Joshua & Sutton ~Destination Wedding~

They waited 10 long years to marry - so needless to say, EVERYONE was sooo happy for them as Sutton & Josh said their "I do"'s this past Saturday in Palm Springs. It was a destination wedding for them and their closest family and friends. They traveled from Minnesota to the heat of the desert for their wedding at Le Vallauris - which was beautiful to say the least. They started the day at their beautiful hotel, the Springs at Palm Springs Hotel & Spa. Here are a few details!



The gentlemen looked fantastic - especially since it was already over 100 degrees...


Sutton was truly stunning.


A few more details...








The gorgeous outdoor ceremony.




Don't they look so great together? What a good looking couple.


Her flowers were so beautiful and happy and bright. :)








The happy newlyweds!


I love this one. :)


I also love this one - Sutton's Uncle, who helped walk her down the isle, is quite a funny guy. :)


You can see their full wedding slideshow by *clicking here*!

Thanks again for letting me be a part of your day Josh & Sutton! I hope you enjoy your cruise honeymoon!

~B

Christian & Jolene ~Engagement~

Jolene & Christian are so stinkin' cute. They are seriously adorable. Their ease and comfort with each other comes across (it ought to after almost 8 years of dating) and translated into a very easy and laid back session. We headed out all over the Santa Clarita Valley for their engagement shoot, starting with North Oaks Park - an old haunt of theirs from back in high school.



(again, keep in mind I'm working on the saturation issue with posted photos - the photos look about a million times better before being hosted...)

I love that when I say to couples to "do cute romantic things" I always get a slightly different response. With some couples, they giggle and blush, others immediately kiss. And in the case of Jolene & Christian, they do things like stick out their tongues, lick the other's ear (or possibly bite) or stick a finger up the other's nose. I spent most of the session laughing - but these are my kind of people. They share something very special - humor. Having married a rather funny person myself, I can say with genuinity (that's my invented word from a previous blog) that it makes a huge difference in life.

Back to the cuteness....








After a while, we headed over to the Valencia side of town near and around Bridgeport for more fun. Fortunately, the weather was also very nice. :)








There are a whole series of shots from this location that I thought were absolutely beautiful - the light was gorgeous and just right. But I have to say, there is another photo that might give this set a run for it's money for being my favorites... but that'll come later.


A special request photo - tree climbing can be cute too!


Ok, here it is - my favorite. I call it the "Spidey-shot". Christian is a huge Spiderman fan, so I thought this might be a perfect way to end the shoot. :)


(In case you aren't sure what I'm referring to, this is the picture from Spiderman the movie that we were imitating):


Looking forward to the wedding in November!
~B

Steve & Annika ~ Engagement~

They've waiting seven years to get married. That's right. Seven. Steve & Annika started dating as high school sweethearts and life continued on. She went to college, he went to the Sheriff's Academy, and still their love grew and matured. It wasn't long before everyone in the family was talking... It was obvious from early on that these two are meant for each other.

Steve & Annika will tie the knot this winter, but before it gets too cold, we headed out to do some engagement photos down in beautiful, sunny, 75 degree Long Beach. And in keeping with their unique love story and fun personalities, they chose the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and Shoreline Village for their session. It was AWESOME. But be forewarned. This will be a long post - all those great locations combined with a fantastic and photogenic couple equals one very happy photographer and a whole lot of pictures to post on a blog!

We started at the Aquarium...




I love this one. This was a cute little port hole into a tank. I told Steve & Annika to hop up in it and they didn't even bat an eyelash. :) I love it when I have clients that just trust me.





This shark head was fabulous. It was some kind of air circulation thing and was blowing a lot of air out of the mouth. So Steve decided to model it up with the wind blowing his shirt back... Though it almost looks like he's hoping it won't eat him.


Besides being distracted by the otters (soooo cute) and sea lions and fish, the sea horses always catch my eye. Check out this guy!


Aren't they just adorable?


As the sun started to head down, we headed over to the Queen Mary (you know, the giant sister ship of the Titanic...)


Always love telephone booths.... always.....




This is one of my favorites from the Queen Mary photos... if I can pick a favorite anyway.


The running joke of the day was that I would tell Steve & Annika to "do cute romantic things" when I'd pick up my camera. I love that they just knew exactly what to do with that.


As we headed over to Shoreline Village, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have Steve take a shot with this flag. It just seemed so appropriate for him and his humor. :)


One of my favorite things about Shoreline Village is all the different colors. I think that literally every building is a different bright fun color (bright red, yellow, lime green, purple, blue, pink, etc.). I LOVE when I get to play with some bright color.


I was also really excited when I saw this parasol sitting in the window of a little shop. I used to have a cute parasol from my trip to Thailand a few years back, but I brought it to a wedding (and used it in some amazing shots), but promptly left it in the bride and groom's limo (never to be seen again). When I saw this one, I knew it'd be perfect. AND it's just happened to match my business's theme/colors... double bonus!


It will definitely be showing up in future shoots...






And my absolute favorite from the day....


Steve & Annika - I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did! I had so much fun working with the two of you!

Another engagement shoot and baby updates coming soon!
~B

PS: If anyone knows anything about image hosting for online use, I'd LOVE to pick your brain. I'm really disappointed with how much saturation, vividity and brightness I lose from the actual image to what it looks like posted on my blog. If anyone has any ideas about this and/or advice, PLEASE email me: briennemichelle@gmail.com. Thanks!