complete a full week is a Tuesday and Wednesday wedding. I shot a Thursday wedding this year, and now after this weekend, a Monday wedding. I must say I love this "off day" weddings. Everyone just seems much more relaxed and easy going about things.

Virra and Ton are incredibly sweet people who are clearly in love with not only each other but their cute little boy, Jaiden. One of the highlights was watching friend of the bride "bribing" their little boy with gummi bears to get him to walk down the aisle!

Got a chance to work with - for second time in a few weeks- Jasmine Star and her hubby JD. They are so extremely gracious and truly a pleasure to work along side. They even bailed me out by letting me use their Mac power cord as I had forgotten mine!

This fabulous event was coordinated perfectly by Michelle and Brooke from Details Details who made sure everything flowed flawlessly all day. They were extremely helpful which is so important for doing the Cinema Reale.

Virra and Ton like R&B music so we went with a tried and true classic, Sade's "By Your Side". Virra looked absolutely stunning and it was impossible to get a bad shot of her as you will see in this video:

noel + kat - bowers museum wedding

Let me start off saying Noel and Kat are awesome people who know how to plan a wedding! Everything about it was so unique and cool. They are such sweet and gracious people who truly appreciated the day and everyone there. (which is evidenced by the fact that they had a table full of Krispy Kremes boxes for guests (and vendors! ;) ) to take home with them. Yummy!)

They also had a photobooth and I never pass up the opportunity to ham it up!:



Thats my buddy Tom and I after a long shoot. I guess that is my excuse for the dorky faces I am making.

The reception venue was the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana which underwent an amazing transformation to host their event. When I arrived there to start my edit, there were museum visitors all over and within 2 hours in had transformed into an amazing wedding venue.

Got the opportunity to work with Paola Spagnoletti from Just Chic Events. Her and her mother were just awesome to work with. They were so helpful and flexible with everything.

Besides knowing how to plan a unique wedding, Noel & Kat also have great taste in music and chose one of the cooliest songs ever for a Cinema Reale; Sum 41's "With Me". Yeah...Sum 41. That pop punk band that had a couple of hits in the mid 90's actually wrote a very cool love song.

The song really had some ups and downs in tempo which makes it not only the perfect wedding song, but it also gave me the opportunity to try some different editing ideas.

Enjoy. :)