I am THRILLED Melissa with The Loveliest Day chose to feature Gladys + Rey’s fun engagement shoot on her lovely blog today. Melissa’s wedding blog truly does find the most charming, fun and whimsical weddings and engagements to feature, so I am very honored to be a part of it!
Please visit The Loveliest Day to see more wedding inspiration.
“I’m not really a smiley kind of guy” Rey tells me as we kicked off the engagement shoot. Hmmm, this photo – one of the first from our engagement session – seems to tell a different story:
Rey certainly loves to make Gladys smile – he can make her bust out laughing in a hot second. Gladys + Rey have been together many years – they met nine years ago when they were just college students – and after Rey proposed to Gladys at the Comedy & Magic Club in front of a cheering crowd (which, in my opinion, shows the kind of G-U-T-S Rey has!) these two are getting married this August. We spent a gorgeous afternoon in Manhattan Beach together – it became clear to me within minutes just how much Gladys + Rey love each other, laugh with (and at) each other, and enjoy each other’s company.
We started off by exploring various nooks and crannies of Manhattan Beach – including a parking structure with some killer light.
FIERCE.
I’m glad these two think I’m funny – this is the reaction I got from telling my 4 year old’s favorite knock knock joke…
Gladys wanted their engagement photos to be a sort of love letter to Manhattan Beach, reminiscent of all the wonderful experiences she and Rey enjoyed when Gladys lived in the area. So next on the agenda – ice cream at the Manhattan Beach Creamery:
YUMMY.
Next, a walk on the pier and the strand:
Love this last one – you and your shoes are so sassy Gladys!
Finally, watching the sunset on the beach:
A beautiful sunset to end the perfect afternoon.
Gladys + Rey thank you for a wonderful afternoon at the beach (and for the cookie) – I can’t wait for your wedding in August!
To view a slideshow of Gladys + Rey’s engagement shoot click here.
PS if you want to see Gladys and Rey’s actual proposal click here – it’s on YouTube!
My engagement shoot this past weekend with Amber + Damon (and their lovely daughter Camryn) was a FANTASTIC way to kick off 2010. Our photo shoot was yet another trip down memory lane – Amber and I went to high school together, and her older brother Jason and I were in the same class. I have to say, a wonderful and completely unexpected perk of this new business is reconnecting with so many people from my past!
Amber was the first bride to hire me as her wedding photographer – with full knowledge at the time that I had only photographed one wedding. I was so flattered by her faith in me that I wanted to giver her a super-sized engagement shoot! Damon, you get a gold star for not only wandering around for THREE HOURS but foregoing the NFL playoff games this past Saturday (although the Cowboys vs. Eagles game was nothing special…)
Amber and Damon have a not-so-typical love story – boy meets girl in college, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl have a daughter Camryn, boy and girl move from Atlanta to Southern California, boy and girl separate for a while, but then boy and girl realize they are meant to be together and be a family. Their story may not be typical but after spending an afternoon with their family, I could literally feel their strength of their bond. Amber and Damon are a playful, loving, fun couple with an ADORABLE daughter. I cannot wait for their wedding in July!
We started at a local park with these fantastic trees.
Amber + Damon’s daughter Camryn. She had a HUGE grin on her face the entire shoot.
Kind of like this.
The Dorsey Family (courtesy of just a wee bit of trespassing to get to these fantastic orange groves…)
Location no. 2 = Old Town Orange. My new favorite place to shoot photos:
Taking a break for cotton candy and Starbucks.
For this shoot I was fortunate enough to have my stylist with me – she had a fantastic idea for using fun pink frames like this one (unfortunately we waited too long to put it together and it became too dark. But trust me – her idea was FAB-U-LOUS).
The future Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey – so sweet!
Seriously? SERIOUSLY. This kid is too cute.
Thank you for such a fantastic shoot – full of laughter and fun!
Click here to see a slideshow of more photos from the shoot.
PS - HUGE thanks to Rachel for coming along and helping with styling, posing, and generally making sure everyone looked GOOD. Be careful, I might get spoiled having a stylist around…
I CAN’T WAIT to show you more from this shoot, but for now, Miss Amber, just one…
(insert evil laughter here)
My year took a very unexpected turn when I offered to photograph Meghan + Tristan’s wedding for free. I never really thought they would take me up on it – I realize a FREE wedding photographer is a pretty sweet deal, but when the flip side is having a completely and utterly inexperienced wedding photographer to document your day? NOT A CHANCE is what I would have said. Not Meghan + Tristan though…
Boy, am I grateful they took a chance on me – I LOVED every minute of photographing their wedding. Sure, I’ve always brought my camera to friends’ weddings and tried to get some cool snapshots, but to be able to document an entire wedding, to be the main party responsible for photographing the love story of Meghan + Tristan was scary/crazy/hectic/fantastic/amazing. There’s just something about being so close to all of the love and emotions tied up with a wedding – it’s intoxicating.
I am looking forward to shooting more weddings in 2010, and to photographing the first chapter of a bride & groom’s life story, together.
Without further ado, a look back at some weddings and engagement sessions from 2009:
CAN’T WAIT for Janelle + Brad’s wedding in May!
My very first engagement shoot with Courtney + Rob
Shannon + John + tandem bike = engagement shoot AWESOMENESS.
The details
One of my favorite moments to photograph at a wedding – the recessional.
Ain’t love grand?