Steph + Jarrett's Vintage Engagement Session

One of my favorite things about engagement sessions is it gives couples a chance to show their different personalities and styles. This session by the talented Clayton Austin is no exception. He loves photographing couples with a vintage look and this couple choose him for that reason. It's important to know what your photographer's style is before hiring them. Pick someone whose style fits yours and you will be much more happy with the results!

Steph found this amazing hat at an estate sale for just a few dollars. It had been collecting dust in her closet until they found Clayton. I LOVE how it looks on her!















Love the lighting in these last two!



Thanks again Clayton for sending me these! Check out the entire session and more on Clayton's Blog.

Handmade Wedding Details

How perfect are all the details for this wedding? Everything was done by the bride Cheri, a stylist and illustrator, and the groom, David, a graphic designer.

From the groom, "100% handmade - silkscreened napkins, hand-painted tableclothes/flags, folded cranes, custom wine labels, invitations, bird place settings, pocket square, menu, memory wall, cake, guest book hanging tags."










{photos via david rager}

A Day After Session in a Tree

If you're a follower of my site, you know I'm a huge fan of Day After Sessions. They give you a chance to put on your dress again, maybe try a different hairstyle, and get some great photographs in a different location. I've been a huge fan of Mark and Candice's photography (Mark Brooke Photography) and this session is just so perfect. Her dress is stunning (custom made!) and the photos in the tree? Amazing. I want a photo in a tree! I'm picturing them as huge prints on a wall. What a great memory for them! Happy Weekend everyone!









Check out more from the session on their blog.

Real Wedding: Marisa + Adam's Nature Inspired Wedding

Photographer Cameron Ingalls sent me a sneak peak of this wedding the day after the wedding thinking I might love it. Oh course I did and couldn't wait to see more photos from the day! With the perfect yummy light, the bride's dreamy style and the amazing location, this wedding is quite stunning!

From Cameron, Adam and Marisa’s love story was a cross between Braveheart and The Band. All except they met at Cal Poly in a landscape architecture class and didn’t ride their horse off into the sunset across Scotland. But who’s comparing?

Adam and Marisa are actually dear friend of mine that I have had the pleasure of watching their romance unfold from the beginning. Both Adam and Marisa have grown so much through their college years as has their love for one another. Those who know them well, know that they balance each other beautifully. It has been fun to hear their wedding plans and dreams over the months that preceded their event. Adam wanted for his groomsmen to look rough and rugged like The Band. Marisa wanted them to look a little on the sharper side, so a shave and haircut was in order.



Her dress, her hair, the flowers, the perfect shade of yellow bridesmaids dresses - everything is so dreamy!



Sunnie Brook styled both Adam and Marisa’s hair. Because they love hiking and camping so much Holland Ranch was just the perfect setting for their nature-themed wedding. Marisa’s dress was from Claire Pettibone in Beverly Hills. She bought her headpiece from which goose on etsy. A good friend Lindsey Hume triple-featured as a bridesmaid, guitar player/singer and the florist. DJ Malik Miko kept the sweet tunes flowing well into the night.



How amazing is this ceremony location? Love the setting and the beautiful heart made of vines. Their dog even joined them for this important day!





Marisa really wanted some photos with the horses, so just before dinner I loaded the couple in my wagon and drove across the ranch to where the horses were grazing to see if they would let Marisa join for a few images. They were more than willing and Marisa and I were so happy!







The invitations were designed by Marisa and Adam and then they had them printed at Paper Sky, a paper store in downtown San Luis Obispo.





What a beautiful dreamy wedding! Thanks so much Cameron for letting me share this beautiful day with everyone and congrats to Marisa + Adam! Check out Cameron's blog for more beautiful portrait photos and their engagement photos.

Real Wedding: Quyen + Jon's Vintage-Inspired Wedding

Carlie and Gabriel are the talented husband and wife team behind Gabriel Ryan Photography. Their photos are always beautiful and perfectly capture the details and emotions of the day. Carlie thought this wedding would be perfect to share and I couldn't agree more!

From Gabriel, Quyen & Jon's wedding was a delight to photograph. They had obviously taken a lot of time to think through many of the details of their big day to make sure it went off without a hitch and by planning the ceremony and reception in the same location (the muckenthaler mansion and cultural center in fullerton, ca), the day seemed to flow effortlessly. As a professional wedding photographer, I appreciate detail & simplicity, which can often be difficult to mix properly, but Jon & Quyen found the perfect combination.

Quyen describes her wedding inspiration as 1920-1930's era, antique flea market.



What a gorgeous bride! Love the long veil and beautiful Pronovias dress. The bridesmaids dresses are custom made Calvin Hiep from HYP Design.







Any do it yourself projects? LOTS! invitations were made from ordering from paperandmore.com and PSA Essential personalized monogrammed stamp which we used on our stationary and throughout the wedding with that monogram on our shot glasses that were given away as party favors along with the recipe of our favorite shot; all vases, tins, antique typewriters were hand picked and selected at thrift shops all throughout CA by myself and nicole (one of my bridesmaids).









Other Vendors:
bride's hair: lisa venanzi (email: LisaBird121@yahoo.com)
bride's makeup: tiffany patton
flowers: Megan Grey from Rainbows Flower (Long Beach, CA)
coordinator: Marcy Guevara
catering and cake: Collette's Catering
car: Vern & Melinda Moen's 1965 Plymouth Barracuda

Thanks Carlie and Gabriel for sharing this beautiful wedding with us today! Be sure to check their blog for more beautiful photos from this wedding!

