It was last November when I first met Courtney & Andy! As we discussed the details of their Portofino Hotel & Marina Wedding Courtney and I clicked instantly. We wrapped up our consultation and I walked away a little unsure. On one hand I was like that went really well, I think I nailed it, but Andy's demeanor had me questioning my skills. Not too long passed and I heard from them again, and after a few more email/phone chats we put together a package that worked for these two lovebirds. Courtney then confessed Andy was playing a little hard to get, and it worked LOL! As the months passed Courtney and I began texting about the engagement session, and then it quickly turned into randomly texting about our favorite trash TV shows (Real Housewives, The Bachelorette, etc)! We bonded over our secret stashing of bags of new clothes we keep hidden from our other halves, and our OCD tendencies. It was then I could tell this was going to be an AMAZING couple to work with! I guess our secret is out now, sorry Court! Hurry and hide those bags in the back of the closet or under the bed. As we discussed locations for the shoot we talked about the beach, but we wanted it to do be different than every other beach shoot you see out there. One weekend I happened to be shooting in Santa Barbara, and saw a sign for Lompoc Flower Fields. I quickly researched it, Google image searched it, and then texted Courtney and was like listen we can still do the beach but you have to check this out! Immediately she fell in love and began buying outfit upon outfit, I think she confessed to buying 10 like new outfits, don't worry Andy she "returned" the ones we didn't use...And by return, I mean she returned them to the bag, and then put them in the back of the closet lol! The day quickly approached and the occasional text from Courtney would come in, "Are you sure the flowers will still be there?" Or "What if it rains?" Or "Did you see what happened on The Bachelorette last night?" All her texts or emails were appropriately signed "OCD GIRL!" I can't help but laugh, because anyone who knows me can vouch that I'm pretty OCD myself and am guilty of the same thing! As you can tell the flowers were still there when we got up there so we just went with it and had a little fun running through someones flower fields, very careful as to not to damage them :-) As we drove from Lompoc back to Santa Barbara to wrap up the shoot and finish at the beach we encountered a couple of obstacles! I kept seeing these gorgeous fields, with rolling hills, and beautiful cloud covered skies and was like we have to stop and shoot here, but every field is fenced off with electric fences and barbed wire. So I had to get creative, and we had to trespass! We hopped a barbed wire fence only to land into a field filled with cows. Courtney had on a dress and risked showing the passing cars her backside but was most concerned with ripping her new "sexy Bebe dress" lol. We made over without tearing a dress, a layer of skin, or a hamstring! It was all fun and games until a few of the bulls looked like they wanted us gone so we had to make moves to a different area of the field. The end result was not arrest, but some very beautiful shots showcasing the gorgeous fields of Southern California. As we made our way down the coast to Santa Barbara a man filled with anger and road rage decided to pass me going 90 on the shoulder of the road nearly side swiping me and hitting another car. Can I just add he was DRIVING A PRIUS, and no it wasn't Andy lol. However he and Courtney witnessed the entire thing driving behind me! Seriously dude you're not Vin Diesel, and I'm not sure where you're going that fast in that Prius of yours, but you should probably relax before you kill someone. Once our lives were not in danger anymore, we made it to our final destination, the beach and as you can see we captured some really amazing sunset shots! So to make a long story even longer, there's not much we won't do over here at LA Exposures to give our clients some amazing photos paired with an ACTION packed day to remember forever! Stay tuned for their wedding photo BLOG post coming soon!
Matt & Elysse | Palm Springs Photographer
Last fall when I first met Elysse and Matt I knew this wedding was going to be amazing. It wasn't until a month later when we did their engagement shoot at Griffith Observatory did I know just how awesome these two were! They were fun, friendly, and soooo in love! Lugging along their new little puppy Scout to the engagement shoot added a unique fun touch to the engagement shoot!! Fast forward about 6 or 7 months to the wedding day! How can you go wrong when you choose an amazing venue like the Riviera Resort & Spa? As you can tell from the photos, we spent most of the day laughing, joking, and having a lot of fun with everyone in the bridal party! One of the funniest and most memorable moments was when I told all the bridesmaids to keep a straight face with no expression. Unsure exactly what I meant by that, Elysse's friend Kristin explained it as "RESTING BITCH FACE." I couldn't help but laugh, and as you can tell from the photos neither could they! Up next for their shoot were the groomsmen. Normally groomsmen, unless intoxicated, are pretty tough to make smile, and have a good time with. Not these guys! Between nicknaming one of them a nugget (Razmin), and cracking jokes left and right, these guys were nothing short of HILARIOUS and fun! BTW-side note, each of the groomsmen came up to me throughout the course of the night, separately, letting me know that I had successfully come up with a nickname for Razmin that they would continue to use! Everything about this wedding went seamlessly! I can honestly say this goes down in my TOP 10 favorite weddings that I've had the privilege of shooting! I've never had so much fun editing photos after the wedding as I did with this group either! The many expressions from every single member of this bridal party were priceless, especially Matt during the ceremony! :-) It's always the "tough guys" who surprise you and can't hold back the tears! With an assist from both Tim and the lovely Harleene, we were able to capture every loving, laughing, and candid moment. Let's not forget to give major kudos to Artisan Events for a job well done with the event decor, floral arrangements, and most importantly coordination! I couldn't have asked for a better group to work with on both sides of the camera!
Santa Barbara to Paris with a stop in NYC | Amourelle & Ryan | Destination Wedding Photographer
Sometimes it is definitely about who you know! Thanks to my other half, I was fortunate to meet a new friend named Greg, I call him my nugget. My nugget's close friend Ryan recently got engaged to the gorgeous Amourelle! Check her out below! Greg was kind enough to pass along my card to Amourelle, who reached out to me that same day to schedule an engagement session in Santa Barbara. Fast forward a week and we were finally able to sit down and go over some ideas, wedding samples, and her vision for her engagement shoot. As we were talking I asked where the wedding would be, and if she already had a photographer for that. I think I fell off my chair when she replied with, "We are having a family wedding in New York, and then a second wedding a week later in Paris." My two favorite cities in the world!!!! She had been talking with a local photographer for the Paris wedding, but didn't really think about having someone shoot her NYC wedding. Before wrapping up our meeting, I put together a custom package to include Santa Barbara, NYC, and Paris. The Paris wedding will be held inside The Rodin Museum Gardens. I DIE!!!!! A week later Amourelle called and made my day, well let's be honest she made my year! They were excited to move forward and bring me on board to shoot everything! Thanks to the amazingly talented Elizabeth LaGue, Amourelle's hair and make-up came out stunning! Not only did we spend hours making our way around SB capturing their love, we spend quite some time bringing out their fun, quirky side too. Amourelle bought a few really great props for the shoot, including an amazing blanket, and gorgeous Eiffel Tower champagne flutes! She also made one prop that had the potential to be great, but let's just say the confetti took a nose dive for the ground before exploding in the air. The only thing that would have made that series of photos better, would have been capturing a sad face as the confetti took a nose dive! So here's the magic we made up in Santa Barbara, and I can't wait to share their NYC and Paris wedding images next spring!
L.A. meets London | Lauren and Sam | LA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
What happens when you have a bride from LA and a groom from London? Well obviously they are going to get married at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, CA. Such a great way to bring two families from two different countries together. Lauren and Sam had a very intimate pop-up wedding in a gorgeous suite at the hotel with only their closest family and friends! There wasn't a dry eye in the room when the ceremony concluded. Between the laughing, the crying, and the crying from laughing I couldn't help but shed a tear or two myself! There wasn't a face in the room that wasn't glowing with excitement! When it was all said and done as I went to say my goodbyes, there were no handshakes, just hugs! The amount of love and joy filled the room, and left me smiling ear to ear!
MEG & ROSS | DESTINATION WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
It was New Years Eve, and I was being lame in my Rome hotel room when the clock struck midnight. In my defense I did have a 5 am flight to Florence the next morning. As I laid in bed my Facebook messages starting going off. When I opened the first one, it was from one of my friends, Ashley, telling me her long time friend had just gotten engaged at the Trevi fountain. At first I was like hmmm, where is she going with this.... Seconds later she asked if I would be around the next day to take engagement photos of them in Rome. What photographer wouldn't love to take engagement photos in Rome of all places. Unfortunately I had to tell Ashley that I was off to Florence the next morning. Thinking that was the end of the conversation I got ready for bed, minutes later she came back with, "what are the chances of this, but they too are going to Florence tomorrow!" This was fate! Needless to say, I met Meg(Ashley's friend) and her new fiance Ross, 2 days later in front of the Louis Vuitton store in Florence. The first thing that came out of Meg's mouth was telling me how sick she was and she could barely get out of bed. Being the trooper that she was Meg pushed through what seemed like an all day event as we made our way around Florence for their engagement photos( it was really only 2 hours). Ross who loves pictures (NOT REALLY AT ALL) would probably actually tell you it did take all day! The pictures were gorgeous, even sick Meg looked beautiful, and we couldn't of had more fun! The minute we got back to the states wedding planning began. Knowing she was going to need some help, I introduced her to an amazing wedding planner, none other than Ms. Holly Chavez, owner of HMC Event Solutions. The moment Meg met Holly she knew she was the perfect fit for her and insisted she book her right then and there! After months of planning, visits to countless venues and estates, Meg, her amazing Mom(Maureen) and Holly, chose Calimigo's Ranch Wedding in gorgeous Malibu, California. As you can see there were so many amazing details they all put together as Meg had envisioned. Family and friends traveled from all over the country for this fun, vintage inspired, chic wedding! Obviously as you look through these pictures its very clear these two are so in love, but even more importantly they know how to have fun together. Weddings like this make doing what I do so easy!!!!!!
Eileen & Vonny in LOVE! | Lake Tahoe Engagement Photographer
What can I say but boy can you feel the LOVE between these two! Eileen first contacted me just after Christmas when she found me on YELP for her Los Gatos Wedding, just south of San Francisco. After a few conversations, things just clicked, and we knew we had to work together! Once we began talking about locations for their engagement shoot, ideas were flying. Vonny took Eileen to Tahoe to last year to feel, touch, and play with snow for the first time since she had never been to or seen snow before. We decided it would be an awesome place to shoot their engagement session. After months of talking on the phone, we finally got to meet face to face Valentine's Weekend for the shoot. Perfectly planned there was snow on the ground, unfortunately between the crazy winds and intermittent rain, the shoot was a little challenging. We were able to get some pretty amazing photos if you can overlook the goosebumps HA HA HA! (Eileen joked with me about Photoshopping out her goosebumps) I couldn't be happier with the way the shoot turned out, but most importantly I really love looking at these photos because its pretty clear these two are madly IN LOVE! Not only do they know how to have fun with one another, they make each other feel so special, and both light up around one another! I absolutely can't wait for their September wedding!