Vintage Books as Wedding Invitations

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I took some time away from the computer to work on the house and enjoy my first anniversary - I can't believe it's been a year since my wedding! Anyways, I have some amazing real weddings lined up for this week, but first I had to share photographer Jessica Claire's Wedding Invitations. If you follow her blog, you know she is planning her October wedding and has been sharing some of the details. Her save the date's and invitations are quite amazing - how I would love to receive an invitation like this!

Jessica describes her wedding as "a vintage, 1920's London sort of vibe, but it will also have an upscale, elegant, sophisticated twist."

For the STD's, as they'll be known henceforth, came from the concept that I didn't want to send out something that was just paper and ink. I really wanted each one to be different in some way, and I wanted it to be a piece that people wouldn't want to throw away (although of course I know that people did!!) The invitation is in four pieces, and each one is handmade out of letterpressed tags or stitched muslin. Each one has an antique key attached to the ribbon--every key is different. As the wedding has locks and keys all throughout, we wanted to bring that in as early as the save the date. On the back of each STD, there is a page torn from the book Portrait of a Marriage--each page is different and was meticulously cut to match the size of the front. The overall effect was to create something that looked old but still colorful! This is what they look like:



Now, to the invitation. Each of our guests received a book. Okay, you probably guessed that they are not ordinary books. No, they are HOLLOWED OUT BOOKS! In keeping with our theme, our wedding invitation hides away, tucked safely inside a hollowed out book. Each one is completely different--each book was lovingly bought from an old bookstore and chosen for it's particular color cover, title, thickness, or inside pattern.

When you open the book, this is what you see:




The pocket on the left hand side is a very thick, copper paper from Kate's Paperie. On the right, a steel grey grosgrain ribbon holds the invitation in and is sealed with a copper wax seal with a photo of a lock. On the invitation itself which lays in the hollow, a single, antique button is affixed to each invitation. Every one is incredibly detailed and different and took many HOURS of scouring ebay:



Inside the front coppery library card pocket were four things: a map with all location details, a list of events for the day before the wedding, a response card, and an envelope:



Thanks so much Jessica for letting me share these with everyone. Also, I need to make sure to credit Kari Dyas who single-handedly spent WEEKS carving them, gluing them, sourcing the individual pieces, and creating the finished pieces. Check out Jessica's blog for even more photos of the invitations. All photos by Jessica Claire.

Real Wedding: Jim + Sharon's Wedding with a Bike

When Sharon first sent me some photos from her wedding, I really loved how her husband and her incorporated so many details about themselves into their day. That really is what it's about - making the day about you as a couple! Their ceremony was at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in Culver City and then they had their reception at the Smog Shoppe (one of my most favorite locations!) All the wonderful photos are by Walter Pieringer. Sharon was sweet enough to send some details about their day also. Thanks so much for sharing your day with us Sharon and Jim!

We had an amazing time! We made everything from the centerpieces, to the photo booth to the candy bags and candy display to handmade buttons for all the guest and so much more. We had a video loop playing during our reception that our friend created, which was us riding bikes thru various scenes.





When Sharon first sent me photos, I loved all the photos with the bikes and had to know what the story was! From Sharon, The bike was very significant to us, especially to Jim. He is an Art Director at OdysseyBMX. He has been riding bmx bikes since he was a young boy back in Long Island. We met in LA through some mutual friends at an Action Sporting event in Pomona. It was very casual, and it was more like "Hi", "Bye". Then two years later we met again, and have never been separated (that was 3 years ago). Some of Jim's pro athletes compete in the X Games, so it's another reason that we were able to meet up again, and why we have some common interest.

So we were riding a custom made Hercules/Sunday Frame bmx sidehack with Odyssey parts. Orange version was painted and decaled by Jim. Our ordained minister, Mike Ardelean, is also a pro bmx athlete. One of our closest and dearest friends.











How awesome is this photo booth?? So creative and fun. It was made by Jim and his friend Jeff.



Our friends surprised us and made shirts for all our wedding guest. The day before the wedding, we had a Beach Volleyball Day for all the guest to hang out, catch up, and get to know one another little more before the Big Day. So our bridal party made T-shirts for everyone. What great friends!



I love these invites! Jim designed them and had them screen printed on handkerchiefs at a local printer. Many of our friends brought the invitation with them and used it as a pocket handkerchief, which we encouraged on the invitation. One of my co-worker's mom made a dress out of the two handkerchief for their daughter to wear at the wedding. It was great that everyone found another use for the invitation. Also, his mom helped us make the ceramic birds. (She just happens to have a kiln in her basement. Lucky us!) We had purple and orange ceramic birds with the center piece. There were enough for each of the guest to take some home.



Looking back, my favorite memories were everything leading up to the wedding. Jim and I had an amazing time being creative and incorporating pieces of us in our wedding. We got in engaged in December 2008, and decided to have the wedding in less than 6 month. So it sparked a lot of energy to get motivated and design a wedding that reflected our personalities. At the actual wedding, I think my favorite part was the Pae Bek Ceremony. It was so unique and our friends loved it. It also allowed us to recognize our parents and have them incorporated in the evening. Plus i got to wear a korean hanbok, which was so beautiful.

Vendor Info:
We made it a point to keep it within the community, so the majority our vendors were Culver City locals.

Caterer: Tender Greens, Culver City
Cupcakes (Green Tea, Oreo Cookie, Creamsicle, and Banana Cream): Jessica Madrid (a friend of the couple)
Dress: Handmade by my friend Tamara Dutton Zielinski
Other Desserts: Dolce Forno and a local donut shop
Paek Bek Ceremony (Korean Tea Ceremony) Esther Kim